August Rush

"The album almost completely neglects the score"

Composed by

Mark Mancina

Released by

Sony BMG Music

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August Rush

by    ·    October 16, 2008

As a film, August Rush blew me away when I first saw it in theaters. The soundtrack, however, didn’t. After first hearing Mark Mancina’s emotionally moving score coupled with the film itself, I couldn’t wait to go out and buy the soundtrack. Lucky for me, I didn’t make that mistake, and listened to a borrowed copy belonging to my girlfriend. To the average listener, this soundtrack has everything there is to offer; all the pop songs are still there with all their vocals, etc. But the score? Well, where’d it go?

The score to August Rush on the OST is limited to the Main Title and the finale/climax of the film’s musical journey, August’s Rhapsody. Only two tracks. Even my favorite moment of the score is not included, a small cue entitled Arpeggio Intro on the composer’s site, which can sadly only be heard there (though someone figured out how to extract an MP3 for me).

The album almost completely neglects the score, as most pop song-filled soundtracks do. It seems the album producer(s) figured people would only care for the pop songs, so that’s all that was put in. It’s really a shame that August Rush isn’t the only score that has received unfair treatment such as this; many other scores suffer from this disease as well, scores for films such as The Lion King andSpirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

Overall, I’d say the soundtrack to August Rush is score-wise one of the worst I’ve ever taken the time to sit down and listen to. I’d say I want a full score release, but I know I’d be wasting my breath (or in this case, finger strength/endurance), as for a film like this, it’s likely there’ll ever be a score release.

TRACKS

  1. Main Title (02:21)
  2. Bach / Break (03:52) - Steve Erdody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers
  3. Moondance (01:51) - Jonathan Rhys Meyers
  4. This Time (04:13) - Jonathan Rhys Meyers
  5. Bari Improv (01:37) - Kaki King
  6. Ritual Dance (01:35) - Kaki King
  7. Raise It Up (02:29) - Jamia Simone Nash and Impact Repertory Theatre
  8. Dueling Guitars (02:36) - Heitor Pereira and Doug Smith
  9. Elgar / Something Inside (04:53) - Steve Erdody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers
  10. August's Rhapsody (07:37)
  11. Someday (03:04) - John Legend
  12. King Of The Earth (03:45) - John Ondrasik
  13. God Bless The Child (04:30) - Chris Botti and Paula Cole
  14. La Bamba (03:50) - Leon Thomas III
  15. Moondance (02:20) - Chris Botti