Musically Speaking: How complete is your 1 1/2 soundtrack?
Go back with me, if you will, four years ago.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Soundtrack.jpg
Remember this? With a track list of just eight songs, this album literally left out a lot to be desired.
First track is Grazing in the Grass by Raven. I can stomach this song okay, but it isn't from the film itself - it's in her music video that accompanies it. Next is Digga Tunnah Dance by Vinx (who?), and while it's a fun rendition of the song, once again it's not the version played in the movie, but rather in the credits. Since when is the credits rendition of a song given precedence over the rendition found in the film itself?
At last, That's All I Need, a song taken from the actual 77 minutes of the sequel, and unlike the movie it has an actual ending; remember, the hyenas cut Timon off. Maybe that's the problem here - TLK 1 1/2 has so many interruptions during the course of the film that it never has a chance to complete its own songs?
Apparently that is the case, because next is a cut-and-paste of the original TLK Hakuna Matata. At this point I was wondering why I even bothered with this CD, even at its pathetically inexpensive $5.99 sticker. Similar story with The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Lebo; even though this song is in the movie, we've heard this all before, on Rhythm of the Pride Lands as well as Return to Pride Rock.
Drew K. & French add their version of Jungle Boogie, but again, not the version heard in the film.
Now here's the funny part. Tacked onto the end are just two of Don L Harper's original orchestral score - Timon's Traveling Theme and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's an odd end to the album, if indeed it had much of a beginning, and it's so short to begin with.
So why on earth am I doing a review four years later? (Or perhaps the better question is, why on earth do I keep disappearing and reappearing on this forum?)
My answer is, despite the erratic, stop-and-go nature of TLK 1 1/2, there is still plenty to like about the score to this film. I especially enjoy the stirring, expressive theme given to Timon as he decides to leave his mom and the meerkat colony in search of something better - and this refrain can be heard many times over as the movie progresses.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...u/TLK15-10.jpg
Don L Harper's work on this sequel must be commended, for while he was compelled to re-score pieces from TLK for the scenes that coincide with the original, the rest of the film is filled with great musical moments - like a fun salsa number when Timon and Pumbaa first discover paradise...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...u/TLK15-22.jpg
...the forward-moving Timon Traveling Theme...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...u/TLK15-11.jpg
...and the moving piece for Alone in the World (a moment completely destroyed when the scene is paused and Timon sobs).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...u/TLK15-21.jpg
So the message I'm driving home is, isn't it a shame that the true redeeming quality of this sequel, its score, never gets to be enjoyed fully - not in the movie itself, and not on CD either.