FILM: BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL – WORLDWIDE SPRING OPENING
About once a year, I am privileged to work with my mentor film composer Thomas Newman. This music for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was fun to do because I had just finished a year-long tour with AR Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire), so I was speaking Indian music! I hope you had a chance to see the film, which opened worldwide in the Spring. I saw it in Amsterdam when I went to visit Lorna and we lapped up the sentimentality. Tom just gave me a copy of the CD and it’s nice to hear the project in its totality. It’s been on replay because it’s really blend of Indian and Tom’s signature sound.
Director John Madden, starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith
Composer Thomas Newman, featuring me on keyboards+drum programming
Listen: http://bit.ly/M9WHjk
Soundrack for SALE: http://bit.ly/KdnM0q
REVIEWER: Jorn Tillnes, SoundTrackGeek
Superb stuff. What makes this score special and different is that there is a lot of Indian sounding music yet you can still feel the Newman touch. What happens if you mix Thomas Newman with Indian music? I guess there’s no secret: Pure bliss. Sometimes you sit down and listen to a score that truly amazes you and take you on a journey you had not foreseen, this is such a score. The Indian music in this score is not just windows dressing but gives it an awesome quality. You have very Indian sounding cues like ‘The Chimes at Midnight’ and cues like ‘Cricket Spell’ sounds so Thomas Newman, but there’s a lot more. I love the way he uses a lot of vocals in some cues to great effect such as in ‘Night Bus’. The underscoring is so Newman but the added vocals make it exciting.