Soundtrack Information

Mega Movies

Mega Movies

Telarc (CD-80535)

Release Date: 2000

Conducted by Erich Kunzel

Performed by
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Format: CD

Music From

Music By

Track Listing

1. The Mummy - The Sand Volcano
[previewing track]
 4:08
2. The Mask of Zorro - Don't Mess With "Z" (sfx)
[previewing track]
 0:15
3. The Mask of Zorro - Main Title
[previewing track]
 4:18
4. Air Force One - Main Title / The Parachutes
[previewing track]
 4:41
5. The Rock - Chopper Flyby (sfx)
[previewing track]
 0:14
6. The Rock - End Title
[previewing track]
 4:52
7. Contact - End Credits
[previewing track]
 3:58
8. Mighty Joe Young - Dedication and Windsong
[previewing track]
 5:29
9. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Day at the Races (sfx)
[previewing track]
 1:06
10. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Main Title from Star Wars / The Flag Parade
[previewing track]
 4:54
11. L.A. Confidential - Badge of Honor / L.A. Confidential
[previewing track]
 2:27
12. The Prince of Egypt - When You Believe
[previewing track]
 5:21
13. The X-Files - What's That Hum? (sfx)
[previewing track]
 0:44
14. The X-Files - Threnody in X
[previewing track]
 2:58
15. A Bug's Life - The Time of Your Life
[previewing track]
 4:06
16. Elizabeth - Main Title
[previewing track]
 5:34
17. Godzilla - A Stroll in New York City (sfx)
[previewing track]
 1:35
18. Godzilla - Main Title
[previewing track]
 3:13
19. Shakespeare in Love - Main Title
[previewing track]
 3:23
20. Titanic - Iceberg! (sfx)
[previewing track]
 0:42
21. Titanic - Back to Titanic
[previewing track]
 4:53
22. Armageddon - Main Title
[previewing track]
 3:34
  Total Album Time: 72:25

Related Albums

Review: Mega Movies

by David A. Koran June 3, 2000
3.5 / 5 Stars
It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to review a Telarc release from Erich Kunzel and The Cincinnati Pops. I say opportunity, due to the fact that I'm a hometown boy of Cincinnati, and have had the chance, on several occasions, to hear the Pops' alter ego, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra perform classics from the greats, such as Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach and Mozart. It's also been a learning experience for both the Pops and myself from their first Star Tracks recording up until the present day release here, Mega Movies. This is not just another compilation album, but this is a compilation album from the kings of re-recording movie suites, long before Silva and the Prague Philharmonic got into the game, and a bit after Mr. Gerhardt did his for Reader's Digest and RCA.

For most, a "pops" treatment of a film music suite isn't a blow-by-blow recreation of the original cue as heard in a particular film. The Cincinnati Pops are no exception to this rule, and often in their earlier recordings, there were definite, and almost nerverackingly different arrangements of well known pieces of music. On this album, most of the arrangements are stock suites, since more and more big films get concert arrangements written for them by the original composer or other arranger. Most of the differences noticeable are with the actual orchestrations and instrumentation of the selected suites. For a few, such as L.A. Confidential and Elizabeth, I was taken aback by how truly different they were from the soundtrack recordings. I also felt that The Mask Of Zorro "Main Title" was missing a lot without the over-zealous Spanish guitar found in the film version, even though the percussionist gave the original musicians a run for their money. The introductory piece from The Mummy only starts to pick up around the march segment of the cue, where the Cincinnati Pops cranks up their volume and adds some zeal to their playing. One of the odder works on the album is actually the large orchestra rendition of "The Time of Your Life" from A Bug's Life, which just seemed way out of place being played by that many musicians.

One of the underlying traits of any Cincinnati Pops recording of movie themes is the addition of digitally enhanced surround sound-effects elements between certain tracks. For a few albums it seemed like an interesting way to transition, but here it just gets to be too "show-offy". In the liner notes, more page space is spent detailing each sound effect than the actual pieces of music that appear on the album… what a disappointment. However, I did like their Jurassic Park SFX pieces on The Great Fantasy Adventure Album, which also was one of their better compilation efforts all around (It got me hooked on Clash Of The Titans). However, if you're a fan of the CPO, by all means pick the album up. Their renditions of Air Force One, The Rock, and Shakespeare In Love aren’t half bad and their rendition of Silvestri's Contact is almost "dead-on" to the original. I think the CPO and Kunzel suffer most from trying to have every instrument in the orchestra play at one time or another on every track. It's kind of like high school concert band in that extent. I can now see how these CDs can be used to give band directors ideas of how to plan their school concert series. But, for serious soundtrack enthusiasts, I think this time around this CPO and Telarc CD will leave most of them pretty flat.

more reviews by David A. Koran
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