(Do forgive me if I rhapsodize; this is, after all, a "Worship" page, and I really think I should give it all I've got.)

As I left the theater the first time (of five) I saw TLK, walking across the parking lot with two friends (newly-graduated high school ex-seniors at the time), they admonished me to buy the soundtrack as soon as I could. I needed no persuasion. After all, on that first hearing, the music had so impressed itself on all of us that we could still hear the "This Land" theme echoing through our heads as we drove home, and we could vividly recall the sense of being embedded several inches deep in our seats after the opening "Circle of Life" sequence had ended. So the next day, which was a Friday, I bought the soundtrack.

Let me clarify something. We did not want the soundtrack for the songs. (Well, most of them, anyway.) We all had recognized on the first hearing the substandard quality of the lyrics and music on the wholly Tim Rice/Elton John songs, particularly "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" and "Hakuna Matata." But, we noticed after I got the CD, the one song we could all remember almost verbatim-- especially for the music-- as we walked back to the car was "Circle of Life," which, oddly enough, had been arranged-- one might even say transfigured-- by Hans Zimmer. (Incidentally, there was one other song which later was widely recognized by many of my friends as being quite worth listening to: "Be Prepared." Would anybody care to guess who arranged it?)

That weekend was the Fourth of July. I stood at my window at midnight with my headphones on, the volume turned up to the threshold of pain, letting the instrumental tracks flow through me as I watched the fireworks on the horizon. I immediately, then and there, formed the opinion-- let any challenge it who will-- that Zimmer is the most gifted of all soundtrack artists yet to have appeared. I remembered previous scores to Disney films, particularly the later ones by Menken. The songs had always been fantastic, but... but the scores had never been very evocative. Aladdin's score was discontinuous and bland, having no recognizable central theme. The score for Beauty and the Beast followed directly from the songs and tied them together, creating a wonderful mosaic of musical storytelling; but standing alone it was nothing. Howard Ashman's unbelievable talent for lyric-writing, coupled with Menken's complex and engaging song-music style, always made for deservedly Oscar-winning song combinations-- but the scores, though Aladdin's somehow won the Oscar for Best Score, never were anything special. There was a major difference in Zimmer's new score: it lent power and profundity to the film, the music containing a level of complexity and unity-- as well as a lot of very essential, non-gratuitous bass-- that I had honestly never heard before, except in the music of the great masters of yore. "Circle of Life" literally stunned the audience with its level of power output as well as its multi-layered vocal and harmonic structure. The score itself followed directly from that first song, starting with the pulsating, thunderous undercurrent that it set up and weaving it into a new form that was laid out almost symphonically in its presentation. At the heart were some very simple themes, all interwoven, which could be immediately recognized at every appearance: the "This Land" theme, serene and slow, which led into the recurring and very versatile "Lea Halalela" line; this latter was recalled four times in the score, each with a different set of circumstances and evoking different images and emotions. Then, the triumphant "Busa" sequence, rich in African vocal material as well as instrumental foundation, which appeared several times in the film to accentuate the great emotional peaks where they occurred, and also at the very end in its fully expounded and most moving form. These themes were central pillars which upheld the entire score; each time they were invoked, they were elaborated with new lines from other instruments and voices. Some themes were specific to their respective tracks, and others served to tie them all together by appearing throughout. This is indeed the way to write an effective score.

There are also a few interesting surprises for discerning listeners. At about 2:21 on "King of Pride Rock," one can hear the Gregorian chant "Dies Irae" quoted; it serves to punctuate the confrontation between Scar and Simba at the end. It is also easy to appreciate the multiple recurrence, each time implemented differently, of the "Lea Halalela" theme: the first time it is expansive and indomitable, profound and mysterious. The second, it is tragic and solemn: a funeral dirge. The fourth sounds foreboding and ominous, appearing as it does at just before the climactic scene begins; reminiscent and agitated, the fourth occurrence is interrupted by Scar's exclamation of "Murderer!" Finally, the fifth and final time, unlike the others, brings in a new sense of hope, of light through the darkness; it is repeated twice and then explodes into the toweringly grand "Ascending Pride Rock" line, in which the baritone/French horn progression is particularly impressive. Another interesting note is that from 2:45 to 3:13 on "...To Die For" and from 0:54 to 1:21 on "Under the Stars" are both quotations of Mozart's "Ave Verum."

But anyway... back to the story.

It was only a couple of months before I discovered how many other notable film scores Zimmer had composed in the past; one in particular caught my eye: The Power of One. I remembered seeing that movie and being impressed by its score, even years ago. So I bought the soundtrack. Within hours of my playing it for the first time in my room, I had heard at least two or three requests for the identity of the CD from people passing by the door. I found it easy to see why. It was African-themed, done by the same "team" that had done the greatest parts of TLK: lyricist Lebo M. (who was responsible for all the African vocal arrangements in TLK) and Carmen Twillie (from "Circle of Life") were both prominent. And, where the TLK soundtrack had been closely tied to the movie, the one for Po1 (for so I tend to abbreviate it) was admirable as a stand-alone. The tracks were all vocal to a degree similar to that in the "Busa" theme, with a varying level of accompaniment by piano or orchestra. The tracks "Mother Africa," its reprise, and "The Rainmaker" were very moving and evocative.

The greatest flaw to be found in the TLK score is that it is far too short as released on the original soundtrack CD. This has, all fans must rejoice to say, been rectified with the release of Rhythm of the Pride Lands, the sequel TLK soundtrack, which occurred February 28. The songs are all sung by Lebo M., which is great in itself; but three tracks are written by Zimmer as well: "Lea Halalela," "Lala," and "Busa"-- all complete with transcriptions of the lyrics and their translations! Certainly all avid Zimmer fans would do well to look into this CD. But Po1 is the closest thing one might hope to find, right now, of a full-length version of the TLK score. It has all the length necessary to be fully satisfying, and (as I have said) it works very well as a stand-alone: one does not have to have seen the movie to appreciate the music in and of itself.

I am still in the process of collecting Zimmer soundtracks. The best one I have recently bought, available through Narada Records, is Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World. It is the score to a public TV series, and captures the same native vitality, while blending it with evocative orchestral arrangements, as do his African projects.

Perhaps the most telling thing I have seen as regards this whole story is this: On both the fourth and fifth times I saw TLK, as the audience stood up at the very end and watched the credits roll by, the appearance of Zimmer's name under "Score Composed by" drew loud applause from all over the theater. For once, the score to a Disney film overshadows its songs.

-BT

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