Mick Harvey - Motion Picture Music '94-'05

  by Jon Rogers

published: 7 / 11 / 2006

---

Review

Mick Harvey has come a long way since urging the listener to 'Release the Bats', along with Nick Cave in the days of The Birthday Party. The well-respected multi-instrumentalist has gone from punk wild child to composing ornate soundtracks. British listeners are probably unlikely to have heard of most of the programmes and films covered in Harvey’s second collection of soundtracks. But listeners will probably have heard of Andrew Dominik’s infamous film 'Chopper'. 'Motion Picture Music' though suffers, just as most other soundtracks do, due to the lack of visuals. Inherently, compositions made for films or programmes, are done to accompany the action on screen. Remove the latter and invariably the music fails to stand up unaided. And 'Motion Picture Music' is no exception. Even the excerpts from 'Chopper' never really convey the menace of the film without the image of Eric Bana’s portrayal of Mark Brandon Read. Elsewhere, as with the tracks from 'Rien Ne Vas Pas', it's all very beautifully constructed and played, it just never really comes alive. The most atmospheric parts come from Lucian Segura’s 1997 film 'Go for Gold'. And Harvey’s long-time collaborator Nick Cave makes an appearance on the final 'The Farewell Song', also from 'Go for Gold'. Really though, “Motion Picture Music” is for the avid fan only.

Track Listing:-

1 Two Guitars
2 At Neville's Gate
3 Cicaders
4 Homecoming
5 By The River
6 Face To Face
7 Reuniting
8 Finale
9 Main Theme
10 Three Guitars
11 Noises/Fire
12 Piano Theme
13 Setting Sail
14 Antarctica
15 Things Going Wrong
16 The Man Who Made Pictures
17 In The Wars
18 Papua/New Guinea
19 Things Going Wrong Again
20 Back In Australia
21 Chimes
22 End Titles
23 The Stabbing
24 In The Bar
25 The Polish Market
26 In The Bar Again
27 The Farewell Song

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/mickharvey4ev
http://www.mickharvey.com/

Label Links:-

http://mute.com/
https://www.facebook.com/muterecords
https://twitter.com/MuteUK
https://www.youtube.com/user/themutech