Hi there! Steelrattus again, on day 2 of his 10 day guest stint.
Today’s album is the soundtrack to Excalibur by Trevor Jones. This is the first of the two albums in this 10 day stint that I actually know something about, albeit I’ve never owned it. I first saw Excalibur when it was recommended to me by the lovely UniversityRichard™ – I’ve mentioned UniversityRichard™ previously, as he introduced me to a shit ton of music and film-ery back at… well, university. Excalibur is an odd old thing, filmwise. Whereas most Arthurian films (he says, trying to think of an example… A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court?) paint the legend as rather glamorous and freshly polished, Excalibur has this gritty feel to it. It feels about as real as make believe a legend can be. Aside from having relatively fab productions values, it is also rich with acting talent, including Nicol Williamson’s fantastic portrayal of Merlin (which UniversityRichard™ does a great impression of).
In terms of technical shtuff, the film was released in 1981. The soundtrack sounds rather familiar, because a lot of it is recycled classical tracks, including pieces from Orff’s Carmina Burana and Wagner’s Ring and Tristan und Isolde operas. I can’t seem to find anything on why they didn’t use an entirely original soundtrack though. There are 18 tracks on the album.
A lot of soundtrack albums have that issue of standing apart from the source, assuming that they have to of course. It’s not so bad in Excalibur’s case, because there are some literal classics on there. Jones’ tracks vary from the more medieval in style (think lutes and reed-y things), to the more traditional classical film soundtrack. Do I like it? Well it’s OK, but I can’t say I’d go out of my way to listen to it, which probably explains why I’ve never bought it.
Here is the Jones’ penned track, Igrayne’s Dance…
Stegzy's Music Project 
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