Judas Kiss

Composer: Christopher Young
Lable (Release Year): Citadel (2000)
Availability: ****
Rating: ****

Judas Kiss, a quirky thriller starring Emma Thompson & Alan Rickman, was only premiered as a TV movie and never made to theaters in the US. Little did I expect, one of Christopher Young's best non-horror effort comes from this little known film. His fun jazzy score is very enjoyable and makes me want to check out the film. It is not the first time for Young to compose a jazz flavored score. He has also used the approach in Rounders, The Big Kahuna, and may be other films also. For Rounders, I find it a little too low key and not that enjoyable on its own. As for The Big Kahuna, scored after Judas Kiss, is much closer in style even though it is a drama with no guns.

The score is sassy and upbeat for the most part. The score begins with "Judas Kiss", a mysterious bossa nova tune. It has nice guitar, electric piano and muted trumpet solos. "Indiglo" is not a bossa nova but its atmosphere is about the same as "Judas Kiss". It features some sexy saxophone solo. "Mod Mango" is another good track with nice percussion arrangement. It reminds me of Lalo Schifrin's music for the cop show Mannix. The best track of all, is "Coco-La-Mambo". If you like mambo, there is no reason why you won't like it. It's just as attractive as Alan Silvestri's music for Soap Dish. The rest of the tracks more or less fall along the same line as the first few tracks. Almost all remind me of music from the cop shows of the 70s. For the slower tracks, they sound like someone is sneaking around looking for clues or following someone. The faster tracks remind me of 60s big band music except they have less instruments playing. Most tracks, like "Mod Mango", also feature great percussion arrangements. If you like a light rhythmic jazzy score, you will no doubt enjoy this one.

As a bonus, the CD also contains live performance of a Halloween film music concert at Butler University in Indianapolis, with Stanley DeRusha conducting The Butler Symphony Orchestra. The selections include a world premiere recording of a "Species Suite". Their performance sounds not bad for the first 3 tracks. However, the one for the Hellraiser suite is…awful. The French horn section simply can't handle it. Contrasting to the jazzy Judas Kiss, the bonus tracks seem out of place. Nonetheless, it's nice to have them to fill up the time. In general, I enjoy the score and I hope you will to.



    Track Listing:
  1. Judas Kiss (2:25)
  2. Indiglo (2:37)
  3. Mod Mango (1:28)
  4. Coco-La-Mambo (3:37)
  5. Lizard Meditations (1:20)
  6. Ameliorate (2:14)
  7. Beef Orgasms (1:50)
  8. Sebastiana (2:44)
  9. Missed Kiss (4:03)
  10. Elevate to Heaven (3:47)
  11. Patty Who? (2:36)
  12. Lucky Charmed (2:58)
  13. Borkum Riff (3:00)
  14. Bee Wax Menthol (3:23)
  15. Coco-La-Mas-Mambo (3:38)
  16. Getting Even: Helicopter Chase (3:21)
  17. Copycat: End Title (5:10)
  18. Species: Suite (5:31)
  19. Hellraiser/Hellbound: Suite (11:58)
    Total Time: 67:40


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