Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Composer(s):
Alex Wurman, Anthony Short (additional songs)

Released in:
2006

Reviews

Short But Very Nice
by Thomas Kiefner (August 19, 2006)

Will Ferrell is an executive producer, writer and stars in this Adam McKay written and directed film about NASCAR driving. Also starring John C. Reilly, the pair are known as "Shake and Bake" as they fight off the challenge of a French formula one driver for the number 1 and 2 rankings in the world. This is a fun film with a lot of emphasis placed on the comedy aspect and will appeal to a wide audience range, not just racing car fans, even though several of the current popular drivers in real life appear as themselves in this movie. That fact alone is going to create a nice audience from the race car enthusiast fan.

There is good and bad news about this score at this time. The score, what I have of it is wonderful material, some of the very best I have heard this year. The theme and all of the underscore are excellent. The bad news is there might not be a release of this material at all! Just keep in mind that a lot of material passes over my desk and I listen and evaluate all of it good or bad regardless of my personal taste. When I saw the title on this promo I thought yikes this is going to be some awful country western that somehow I am going to have to get through. Let me put it to you this way. If the demo had been sent to me with no title or track listing and I was asked about what kind of movie the music was made for I would have guessed some sort of western! The music has a style like the music could have come out of a Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone style movie complete with harmonica, guitar, and even a little bit of whistling! My guess, and that's all it is, would be the film could have had a temp track from a western for at least part of it. Looking at it now I can see that there is probably some sort of spoof style which directly fits into the film. "The Ricky Bobby Theme" is a really cooler than cool melody, one that you will remember when you leave the theater. It is repeated in little snippets and is also featured in "I Know You Son" "Outside Applebees" and "Victory Lane" among other tracks. With an 80 piece orchestra at his disposal even the underscore tracks are really fresh, unique, and highly creative showing the true talent of this up and coming composer. While I only had 13+ minutes of material to listen to, it was more than enough to evaluate this score. For those not familiar Alex wrote the score to "March Of The Penguins" version that was released for US distribution. It is available for purchase directly from www.milanrecords.com and would be a fine addition to your soundtrack collection. Even though Penguins has a slightly more landscape flavor to it I still quite enjoyed it.

We are just going to have to hope that somehow this music will be released as it is more than good but great. I was quite taken with the material. Just for your information. If this had been an official soundtrack release it would have been given (****) from me. Very very impressed.

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