By Michael Giacchino

Sony Masterworks, out now

 

A plethora of Peter Parker…

The latest Spider-Man score starts with a threatening drone, but soon gets into a rapid beat that has what can only be described as a New Yorky sort of sound- with notes reminiscent of subway train horns blended into the beat of “World’s Worst Friendly Neighbor,” and jaunty snares sweeping us through “Damage Control”.

There’s a lot of quieter character music do, with the gentle piano and lightest of electric guitar in tracks like “Being A Spider Bites,” before we hear the delicious tones of Dr Strange’s theme wind their way in to “Gone In A Flash.” It’s hugely welcome to hear the Doctor Strange music here, used by the theme’s original composer. It ‘s a little odd – but not too much, given how much of part Dr Strange plays in the movie – that for much of the score we have more uses of variations of the Doctor Strange theme than of Giacchino’s actual Spider-Man theme from the “Home” trilogy. They’re gorgeous uses of the theme too.

We also have a good mix of action themes too, from the triumphant return of Spider-Man’s swooping between the skyscrapers theme in tracks like “Sting Vs Bling”, through to music that actually you could interpret as foreshadowing Sam Raimi’s direction of the next film in this phase, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse Of Madness. Giacchino didn’t score that one, with Danny Elfman taking on those duties, but the dark moments of the opening of the otherwise unstoppable heavy drums of “Otto Trouble” and the whole of the almost clownish while also disorienting and thrilling “No Good Deed” and “Ghost Fighter In The Sky” carry a musical vibe that puts images of Raimi’s mostly forgotten Crimewave into the head, if you’re familiar with that lesser-known gem.

Aside from these returning themes, and the best action music from Giacchino this year, there is also a lot of introspective character and emotional music, and it’s interesting that so many of those parts are the themes for the various villains, with “Goblin His Inner Demons” being a standout, as is “Shield Of Pain.”

To round off the trilogy and the album, though, we have the absolutely stunning, top-to-tail best track of the lot – in fact best Giacchino track of the year –“Arachnoverture,” blending themes from the MCU Spider-Man movies into a swirling web of uplifting and heart-tugging flow, bookended by punch-the-action themes that is just awesome. And bonus point for the stoner electric guitar final passage.

Verdict: Fantastic score, just fantastic. 10/10

David A McIntee

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