John Murphy

Disney, out now

The Guardians learn what Christmas (music) is…

Murphy is a British composer familiar from the works of Danny Boyle and Guy Ritchie in the 90s and noughties – he scored both 28 Days/Weeks Later and Snatch – then more recently The Suicide Squad  and its spinoff series Peacemaker. Here he makes his MCU debut before scoring the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3.

Abetted by country rock band The Old 97s and Tremors star and mobile phone salesman Kevin Bacon, whose songs top and tail the album, Murphy here gives us the score for the franchise’s hour-long Christmas special, and…  to be honest it’s a rather unremarkable affair.

For one thing, like so many recent TV soundtracks, it omits the licensed songs used, such as a well-placed use of “Fairytale Of New York” in favour of merely the two songs from The Old 97s, who play an alien band unaware of Christmas in the show. Their opening song, written by GOTG writer and director James Gunn, “I Don’t Know What Christmas is (But Christmastime Is Here” is an amusing bit of country-pop whose lyrics give us a comedic misinterpretation of everything Christmassy, and in effect seem to be singing more about the setup of Futurama’s evil robot Santa and his antics. They also close the album with “Here It Is Christmastime” accompanied by guest star Kevin Bacon as lead vocal. This again, is actually a fun song.

As for John Murphy’s premiere MCU score… It isn’t what you’d objectively call bad, but… Have you ever seen any – literally any – US/Hollywood Christmas movie or episode of anything in the past 20 years? This is that’s musical score. It’s 100% to a textbook format, with little imaginative or original diversion. There are jingling and sleighbells on all peaks everywhere, especially on the tension and chase scenes, which are, of course, all plucked strings under the jingling.

There are a few moments that almost go off and do something that might either fit the Guardians or give us a taste of what Murphy’s style of MCU music might be like – notably in “Kraglin Explains” where there’s a teasing hint of a riff on the tone of “Fairytale Of New York”, and in the emotional moments of “Mantis Reveals Her Secret” – but they’re few and far between.

Verdict: Sadly, a lack of individuality and imagination means that sticking so firmly to a long-established stylistic formula leaves the score as an unmemorable accompaniment to the Holiday Special, and a disappointing listening experience on its own. It’s far from Murphy’s superior work on Peacemaker. The songs are worth adding to your December playlist, though. 6/10

David A McIntee