Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (2002) Review by Karl Watson

The thing to remember when listening to this album is it is NOT a Bryan Adams album. Don’t expect the usual rock songs plus a couple of ballads. This is a film soundtrack.

Being a huge film fan, along with owning quite a few soundtracks (and scores), I was really excited when I first heard that BA was doing a complete soundtrack for a film. Imagine my dismay when I heard it was for a kid’s cartoon film about horses. The film actually turned out to be okay, it features some great animation and set pieces, but is a bit slow and humourless to appeal to kids.

I bought the soundtrack ages before I saw the film, and now when I listen to it I don’t even think about the film. I judge it for the music alone. And as far as soundtracks and scores go, I think it’s excellent.

First of all, the opening track “Here I Am” is one of my favourite BA tracks of all time. It’s an uplifting tune with a lot of power behind it that features everything a good BA song should: a catchy melody, a good beat, a great guitar riff and one hell of a guitar solo (performed by BA!). After the success of “Don’t Give Up” there was talk of Chicane producing BA’s next album, which, being a big Chicane fan, I was really excited about. Unfortunately it never happened, but to me, “Here I Am” represents what their collaboration could have produced.

For me, this album features BA’s greatest vocal performance to date, particularly on “I Will Always Return (Finale)” and “Sound The Bugle”. This may be due to theatrical nature of the songs, bringing out a wider range than your average rock song.

Hans Zimmer is one of my favourite film composers. Although he, like many other film composers, is sometimes guilty of self-plagiarism (which is only natural due to the nature of their work), Spirit features one of his more memorable scores that stands apart from the rest (unlike, for example, King Arthur). He mixes electronic and acoustic sounds to tremendous effect, whether it be on the soaring western anthem of “Homeland”, the raw emotion of “The Long Road Back”, or the stirring and thunderous “Run Free”.

Both BA and Hans Zimmer have an excellent ear for melody, and I think it’s the fusion of their similarities and individual talent that makes this album work so well.

Key Tracks:
Here I Am
Sound The Bugle

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