MLP: The Movie Score Album Released - Thoughts on Cut Song and Score · 1:33pm Nov 17th, 2018
Old news by now, but the MLP Movie got an official Score album! This is a pretty big deal. MLP Score music has NEVER seen an official release before.
What's more, it has the music replaced with 'Ponies Got the Beat', which is partially heard in the credits. Literally less then two weeks ago, I discussed this in my two-parter video on the Movie. I said:
"Isolated, I don’t mind the Pony remix of “We Got the Beat”. But that it undercuts the opening establishing shot’s beauty… What is this, a Nickelodeon Movie? The Logo score is reused in the credits and continues past where it cuts off, suggesting an 11th-hour change, and when I synced it up to see how it fit, it matched so beautifully it’s not even funny."
Never would I have guessed we'd get the score album less then two weeks later, only a year after the film. I was considering publishing a video comparing the two, using the credits music re-synced to the opening after the logo. Guess that's not necessary any more!
What's more... turns out it was a song! The credits music was the instrumental version. This is one keeping more in line with the show then even 'We Got This Together', with which it shares many similarities.
BUT - that cut song. Some kind soul has synced it up to the film, replacing the 11th hour change of 'Ponies Got The Beat' (even retaining the dialogue from Spike and some background ponies, making it feel more authentic), as well an including the Deleted Opening found on the Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Download. Thus, we now have a nearly-perfect interpretation of how the film was mean to open. Take a look!
The deleted opening's already been discussed to death; all I'll say is, even as a Pony newcomer when I first saw it, I would have really liked it. As for the 'Equestria' song... I kind of understand why Hasbro chucked it out, even if I don't like it one bit. Sure, to show fans, it fits and is familiar, but to newcomers... had I heard this when first seeing the Movie, I wouldn't have known what to make of it. It wouldn't have let me emotionally detached from the film for several minutes, but I wouldn't have been as enthralled as I am watching it now, being a Pony convert. That said, it's still a case of keeping this 100% being the better choice. Honestly, I think I kind of prefer the instrumental version? The one in the credits shortens it by a few seconds in the middle, so we don't have a full version, but there you have it.
Back to the album - it's a largely complete one too, at basically 55 minutes. Back long before this was a deal, I went through the movie and figured out there was 66 mins of score in it. Add in the cut 'Equestria' song, and other snippets that were removed from the film but kept in their respective tracks here, and I'd say the film had 68 minutes of score, give or take. So we only missed about 13 minutes' worth. For anyone who listens to film score albums as much as I do, that's a pretty good deal! Especially given, without the context of the film, large chunks of this music don't quite carry themselves alone. The tendency with albums of such music is to release only the music that can really stand on its own. Let's just say, it's easy to understand why no Soundtrack label was all that keen on publishing this, assuming Hasbro even approached any.
All I mean is, by and large, this is the kind of score album that is likely to hold the biggest merit for people who have watched the film enough times, that listening to most of any track will let them imagine the on-screen action perfectly. Released this late, I doubt anyone but big Pony fans is likely to buy it anyway.
If I may, another excerpt from my recent two-parter video on the Movie:
"Daniel Ingram’s score is largely effective but anonymous. But whenever it’s called to do the heavy lifting, it excels."
Personally, what I find this album to be, is lots of little highlights, surrounded by stretches of music that does the job, but doesn't linger in the mind. There are only a few tracks that shine all the way through: most of them have enough "eh" music that counterbalances the more awesome music. Put it this way - I'm more likely to listen to a playlist of the album's best tracks rather then the whole thing frequently.
Technically, it's fine. A digital download means the quality isn't SUPER high, but it's standard for digital downloads. More then good enough to properly pick out individual instruments, and motifs and melodies intertwined throughout. Unlike most score albums, this is basically unaltered from the original source files (EDIT: 'Storm King' calls is, shortening quite a few silences that are nearly impossible to pick out in the film due to the spell static; others have done so too, just not as many as you'd think). It's common for score albums to string together short consecutive tracks that were technically recorded separately. The movie, in particular, often overlapped the ending of many cues, with the beginning of other tracks. While it wasn't wall-to-wall music, less then 10 minutes of a 91-minute film has no music behind the action, and even less when you put back in the missing snippets on the album. Common for musicals - the early 90's Disney hits were largely the same, with Beauty and the Beast only having 5 minutes with no music set to the film.
What I mean is, tracks that seemed to be one in the film, actually are separate. 'Lost in the Desert' and 'Entering Klugetown' flowed seamlessly together in the film, yet are kept separate here. There are also cases where tracks are kept together that seem to be separate. 'Entering Klugetown' at least does this naturally, with the 34-second start fully faded out just as more music picks up, but 'The Fall' straight-up has a 10-second stretch of silence from 1:26-1:36. These kind of things can only result from an album basically unaltered from the original source files the filmmakers would have synced up in post-production.
As always, Daniel Ingram is an adept chameleon of various musical styles, and while I'm not sure they blend together into an especially cohesive whole (much like the film, the score is kind of less then the sum of it's parts), and you don' forget this is his first time scoring a film, given usual TV series composer William Anderson handled the score in the Equestria Girls films, he blends between them seamlessly enough. It's not a score high on recurring themes - the song motifs don't even pop up all that much (with one particular use of 'Open Up Your Eyes' as Twilight saves Tempest inexplicably missing), but there are a decent share of themes exclusive to the score. The one that appears the most is the understated theme for Tempest, playing low on the strings whenever she spreads her silky menace. This theme appears in many tracks - it gets lengthy air time of 'Tempest Arrives' and 'The Fall', but also features prominently in 'Tempest in Klugetown', 'Storm King's Call', 'Capper's Betrayal', and 'Tempest's Frustration', before it's basically whiffed out when the Storm King's brand of instrumentation overrides it in the album's last fifteen minutes, much like how the Storm King himself does just that, as far as screen presence and charisma goes.
Past that... it's the usual kind of cartoony accompaniment - Eastern, almost Arabic, sounds, run about for the Klugetown tracks, adventurous ones for the pirate segments, bubbly awe for Seaquestria, and so forth. One particularly good track is 'Friends Come Around', where the three motifs all converge with one for the ponies.
Post's probably getting long enough. Best wrap up with some of my favourite tracks, or at least the ones I'm most likely to listen to on repeat.
'My Little Pony: The Movie (Introduction)' (1:13) - The AMAZING Opening Titles. Enough said. It got me invested in the film before 'Ponies Got the Beat' took that away, that's all the endorsement it needs.
'The Journey Begins' (1:30) - Perfectly suits the mood of the ponies setting off to beyond Equestria. This is an ADVENTURE movie, after all. From the opening, yet chilling, wonder, encompassed on strings, to the rising hope as the rest of the group stand by Twilight, to the cheerful bouncy rendition of the main melody playing as they start their trek, this one's a real keeper.
'Arriving in Klugetown (1:18)' - The back 45 seconds is effective but generic stuff as the ponies first enter the city. But those first 33 seconds! The part where Twilight first notices the road, the group spots Klugetown, and they start trekking towards it, is one of my favourite moments in the film, and it's largely because of this music. In particular, the motif from 0:20-0:33... gosh it encapsulates the feeling of an adventure so far from home SO well. While I'm a little sad the film's too crammed for the 'strange, foreign lands' aspects so prevalent in the Art Of book to really shine through, there are moments when they're there in full force. I wish the first 33 seconds was it's own track, just so it wasn't bogged down by the rest thereafter.
A small part of me sometimes imagines an alternate universe where there's a theatrical MLP film every year, much like the annual anime franchises that get the same deal in Japan (Pokémon, Doraemon, Detective Conan), and if that had happened, what three or four seperate films that tackled the four 'new' things in this film - Storm King, Klugetown, the pirates, and Seaquestria - might have been like. Well, I think I'd have really dug the one that focused on Klugetown, the alien forest cut in early development and the mud trolls. Go full 'the ponies are in an alien world' on us.
'Sonic Rainboom' (1:09) - Be remiss to not mention this, the instrumental ending to 'Time To Be Awesome' coupled with the music right after at the Rainboom catches Grubber's attention. It was on the song album's version of the song, so other then the last 16 seconds, it's all rehashed material (and material that was in the credits at that). Still, too solid to not make the cut.
'The Fall' (4:12) - This is the track that has a 10-second silence. It's really the chunk after the silence, from 1:36-4:12, that's making the cut here. There's enough of Tempest's building tension followed by the fast action thrills of the ponies' fall, Twilight's quick thinking, and finally the adventurous relief and hope at their journey being nearly over, undercut with an ominous undertone as they move to Mount Ares while Storm King's face leers at us from the tarp used in the makeshift hot-air balloon.
'Seapony Encounter' (1:37) - The last 70 seconds made the credits cut, and it's easy to see why. It really sells Seaquestria's scope, and is fun due to the building exciting tension as more instruments are added to the mix, in a similar manner to the Logo music.
'The Story of the Hippogriffs' (2:26) - Wasn't too sure about this one, but Daniel Ingram really threw himself at the Seaquestria music. Even if the segment of the film's honestly too compressed to really grab me, the music does wonders here, from the clumsy-yet-effective backstory through to their transformation.
'Friend's Fight' (1:55) - Let's ignore the typo in the title. Mostly understated stuff here, it does suffer a little without the film's context, much like 'Open Up Your Eyes', but even alone, if you properly listen, it's still got the goods.
'Friends Come Around' (2:04) - See what I said above. Blending many motifis together seamlessly and really capturing the theme of the ponies successfully touching all these new character and inspiring them to join their cause, it's a real keeper. There's a bit of several cues strung together with very brief silences here, so a little album editing here would have been nice, but it's still one of the album's best cues.
'Battle of Canterlot' (2:06) - Every cue from here until the end makes it in. Like many films, the 3rd Act cues are all largely near the pack's top. This one really sells the excitement of their comedic and fun squabbles against the Storm Guards. It's easy to overlook such moments when looking back, but they are important for engaging you in the cinema as everything builds.
'The Superstorm' (1:46) - Almost didn't make the cut, but there's enough presence from Storm King's power taking effect here to compensate. Disappointed the bit with the theme from 'Open Up Your Eyes' didn't make it, as it was probably recorded separately and then blended together in-film.
'Twilight Lost' (2:56) - Basically two of the film's best nearly-90-second cues as one, due to being technically one (the storm sound effects in-film cover up much of the joining music. From the early awesome moments of Twilight reuniting with Pinkie and the reprise of the 'We Got This Together' motif, down to the beautiful music accompanying Twilight's Disney Death (which I still believe is a highlight of the film, not a weak point), it's another one where the latter half especially isn't AS effective without the film's context, but still up there). Plus, I think it works BETTER without the music of Storm King's last stand and death continuing off of it, though I do wish that was still present as it's own track.
'The Magic Is Back' (1:43) - Awe as Tempest is freed, resolves to fix everything and magic fixes Equestria. Such moments can seem thin on paper, but when given breathing room in-film and music like this, they do the job.
'What Can I Do?' (0:47) - Didn't expect this on album! On film, it's blended between Sia's song 'Rainbow' on either side. Between Twilight telling Tempest, indirectly, that she doesn't have to let her disability define her (a message we need more of in all media, not just children's) and this, those last few minutes of the film. really had the goods.
'Equestria' (1:27) - The cut song. Even aside from the song itself, the last 35 seconds of instrumentation would be enough to mandate this making the cut. Although, why is it here, and not after the Logo track? Search me.
That's 28:09 of a 55:27-minute album, just over half. So, basically, that's the top half of the album, at least to me. Just over half of this comes from the film's last third. Not uncommon, music's often strongest that late in the game, when everything comes to a head.
Of the 11 or so minutes that didn't make the cut, what are sore misses? They're mostly short cues, almost all less then a minute unless they did have more joining them that was cut from the film, so not a whole lot. Here's some that springs to mind, in no particular oder:
The music of Twilight's capture and her initial moments in the airship in the cage (about 50 seconds, could be too separate cues). Probably hard to do, as the start bleeds right into 'Open Up Your Eyes'.
Similarly, the music after 'Open Up Your Eyes' (0:39), as Twilight mourns that she failed friendship and it slowly fades back to the others at Basalt Beach.
The music at the Festival at the end before Songbird Serenade starts singing (36 seconds or so). Cues like this often justify their inclusion, though it may have felt out of place between 'The Magic is Back' and 'What Can I Do?' Overall album flow does matter.
The aforementioned music after 'The Superstorm', where Twilight saves Tempest and Storm King prepares to strike (30 seconds or so). May also be combined with the following almost-20 seconds as the ponies launch themselves towards the palace and ram Storm King.
Storm King's death music (ballpark 30 seconds again). A tricky one, it wouldn't stand alone, but would attached to 'Twilight Lost', even though it would damage the ending of that cue.
The opening 14 seconds of Time To Be Awesome before Rainbow starts singing. Why this was omitted from the song album release is beyond me, it's clearly recorded with it.
Honestly? That's kind of it. There are other short cues that would be amusing, but it's easy to see why almost everything that wasn't included on the album... well, wasn't included on the album.
Best leave it at that. Let me know what you think of the movie's score, on it's own two feet, some of your favourite score moments, all that. In the next few days, I might do a post specifically listening all the cues not on the album as heard in the film ( so of them may actually be one joined by music omitted from the film's final cut, all that). Just for reference, you understand. Handy thing to have lying around!
Also, Track 2, Spike's Delivery, is misnamed. It accompanies the moments where the rest of the Mane 6 are setting up the festival, not the early scenes with him, Twilight and the other Princesses, which isn't represented on album at all. Should have been called 'The Mane 6', or 'Preparing for the Festival', or something.
I've read this, all the way through, but I really don't have anything to add. You've covered pretty much everything I'd thought of, and much more besides!
4969570
...so, you agree with me, then? I mean, we agree on quite a lot of things when it comes to Pony, but I'd be surprised if nothing I said here didn't rub you the wrong way, at least a little.
...man, I went kind of overboard with the length here didn't I? I don't know what happened! I only planned to say a few words on a few tracks mid-way, and then it kind of snowballed. Same thing with the missing cues. I normally pare such things down after the fact, kind of missed the opportunity here. Both here, with my videos, and in real life in many aspects, I have a tendency to not do things unless they'll really stand out. Quality over quantity, all that. But that doesn't hold true for everything. I should try and get into a habit of more frequent blog posts, even if they're shorter.
But thanks very much for reading this unintended behemoth!
4969590
In truth, I haven't listened to the album enough to make reasonably informed comments. If you pushed me, I'd say that I'd have preferred the vocal version of "Equestria" to the instrumental one, as I rather like the lyrics, simple as they are. The repeated "it's coming" works for me.
Just under 3,000 words. I don't mind it one bit, but yeah, it's not exactly a quick read!
4969595
funny you mention that, I just went back through and edited this post. Not just to fix typos, but to add paragraph breaks, adds more commas to slow down the flow, and some information fixes (68 mins of score in the film, not 66 - you'll see why tomorrow; also some tracks ARE silence-edited, it's just rarely obvious and much less then the ones that are). So hopefully it's a smoother read now!
I get that. Personally, it's because I've heard the credits instrumental version too many times that it's ingrained into my head. As the only score we had available for ages, it was a frequent listen of mine. And in editing my recent two videos, as I said, I synced it up to see how it fit. I very nearly showed it in the video unedited, but a 40+ second unbroken clip would have been asking for monetisation trouble. I'd planned to do that in a future tiny video, as I said, but hardly necessary now!
Anyway, all I meant was that, as a newcomer, the lyrics are very embryonic of the show's musical style, and that takes some getting used to. So, as a newcomer, is all. Nothing about the lyrics bothers me now, though I hadn't quite picked up they were saying "it's coming" over and over. Finally, I honestly find the instrumental version carries it really well in and of itself. But, given it wasn't even USED... well, missing the forest for the trees, I suppose.
As for how I listened to the album, at my current temp work, I'm often doing programming or 3D environment editing tasks for which listening to music suits quite well, in terms of the tasks not been hindered or my concentration being affected. I listened to the album a few times on Friday as a result - would have never had my thoughts so coherent so quickly otherwise! I usually prefer to wait and let things settle before talking about them in earnest, as you know. But I'd been waiting on this music getting an official release so long, I couldn't wait any longer.
If and when you do reach a point that you've listened to the album enough to make reasonably informed comments, be sure to let me know, here or anywhere, if you can - I'll be sure to spot them. I'd love to hear them!
...I didn't go overboard with the Pony emojis did I? Barely use emojis anyway, and these are suitably adorable. Finding a balance here.
4969611
Don't hold your breath!
While I like the score, there are a lot of other things in the fandom (official and otherwise) I like more, so in truth it's not an especially high priority. So far I haven't even bought it, and have just listened on Spotify. If there was a physical CD I probably would, but that's not going to happen, so...