Review Summary: A great soundtrack with plenty of emotion
Okay I will start with a complaint- "If I didn't Care" did not need to be included in this soundtrack. I don't mind "Lovesick Blues" as much. But both are kind of not needed. Even though both appear in the movie. There I said it!
Okay now let's look at the best part of this soundtrack. Thomas Newman's majestic work. This guy has got a great musical family tree. So it's comes to now suprise this guy can write music. (Alfred Newman and Randy Newman are both related to him) I think I like Thomas the best of the three composers. Though Alfred is really good. I just haven't heard much from him. Anyway, "Shawshank Prison (Stoic Theme)" is the best cue on this album. And it's a great string arrangment that blew me out of the water the first time I heard it in the movie. I remember watching this movie and the emotion in this short 2 minute cue is just amazing. "Brooks was here" is a sad cue, but is really well written. It's simple but you can feel Brooks pain as he can't live on the 'outside'. "His Judgmenth Cometh" is not in sequence but it's a great cue that builds suspense as the warden's secret is discovered. "Suds on the Roof" is the first edition of the what I call hope theme. It's such an uplighting cue as the convicts enjoy some beers on the roof making them feel free again. "The Shawshank Redemption" cue is great that is undescribable it's very soft in the beginning before building up to a great climax. "Sisters" is another edition of The Shawshank Prison theme. It's a tad different in its pacing. "The Marriage of Figaro" had to be on the soundtrack. It's a great scene in the movie, and the music kind of brings freedom and a sense of hope that just is grand. "And That Right Soon" is a great piece that is very active. With lots of fiddle playing or violins. "So Was Red" is the 2nd best cue on the soundtrack. It starts off with "Brooks was here" thing but then builds into a grand closure of the hope theme. "End Title" is no disapointment to a grand movie and soundtrack. The best movie ever made, and one of the best soundtracks ever written.
