Danny The Dog (Soundtrack)

Massive Attack – Danny the Dog (Soundtrack) – Virgin Records
Reviewed by Peter 2-07-2005

Very cool soundtrack for the forthcoming Jet Li film Unleashed (Danny the Dog was the working title). It sounds like it will be a very good soundtrack for a thriller/action movie. They do a great job creating a dark atmosphere and building tension.
I preferred the beginning and the end of the album; I thought the middle tracks were a little weak as stand-alone songs and might make more sense in the context of the film.
There’s a myriad of styles to choose from including rockin’ (2/4/20), airy (5/11), pretty (3/21) and more. Check it out.

No lyrics, no FCCs.

1. (1:10) - Slow, steady, dark, industrial, atmospheric with haunting electronics.
2. * (1:29) - Hard, driving, up-tempo industrial/rock electronics with bells.
3. * (1:57) - Very pretty, slow, dreamy, underwater-sounding with slow, regular beat and melodic instrumentation.
4. * (1:20) - Driving bass, rockin’ drums and angry electronics. Sounds like remixed videogame music.
5. * (2:59) – Melodic, mid-tempo, airy electronics. Nice synthesizer melody halfway in.
6. (3:08) – Sad, down-tempo, airy, strings and bells. Ends abruptly with transition into #7.
7. (4:28) Starts abruptly with a second or two from #6. Changes dramatically, though – noisy, distorted-guitar sound over a fainter riff below. Lots of guitar and electronics overall.
8. (1:59) – Slow, distant, mostly electronic atmosphere until long string crescendo for last 30s. Transitions into #9.
9. (2:04) Transition from #8 – starts with crescendo of urgent electronic clicking – presses the song forward. Sparse electronic notes and underlying shuffling rhythm, which takes over towards the end of the song. Nice musical/clock effect for last 30s.
10. (1:51) – Slight transition from #9 – starts with driving bass. Quick electronic melody comes in along with other electronic elements Last 5s intro
# 11
11. * (2:46) – Airy string intro. Very pretty, slow piano comes in halfway and struggles with dark, haunting electronics and strings. Makes for a cool, scary effect. Choir towards end.
12. * (3:19) – More traditional electronic melody for intro, then becomes more sparse and gives way to dark atmospheric electronic. Melody comes back at times and is very pretty.
13. (1:29) – Slow, rolling strings feel both triumphant and foreboding at times.
14. (2:32) – Slow, pretty song. Strings and electronics make an almost music-box-sounding melody but is much more complex, especially towards end.
15. (1:33) – Pleasant, atmospheric electronics with melodic, unobtrusive background elements.
16. * (1:54) – Mid-tempo, upbeat electronic melody with nice supporting electronics – feels energetic and triumphant at this point in the album. Good soundtrack music, very cool.
17. (2:25) – Very pretty, calm, slow relaxing electronic piece until last 5 seconds which are a disturbing (after 2:20 of pleasantness) transition to #18.
18. (2:20) – Mid-tempo, hard, rock (Korn?) feel with dissonant electronics for last 35s.
19. (5:53) – Industrial intro and beat throughout. Winds down into a softer, but still dark, tone (Radiohead, almost). Middle part has dark, dissonant crescendos. Has a less dissonant ending, and there are some pretty parts, but overall less so.
20. * (4:14) – Energetic, driving, hard, rock song. The beginning reminds me of RAtM at the end of The Matrix, but becomes more distinctly electronic towards the end.
21. * (1:45) – Pretty piano finale with sad electronic elements – I guess the movie didn’t have a particularly happy ending…