1. Coraline/End Credits 2. Coraline/Dreaming 3. Coraline/Installation 4. Coraline/Wybie 5. Coraline/Exploration 6. Other Father Song (As Used in the Film Coraline) 7. Coraline/The Supper 8. Coraline/Bobinsky 9. Coraline/Fantastic Garden 10. Coraline/Coraline Fly 11. Coraline/Trap for the Mices 12. Coraline/Mice Circus 13. Coraline/Dreams Are Dangerous 14. Sirens of the Sea (As Used in the Film Coraline) 15. Coraline/In the Bed 16. Coraline/Spink and Forcible 17. Coraline/It Was Fantastic 18. Coraline/Ghost Children 19. Coraline/Let's Go 20. Coraline/Playing Piano 21. Coraline/Wybie That Talks 22. Coraline/Cocobeetles 23. Coraline/Alone 24. Coraline/Dangerous Garden 25. Coraline/Reunion 26. Coraline/Coraline Dispair 27. Coraline/The Theater 28. Coraline/The Famous Mister B 29. Coraline/You Know I Love You 30. Coraline/Mechanical Lullaby 31. Coraline/The Hand 32. Coraline/The Party
Customer Reviews of This Album/CD
An Enchanting Dreamworld Submitted on: 2009-10-19
From the very first frame of the film this soundtrack had me mesmerized. It was a huge part of my enjoyment of the film. I hear bits of Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman and the Mediaeval Baebes but make no mistake about it, Mr. Coulais is a total original. I especially enjoy the utilization of odd percussive elements and the children's choir. The music takes you many places- childhood, the light and dark, sweet then sinister. I love entering other worlds and this music makes it easy to do.
Coraline is excellent! Submitted on: 2009-09-30
I think that Coraline is one of Tim Burton's very best films. It has a
wonderful story, well defined characters and is visually stunning.
It works well as a movie for children as well as for adults. Two thumbs up!
And the Oscar for best score goes to... Submitted on: 2009-07-28
I know it's early to be talking Awards Season, but if Bruno Coulais' amazing score doesn't get nominated it would be a shame. I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's book and was so happy when the movie turned out so great! I think anyone who has seen the movie would agree, however, that if it were not for this masterpiece musical accompaniment, Coraline's adventures in her neighborhood would not have been nearly as thrilling. I've never seen such a intimate relationship between music and film. It's almost as if the story were written for the music, it's so perfect. Every aspect of the story is enhanced, spookified, and given the exactly right mood for every sequence. And just when you think it doesn't get any better, the film ends and the End Credits blast what is no doubt the greatest showcase of Bruno's talent.
You've already seen the movie, and you've already heard the music.. so I really don't need to keep talking about how great it is, you already know. I'm just so happy I got this, especially in CD quality. It's beautiful, I can listen to it all day. I'll definitely be pulling this out during the Halloween season too for a little spooky atmospheric fun!
Macabre delight Submitted on: 2009-06-23
Coraline is the latest film from Henry Selick, the man who actually directed Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Like its illustrious predecessor, Coraline is a stop-motion animation, several years in the making, and is based on a story by acclaimed fantasy author Neil Gaiman.
Following his Oscar nomination for his work on Les Choristes (The Choir) in 2003, I had expected Bruno Coulais to become a more familiar musical voice in Hollywood. He's certainly proved he has a great deal of talent and versatility throughout his career, tackling everything from action thrillers (Les Rivičres Pourpres/The Crimson Rivers) to wildlife documentaries (Microcosmos, Winged Migration), but for whatever reason it never quite happened. Coraline is actually Coulais' first Hollywood studio picture, but whether it will provide that breakthrough remains to be seen; it's possibly the oddest mainstream score I have heard in quite some times, and I really can't make up my mind whether I like it, whether I'm fascinated by it, or whether it's just so bizarre I want to keep listening to it to make sure I'm not hallucinating.
People often label Danny Elfman as the master of the musically macabre, but there's really nothing in his filmography which compares to the strangeness of Coraline. At first glance, the musical make-up of Coraline seems fairly straightforward: the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, a children's choir, and glittery solo instruments ranging from glass harmonicas and waterphones to African and toy percussion. It's how Coulais uses these elements which makes Coraline so unusual.
The album actually begins with the "End Titles", a dizzying amalgam of scampering strings, undulating harp waves, and Children's Choir of Nice singing breathy, ghostly nonsense lyrics in what sounds like a combination of faux-French and mindless baby babble. It's a beguiling, utterly fascinating opening, which sets the tone for the rest of the album; that of a skewed, tormented fairytale turned on its head.
Throughout the score the orchestra has a light, elusive quality, often played at each instrument's highest register, and which is regularly infused with twinkly, scurrying plucked instrumental performances: harps, glockenspiels, chimes and bells, marimbas, and the omnipresent glass harmonica, giving the score an overarching sense of gloomy beauty, fragile delicacy, and innate peculiarity. There are moments of genuine tonal charm: parts of "Wybie", "In the Bed" and "It Was Fantastic", for example, are quite lovely, while "Let's Go", "Playing Piano" and "Dangerous" provide a few brief moments of drama and power through more strident orchestral performances. For the most part, though, Coulais seems to be at pains to keep his audience intentionally off-balance, using instruments in odd or unexpected ways or in surprising combinations, as if alluding to the fact that Coraline's ventures into this new, fantastical world are not quite what they seem.
Other cues of note include "Bobinsky", a quirky march with prominent wet brasses; "Fantastic Garden", an unexpected - but appropriately skewed - jazz piece with a stand up bass, hooting saxophones, and even a sitar; "Mice Circus", which features deconstructed big top music which has to be heard to be believed; and "Spink and Forcible", which for reasons yet to be revealed breaks out into a distorted Latin rhythm. The twangy, boingy percussion in "Wybie That Talks" makes it possibly the most bizarre cue on the album.
The choir features prominently throughout the entire score, further enhancing the magical, fairytale feeling; cues such as "Installation", "Exploration", "The Supper" and "Alone" feature some lovely vocal performances, tweedle-deeing and lah-de-dahing with eerie, inquisitive whimsy. Conversely, "Ghost Children", "Coraline Dispair", and the creepily beautiful "You Know I Love You" use the voices to slightly more sinister effect, reminding listeners that, underneath it all, Coraline is still a horror story about shady characters doing evil things to the unwary. A number of cues actually feature brief, sung vocal performances with proper lyrics - "Dreaming" and "Sirens of the Sea" for example - although the new song from alternative rockers They Might Be Giants, "Other Father Song", which is heavily advertised in the soundtrack's promotional material, is nothing more than a curious 28-second diversion.
As I was writing this review I was trying to think of scores which sound similar to this one, to give readers some basis for comparison, and I have to admit I'm struggling to think of anything. Parts of it have a Nightmare Before Christmas vibe, while others have the same spiky quality of Thomas Newman's children's scores like Lemony Snicket. Elsewhere, it even reminded me of some of the more psychedelic music The Beatles wrote during their "experimentation" days. Yes, I did say The Beatles. For the most part, though, Coraline sounds completely unique, unlike anything I've heard before, and that in itself is a rare and encouraging thing.
Having said all that, it's still very hard to get away from the fact that Coraline remains a very, very unusual score. Roger Ebert, in his review of the film, says "The ideal audience for this film would be admirers of film art itself, assuming such people exist. Selick creates an entirely original look and feel, uses the freedom of animation to elongate his characters into skeletal spectres looming over poor Coraline". The same can be said of Coulais' score, which may appeal more to admirers of the art of film music itself, who can appreciate the detail of unusual orchestration or intricate compositional techniques, and less to those who simply want to listen to something nice; as such, the score's high ranking comes from the fact that I fall into the former camp.
Eerily Fitting Submitted on: 2009-05-12
When I see a movie, the first thing that I notice is the soundtrack. I don't profess to have the world's most keen sense of hearing, but I know what I like, and Coraline's soundtrack hits it right on the head.
The first song that caught my attention is the opening theme of "Dreaming". It fit marvelously with what was happening on screen, and really fed into the feeling of the moment.
And of course, the "Other Father" song from They Might Be Giants is outstanding, as well.
The entire soundtrack is exquisitely well done, and worth checking out.
An Enchanting Dreamworld
Macabre delight