Various Artists Erin Brockovich: Motion Picture Soundtrack Music
by Various Artists

About this Music

In scoring Steven Soderbergh's litigation-themed hit (wherein Julia Roberts' tough-as-nails/sexy-mom character claws her way to an entry-level legal assistant job, then brings a multi-billion dollar industrial polluter to its knees), Thomas Newman again stakes his claim as Hollywood's most consistently inventive young composer. Or make that reinventive--Newman breaths fresh life into the traditional, theme-based scoring concept (perhaps not surprisingly; his father Alfred Newman was one of Hollywood's Golden Age masters), imbuing the film's characters with deceptively simple yet distinctly modern minimalist motifs that pulse with dramatic energy. Using a mix of electric and acoustic pianos and his by-now-familiar array of eclectic, sometimes exotic, percussion wed to an astute mastery of studio technique, Newman gets inside the narrative and drives it with masterful subtlety. Another bonus: Sheryl Crow's "Everyday Is a Winding Road" and "Redemption Day" seem an organic part of Newman's score rather than tacked-on marketing afterthoughts. All in all, it's another gem from American cinema's musical Zen master. --Jerry McCulley