For 2006's gritty Departed, director
Martin Scorsese, instead of deftly balancing the film's score with selections from the his notoriously large jukebox of jazz, rock, pop, and country tunes as he has done in the past with both Goodfellas and Gangs of New York, split the two into separate releases, allowing fans the option of experiencing composer
Howard Shore's moody, guitar-heavy soundtrack without
the Beach Boys,
the Rolling Stones, or
Badfinger there to break the vibe.
Shore is as adaptable as always, crafting an urban landscape littered with dissonant strings, gently plucked classical guitars, and feedback that comes and goes like the ebb and flow of the public transit system. From tango to the blues,
Shore paints Boston as the multicultural Petri dish it is, shadowing
Scorsese's tale of cops and corruption like a willing participant rather than a fish-out-of-water bystander. ~ James Christopher Monger