OST: Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

OST: Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay / 2008 Lakeshore / 16 Tracks / http://www.haroldandkumar.com /

George S. Clinton is the mastermind behind the score for “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay”, and individuals may be familiar with eir work from films such as Cheech and Chong’s Still Smokin’, the Austin Powers series, and the first two Mortal Kombat movies. Despite the fact that Harold & Kumar 2 is a completely goofy type of film, there is still an emotional intensity present on this score that belies the goofiness inherent in the movie. Listeners will first begin to hear this during “Ron Fox/Interrogation/Gitmo”, which masterfully changes things up with each scene but keeps the general sound of the track constant.

“Osama Ben Kumar” has a fundamentally different sound than the previous combination of tracks, but has the same martial brass that first hit individuals when the album started out. The slinky, stealthy sound present during the second half of the track is further made clear through a walking bass. What individuals will easily get from Clinton’s compositions is a sense of what is going on in the movie. Where there are scores that do not touch heavily on the action of the movie, Clinton’s score creates a second narrative throughout all forty minutes of the score. The densely populated tracks on this score ensure that the forty minute runtime of the album seems to be twice, or even triple, of what it really is. Clinton smartly repeats certain elements during later tracks to ensure further cohesion of the score’s constituent parts.

Where other composers would use more tinny, higher-register instruments to create the narrative elements of a score, Clinton allows every instrument its time in the spotlight, depending on what exactly is happening during the film. I must admit, before listening to this score, I was not too terribly familiar with the works of George S. Clinton – I had watched Austin Powers and Still Smokin’ years ago, and had not paid too much in the way of attention to the scores of those film. However, all one needs to do is to listen to a track like “KKKP / Escape The KKK” to understand how great Clinton is. Moving from slow to fast, from full out energy to sneaking around, Clinton is able to have a number of subjects on the track without muddling up the waters. If Clinton’s previous works interested you, or if you are a fan of solid scores, make every effort to pick up this disc.

Top Tracks: Cockmeat Sandwich, Unicorn Mushroom

Rating: 7.6/10

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