The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack Review

The Fellowship of the Ring, is the first movie and sountrack of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Howard Shore was selected to compose all three scores for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and in my opinion Fellowship is his best score. A majority of the music is dark and filled with blaring horns. I originally bought this soundtrack so I could hear the music that was played each time Saruman showed up in the movie. However, I was disappointed because the version you hear troughout the movie is briefly played on "A Knife in the Dark". I felt I was stuck with a disc filled with music I wouldn't care for, well turns out that couldn't be farther from the truth. This soundtrack is billiant, there are some flaws, but there are so many great tracks which far out weigh the not so great tracks.

Let's take a look at some of the ups and downs to this soundtrack. It starts off with "The Prophecy" which I enjoy the first half of but then it starts to slow down and loses my interest. I've read some complaints because it does not start off like the movie, the other two soundtracks do feature the brief progression you hear when the gold "stone like" The Lord of the Rings displays before the movie starts. To me that's no big deal, it certainly doesn't take anything away from this soundtrack. "Concerning Hobbits" is not particulary a favorite of mine, it's the music you hear during The Shire scene, which fits well for the movie but not for me. I really don't care for the flute that sounds similar to the flute heard in Titanic... Don't be fooled by the opeing to The Black Rider, there first fifty seconds are very light but then it turns into one of the highlights of the soundtrack.

One thing you will notice, tracks 3 and 5 through 8 all feature the chorus that you hear sing the "Ringwraith Theme". I'm a fan of that theme, however, it sometimes gets repetitive when you hear it over and over. Let's jump ahead to what I feel are the two best songs on the soundtrack. A Journey in the Dark is the song that's played while they travel through the Mines of Moria. It starts off very tranquil and builds up to a very strong ending. Bridge of Khazad Dum is the best track, it's awesome...enough said! It's such a great song that it's frustrating to listen to the version in the movie which is horrble compared to the soundtrack.

Lothlorien not my one of my favorites, this is the scene where they go to see Galadriel and Celeborn. There's a part halfway through the song that just really drags. The next two songs are very good songs! Then the a bombshell with The Breaking of the Fellowship the songs starts off okay but quickly slides downhill especially when the singing kicks in. May it Be features Enya, I could care less, for some reason they had someone sing a song at the end of each soundtrack (but they just don't fit with the music!).

The bottom line, this is a fanatastic soundtrack.

Album Breakdown:

1. The Prophecy
2. Concerning Hobbits
3. The Shadow of the Past
4. The Treason of Isengard
5. The Black Rider
6. At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
7. A Knife in the Dark
8. Flight to the Ford
9. Many Meetings
10. The Council of Elrond
11. The Ring Goes South
12. A Journey in the Dark
13. The Bridge of Khazad Dum
14. Lothlorien
15. The Great River
16. Amon Hen
17. The Breaking of the Fellowship
18. May It Be

3.5
2.0
5.0
5.0
5.0 +++
4.0
5.0
5.0
3.0
2.0
4.0
5.0 +++
5.0 +++ Best Track!
3.0
5.0
4.5
2.0
3.0

+++ = Absolutely Fantastic Song!