Public Enemies [Score]

Performer: Original Soundtrack/Elliot Goldenthal
Artist: Teddy Wilson Orchestra
Engineer: Angie Teo; Frank Wolf; Joel Iwataki; Brandon Mason
Producer: Michael Mann
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Composer: Elliott Goldenthal. Composer: Elliot Goldenthal. Personnel: Katie Kirkpatrick (harp); Eric Hosler, Eun Mee Ahn, Songa Lee, Mark Sazer, Tammy Hatwan, Jackie Brand, Ana Landauer, Alan Grunfeld, Helen Nightengale, Phil Levy, Lily Ho Chen, Dave Ewart, Joel Derouin, Kevin Connolly, Richard Altenbach, Roberto Cani, Bruce Dukov, Julie Gigante, Natalie Leggett, Roger Wilkie, Tiffiany Yi Hu, Neel Hammond, Darius Campo, Liane Mautner, Josephina Vergara, Endre Granat, Tereza Stanislav (violin); Matt Funes, Shawn Mann, Vickie Miskolczy, Brian Dembow, Roland Kato, David F. Walther, Thomas Dienner, Andrew Duckles (viola); Jen Kuhn, Timothy Landauer, Chris Ermacoff, Tina Soule, Dennis Karmazyn, Larry Corbett, Andrew Shulman, Cecilia Tsan, Stefanie Fife (cello); Dan Higgins (flute); Charles Boito, Gary Gray (clarinet); Chris Bleth (oboe); Ken Munday, Rose Corrigan (bassoon); Greg Huckins (baritone saxophone); Rick Baptist, Malcolm McNab (trumpet); Phil Teele, Bill Reichenbach Jr. , Charles Loper, Stephen Holtman (trombone); Doug Tornquist (tuba); Dana Kelley, Kristy Morrell, David Duke, Steve Becknell, Brad Warnaar, Brian O'Connor, Jim Thatcher (horns); Brian Pezzone (piano); Chris Kollgaard, Bruce Morgenthaler, Francis Wu, Steve Kujala, Nico Carmine Abondolo, Mike Valerio, Ann Atkinson (double bass); Greg Goodall (timpani); Dan Greco, Ray Frisby, Robert Zimmitti (percussion). Programmer: Richard Martinez. Audio Mixer: Joel Iwataki. Audio Remasterer: Vlado Meller. Arrangers: Mark Baechle; Jeff Toine; Elliot Goldenthal; Robert Elhai; Teese Gohl; Bruce Fowler. The soundtrack album to PUBLIC ENEMIES, Michael Mann's film about the rise and fall of Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, boasts a subdued, darkly-hued score by composer Elliott Goldenthal, suplemented by some original recordings from the '30s, including three songs by Billie Holiday and the eerie slide guitar instrumental "Dark Was The Night," performed by the great gospel bluesman Blind Willie Johnson. In addition there are two hard times blues by contemporary artist Otis Taylor and a plush new recording of "Bye Bye Blackbird" featuring vocalist Diana Krall. All in all, it's an effective musical panorama of an era characterized by raw contrasts of wealth and poverty. The soundtrack to Michael Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies, which centers on the life of criminal John Dillinger in the 1930s, a time when the public enemies list was exactly that -- public -- and was followed daily like a baseball box score, with the good guys winning sometimes and the bad guys winning sometimes (and yes, everyone was keeping score), unwinds with its own story to tell, one that ends up being a tragic love story, among other things. The sequence is wonderfully atmospheric in spots, moving from track to track almost like in a dream, thanks to the portions of the score by Elliot Goldenthal that are included, and also thanks to tracks like Diana Krall's hushed reimagining of "Bye Bye Blackbird" (a song at the very heart of the film's plot) and Blind Willie Johnson's haunting, wordless moan (which is echoed by his beautiful slide guitar playing) "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," originally released on 78 by Columbia Records in 1929. Things start off with a bang, though, with Otis Taylor's driving, modal banjo monster "Ten Million Slaves," which drives its point home and thunders off like a runaway train on steroids. At the other end of the alley, Goldenthal's "Drive to Bohemia" is ghostly, soothing, and brief as the moment it underscores and defines in the film. Some soundtrack albums work all on their own apart from the film they were assembled to support, and some, of course, don't work so well stripped of the visual association. This one, thankfully, is haunting and memorable all on its own, flowing with it's own pacing and telling its own story, ending, in this case, in darkness and tears and Johnson's otherworldly slide guitar. ~ Steve Leggett

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