I was one of those film score buffs who went berserk back in 2007 when Jablonsky's stunning score for the first Transformers was not released. Fortunately, that omission was quickly addressed and has not been repeated with the second film.
I was nervous before acquiring the score. The first one was so good -- how, I wondered, would Jablonsky pay homage to the original without copying it too closely, and without going too far away from those roots? I've been a huge fan of Hans Zimmer and his fellow posse of composers for many years, so my confidence was high -- but still, I knew it was a tall order.
I shouldn't have stressed. Jablonsky came through in spades. For this project, there was a new Linkin' Park song ("New Divide") created, and with the reported assistance of Zimmer, Jablonsky integrated the instrumental melody of "New Divide" into the score on Track 3 ("Nest"). There is the expected driving, pounding, energizing music in this score, and it works very, very well. But there is also much, much more depth and forethought.
Take Track 2, for example ("Einstein's Wrong"). It starts off with the rather comical sound from the first film that represented some of the more lighthearted moments (Sam at school, on the pink bike, arriving at the lake uninvited, etc.). But then it becomes something much deeper, with a chorus singing in the high ranges -- it's remarkable.
Another extremely pleasant surprise was the use of a talented female solo singer (Lisbeth Scott) in very much the same style that Zimmer used Lisa Gerrard for Gladiator, "Injection" from M:I-2, etc. The use of the solo singer begins in Track 6 of this disc ("Infinite White") and is used at various points from there in. I was also pleased to see that guitarist Heitor Perrera was brought back in to work on another Zimmer-team score. It's been too long since he graced such a score!
In short -- this is a fantastic, well thought out score. It is an easy favorite, and now I really can't wait to see the film. Kudos, Jablonsky and team!
