Blood Diamond

Like the movie it accompanies, this score feels very much like an "Africanized" regular Hollywood production--but not too much, so as not to throw off timid viewers/listeners. James Newton Howard wrote his cues for a standard large orchestra, augmented here and there with touches such as exotic instruments, the African Children's Choir, and superstar Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour. N'Dour contributes vocals to the first track, "Blood Diamond Titles," but for a long stretch after that, it's pretty much business as usual: swelling, portentous strings (almost every track); a syrupy romantic theme ("Maddy & Archer"); pounding action cues ("Diamond Mine Bombed," "Solomon & Archer Escape"). Things pick up again with the three songs tucked away at the end of the CD. The Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars and Sudan's Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Gadir Salim, in particular, deliver a shot of genuine energy that's sorely lacking from the rest of the CD. This soundtrack--and the film--would have been livelier had there been more of that music. --Elisabeth Vincentelli