The soundtrack of the 2001 Tony Scott film Spy Game consists of a score composed by Harry Gregson-Williams and performed by The London Session Orchestra and Metro Voices, as well as several pieces by other artists. The album Spy Game: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, containing arrangements of the film's score, was released by Decca Records on November 13, 2001.
Contents
Reception and legacy
Critical reception of the album was limited. Editors at AllMusic rated this album three out of five stars, with critic William Ruhlmann writing that its assortment of genres was good for movie theatre goers but not for music listeners. Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks rated the album four out of five stars, criticizing the electronic aspects of the compositions but finding significant merit in the eclectic use of symphonic music, non-English-language vocals, and ethnic instruments, particularly the erhu.
Portions of the score have subsequently appeared in other works. The British television series Spooks includes "Beirut, a War Zone" and "Operation Dinner Out" in its second series finale "Smoke and Mirrors". The track "Su-Chou Prison" is excerpted in the theatrical trailer for the 2005 film Syriana. The score cue "Do You Miss London?", which was not included in the soundtrack album, is used in the concluding scene of the 2012 movie Argo.
Track listing
The film score was performed by Metro Voices and The London Session Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, with Gregson-Williams conducting.
"Driving to Su-Chou Prison" (Harry Gregson-Williams) – 2:09
"Electrocution" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:57
"Searching Prison" (Gregson-Williams, Justin Burnett) – 4:36
"Muir Races to CIA" (Gregson-Williams) – 2:04)
"Muir Hides Bishop Files" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:36
"I've Only Got 10 Fingers" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:29
"Red Shirt" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:37
"Chopper" (Gregson-Williams) – 2:44
"Heroic" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:30
"Your Wife Is on the Line" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:19
"Muir's Ransacked Office" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:43
"Unger's Badge" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:01
"Training Montage" (Gregson-Williams, Christian Henson) – 2:49
"Operation Sideshow" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:13
"Throw Out the Bottle" (Gregson-Williams) – 1:51
"Dumping Schmidt" (Gregson-Williams) – 2:24
Soundtrack album
The tracks on the soundtrack album are arrangements of cues from the film's unreleased score.
"Su-Chou Prison" – 5:00
"Muir Races to Work" – 3:32
"'... He's Been Arrested for Espionage.'" – 1:23
"Red Shirt" – 5:07
"Training Montage" – 2:34
"Berlin" – 2:18
"'It's Not a Game'" – 2:34
"'You're Going to Miss It'" – 9:15
"Beirut, a War Zone" – 3:20
"'My Name Is Tom'" – 2:41
"All Hell Breaks Loose" – 6:19
"Explosion and Aftermath" – 2:50
"Parting Company" – 2:08
"Harker Tracks Muir" – 3:28
"The Long Night" – 1:46
"Muir's in the Hot Seat" – 5:08
"Back at Su-Chou Prison" – 2:18
"Operation Dinner Out" – 4:50
"Spies" (Ryebot remix) – 2:16
"Dinner Out" (Rothrock remix) – 2:38
Other music
A number of pieces by other artists appear in the film.
Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra – Four Seasons Concerto No. 1 in E, "Spring" (Vivaldi)
Dire Straits – "Brothers in Arms" (Mark Knopfler)
Joe Walsh – "Rocky Mountain Way" (Rocke Grace, Ken Passarelli, Joey Vitale, Joe Walsh)
Pascale Machaalani – "Ti Zitas" ("Nour El Chams") (Nikos Terzis, Tassos Vougiatzis, Adel Raffoul)
Dean Martin – "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow" (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn)
Jim Jamison – "I'm Always Here" (Baywatch Theme) (John D'Andrea, John Henry, Jim Jamison, Cory Lerios)
Cory Cullinan – "The Bad News" (Cory Cullinan)
Brian Keane, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, and Arto Tuncboyaciyan – "Siseler" (Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Brian Keane)
Personnel
Primary artists
Harry Gregson-Williams – composer, conductor, producer, orchestrator
The London Session Orchestra – orchestra
Gavyn Wright – orchestra leader
Metro Voices – vocals
Ryeland Allison – remixer, "Spies" (Ryebot remix)
Tom Rothrock – remixer, "Dinner Out" (Rothrock remix)
Additional musicians
Khosro Ansari – Middle Eastern vocals
Patrick Cassidy – Celtic harp
Paul Clarvis – Middle Eastern drums
Peter DiStefano – guitars
Bob Daspit – percussion, percussion programming
Christian Henson (credited as Christian Hensen) – percussion, percussion programming
Greg Knowles – cymbalon
David Lauser – percussion, percussion programming
Anzu Lawson – Chinese vocals
Guangming Li – erhu
Hugh Marsh – electric violin
John Nordstrom – percussion, percussion programming
Fred Seldon – ethnic flutes
Lisbeth Scott – Vietnamese vocals
The Traditional Chinese Performing Arts Institute – Chinese percussion
Timothy Washburn – boy soprano vocals
Technical personnel
Justin Burnett – arranger
Toby Chu – arranger, recording engineer
Alastair King – score reader
Alan Meyerson – recording engineer, mixing engineer
Gregg Silk – recording engineer
Tony Stanton – copyist
Patricia Sullivan Fourstar – mastering engineer