American Outlaws
Typical Rabin, though not as bad as usual. -Isaac Engelhorn (10/12/2001)
Track List:
  1. Brief Reunion 4:27
  2. Farewell And Hello, Key West 2:19
  3. First Kiss 1:21
  4. Perfect Outlaws 1:36
  5. The Hyperion Job, I Was Famous 5:49
  6. Acoustic Outlaws 1:56
  7. Long Spring, Better Posters 2:31
  8. This Is War 1:39
  9. Life's A Beach 2:02
  10. Thaddius Raines :32
  11. War Is Over :57
  12. No Ma, No More 1:01
  13. Pinkerton's Idea 2:19
  14. You're All Dead Men 1:11
  15. Train Escape 1:29
  16. Do You Miss The War? :49
  17. Jesse's Ride 4:13
  18. Surprise Attack :58

Total Time: (37:47)

Composed by:
Trevor Rabin
In my opinon, the entire film music world suffered a crushing blow when Trevor Rabin hit phenomenal success with his huge, yet completely pointless and irritating score for the even worse film Armageddon. Since then, Rabin has remained one of the most prolific "composers" in Hollywood. What's really sad is that every single score the man has composed thus far has sounded basically the same. The one exception has been his score for the shark-attack thriller Deep Blue Sea. While not a masterwork of any sort, this score proved that Rabin was not a complete waste of time and effort, and his new score for the latest film in the annals of Jesse James flicks almost, *almost* had the same effect. Like DBS, American Outlaws is comprised of music that is actually listenable, but unfortunately lacks a strong theme. Not to say that there are no themes, there are, including an electric guitar theme that is a direct reworking of his Armageddon theme.

What this score suffers from the most is a complete and utter lack of originality. I think that Horner's Enemy at the Gates score contained more original music than this, at least music that sounded more original, and was not hampered by such familiar arrangements. Another huge problem, and this can be attributed more to the film itself, is that modern, teen-oriented influences have no place in the legacy of Jesse James. It's ridiculous to hear western-style music suddenly become augmented by "hip" modern synth beats and rhythms (which this score does).

Still, American Outlaws shouldn't be a loss for fans of the composer (you know who you are ;-)), and those who have never bought a Rabin score before, but simply need to have one might want to look into this. People who are wary of Rabin's music, like I am, had better just stick to most other film score CDs this year. Thankfully, this is one of Varese's shorter releases (which we haven't been seeing much of lately), so it's not too long, and makes a decent enough experience for those who would actually like to hear it.

American Outlaws is Copyright 2001 Varese Sarabande. Produced by Trevor Rabin, Paul Linford, and Steve Kempster. Executive producer: Robert Townson. This review is written by and is the property of Isaac Engelhorn and does not reflect the opinions of Tripod.