The Polar Express (CD, Oct-2004, Warner Bros.)

Album Features
UPC:	093624889724
Format:	CD
Release Year:	2004
Record Label:	Warner Bros.
Genre:	Film Composers, Rock & Pop

Track Listing
1. Polar Express, The - Tom Hanks
2. When Christmas Comes to Town - Matthew Hall/Meagan Moore
3. Rockin' on Top of the World - Steven Tyler
4. Believe - Josh Groban
5. Hot Chocolate - Tom Hanks
6. Spirit of the Season - Alan Silvestri
7. Seeing Is Believing - Alan Silvestri
8. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Frank Sinatra
9. White Christmas - Bing Crosby
10. Winter Wonderland - The Andrews Sisters
11. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Perry Como/The Fontane Sisters
12. Silver Bells - Kate Smith
13. Here Comes Santa Claus - The Andrews Sisters/Bing Crosby
14. Suite from The Polar Express - Alan Silvestri

Details
Producer:	Alan Silvestri, Glen Ballard, David Bifano
Distributor:	WEA (Distributor)
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Audio Mixers: William Malina; Dennis Sands; Mick Guzauski; Scott Campbell .Arranger: Jerry Hey.The soundtrack to Robert Zemeckis' groundbreaking film adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's popular children's book The Polar Express celebrates the season with both classic and contemporary holiday flair. Composers Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri provide the latter, relying on swelling choral arrangements, tender ballads, and polarizing yuletide offerings from Stephen Tyler and Josh Groban. Tyler struts his stuff on the amiable but derivative "Rockin' on Top of the World," a three-chord rave-up that finds the Aerosmith mouthpiece channeling a pack of howler monkeys, but it's Groban's syrupy, future American Idol favorite "Believe" that serves as the soundtrack's commercial centerpiece. Tom Hanks does his best Gene Wilder on the whimsical and strangely unnerving title track, a wonderfully unhinged performance that will have Willy Wonka fans clamoring for more, and the winsome vocals of preteens Matthew Hall and Meagan Moore give the ballad "When Christmas Comes to Town" a real sense of wonder. Silvestri's orchestral pieces are effective in tone, yet ape Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands theme so shamelessly that lawyers on both sides must have had words early on in the production. The Polar Express is ambitious for sure, but the fact that its most sincere pieces are the six classics that make up its caboose is telling. [The Polar Express is also available in a Special Edition that includes a decorative box and artwork from the book.]