The Next Three Days is a piano-led score by Danny Elfman for director Paul Haggis’s tense thriller, starring Russell Crowe.

Elfman is perhaps best known for his long time collaboration with Tim Burton (for who he scored movies including Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland). Elfman’s celebrated film scoring career stretches back over thirty years and spans such huge brands like Batman, and Spider-Man. His television work includes the signature themes for The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives.

I've been a long time fan of Elfman since I heard his score for Batman back in 1989. To be honest his work with Burton has always been a bit samey and so if you want to hear something a little more subtle then his work on movies like Somersby and Wanted is interesting. And here, with The Next Three Days, Elfman shows another side to his talent. Even the most hardcore soundtrack fanatic will have a job telling that the music was composed by Elfman. It's mellow, and very low key unlike the trademark big and bold scores we've come to expect.

This soundtrack also includes two Moby songs, 'Be The One' and 'Mistake', the former a brand new track scheduled to appear on Moby’s new album in 2011.

So if you want to hear a totally new sound from Elfman this is well worth picking up.

8

Darren Rea