Soundtrack Snippets

The Lone Ranger score by Hans Zimmer is full of surprises. Good ones.
The movie itself, is a remake of the older classic Lone Ranger TV episodes, but is more of a grittier/humorous story. It stars Johnny Depp, Arnie Hammer, Helen Bonham Carter, and....oh yeah, a horse. Moving on......
Zimmer starts the album right off with blast of dramatic violin music in the cue, Never Take Off The Mask, which is a beautiful melody in of itself.
In the following cue, Absurdity, the music switches to an off-kilter flute arpeggio and a quirky theme with several acoustic instruments including a banjo. The heroic main theme is introduced which is a heroic, big western, orchestral motif.
Next, the horse, who's name is Silver, gets a theme. The cue is titled appropriately, Silver and the theme is hails from an Irish folk song, "After the Battle of Aughrim" It is played majestically on a gorgeous, soaring violin solo Immediately following is the cue, Ride which is a traditional "spaghetti western" cue; trumpets, guitars and all.

Some of the grittier material is heard in the darker cues, You've Looked Better, and You're Just A Man In A Mask. They maintain the classic "Hans Zimmer sound" with abrasive percussion and bombastic synth.
The cue, Red's Theatre of the Absurd, is a mischevious and goofy theme backed up by trumpets, plucked acoustics, and the unmistakable honky-tonk piano. It's another fun, off-kilter theme and may be annoying to some, while enjoyable to others.
The action material is heard in several of the cues namely, The Railroad Waits For No One, and most impressively in, For God and Country. The motif is a heroic orchestral frenzy with Zimmer's typical banging percussion. The cue bursts into a glorious choral theme bringing the track from amazing to epic! (Yes, I love choral music, is it that obvious?) Something interesting of note is that in the cue, For God and Country, Zimmer actually adds a subtle sound effect from an old locomotive chugging. Given the movie is somewhat about trains, it was a brilliant move on the composers part. Listen closely to the track and you will hear it. Sheer genius!


The cue, Finale is the grand climax of the score and it isn't Zimmer's music. Instead, Zimmer had fellow media ventures composer, Geoff Zanelli re-arranged a 9 minute version of the William Tell Overture. It isn't identical to the original piece, and has some of Zimmer's and Zanelli's own special quality in it. The style is more of a grittier, grander, western romp. The main theme and Silver's theme is incorporated into the cue in all it's grandeur and is worth listening to in it's entirety.
The final cue which is titled, Home, which has a melancholic, nostalgic, and satisfying feeling to it.
This score is definitely one of Zimmer's better recent projects and comes highly recommended.

Best Track(s)

• For God and Country (Ok, so maybe it is obvious that I'm partial to choral music...)
• Silver (Yes, definitely my all time favorite horse theme!)