[Knight of Gondor]

I myself refrained from listening to the soundtrack until after seeing the movie. Now that I have heard it all, I have some thoughts.<P>You might, by the way, look up my review on Amazon.com, in case you want to. (You see, I'm shooting for a top 1000 slot, and it takes helpful votes, so if you find it helpful...) <P>Okay, first of all, I was not a very big fan of Enya's May it Be. It was sort of a boring song, and it didn't make much since. Darkness comes, believe and you'll find your way, darkness comes, but a promise lives within you, blah blah. I don't mean offense at Enya fans, or Enya, but the song failed to sound good to me.<P>For Gollum's Song, I'm sure the singer had a nice voice, but the song itself was sour enough that I didn't enjoy it much either. The singer didn't do that well, in my opinion either.<P>As for Annie Lennox, my brother told me pre-soundtrack release that she was going to sing a song, and that she'd been the one who'd sung at the end of Apollo 13. I really liked the end credits music for that, so I figured it'd be good. And then he listened to a sample online, and told me it was great, she was singing about HEAVEN. We got the soundtrack maybe a couple of weeks after its release, (darn slow store) but we put it up on the shelf and didn’t listen to it until after the movie. <P>So the first time I actually heard it was in the theater. And, nice try, the folks at the theater accidentally turned the music and end credits off right as they were beginning. My brother (or should I say Gandalf the White) ran out to thrust his staff at them and make them turn it back on, which they did. Then I heard it again on the CD at home.<P>Of the three end-credits songs, I believe I find Into the West to be the best. (I’m not even going to point out that that rhymed) I do agree that there is something about Annie Lennox’s voice that seems <I>just</I> a little mismatched, both with the movie and the music. But on the other hand, it’s the first song that goes anywhere (on the scale) without singing in a hopeless sounding manner. Being a born-again Christian, the lyrics are especially inspiring as a promise of the life to come, in Heaven. (I think it would be kinda cool to have your last words be I Aear cân ven na mar — the sea calls us home)<P>So of the three, Annie Lennox and Into the West get my vote as the best.