Monsters vs Aliens
AllMusic; Amazon; Apple Music; Discogs

This is the soundtrack and score to the movie Monsters vs Aliens. It came out in 2009, but I have no idea when I got it. I'm reviewing it in 2024. (I have this weird feeling like I had reviewed it at some point in the past, but of course I didn't.) The score was written by Henry Jackman, but the album also contains various older songs.

1. "A Giant Transformation": This is kind of epic and exciting.

2. "When You See (Those Flying Saucers)", by The Buchanan Brothers: I wasn't familiar with this song before. It's some old-fashioned country or gospel music, or whatever, from 1947. (I can't think of an exact genre, but it's really simple.) I think it's kind of cool, it's got neat lyrics.

3. "Tell Him", by The Exciters: This song I did know before, because it's a classic pop song, from 1962. Not one of my favorites, but it's good.

4. "A Wedding Interrupted": This is a light, sweet piece of music. Until it's not.

5. "Meet the Monsters": This is kind of groovy.

6. "Planet Claire", by The B-52's: This is from 1979, but I don't know if I'd ever heard it before this movie. I doubt it. But I like it a lot, and sometime after listening to it when I first got the soundtrack, I added it to my Halloween playlist on Spotify. It's more than two minutes before any singing starts. It's got weird lyrics and the whole thing is really trippy.

7. "Do Something Violent!": This is a scary piece of music from the moment it begins. Sounds like some very dangerous stuff is going on, for sure. I like it.

8. "The Grand Tour": This is just interesting, for the first half. I mean it evokes being interested in whatever's going on. The second half is softer and sweeter.

9. "Oversized Tin Can": This starts off exciting, but quickly mellows a bit. Then it gets exciting again. The mood goes back and forth. It has a heroic feel to it in the exciting parts, and sometimes it feels dangerous.

10. "The Battle at Golden Gate Bridge": This is the longest track on the album, at 6:08. The whole thing is pretty exciting. I like it, but I kind of wish it were shorter.

11. "Didn't Mean to Crush You": This is the shortest track, at 1:51. It doesn't sound like there's any crushing going on. It's soft and pretty.

12. "Reminiscing", by Little River Band: This is from 1978. I knew this before the movie, but it's not something I've ever really thought much about it. It's good, though.

13. "Imprisoned by a Strange Being": This one's kind of creepy, I guess, or at least parts of it are. It can be both quiet and loud in different parts, but mostly it's frantic.

14. "Galaxar As a Squidling": Part of this is fairly light, and part of it is more foreboding.

15. "March of the Buffoons": There's a sort of militaristic cadence to most of this, but the mood shifts around a bit.

16. "Wooly Bully", by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs: This might be the most familiar song on the album. It's from 1964. It reminds me of Back to the Beach (though it may have been done by a different singer in that movie). It's just really fun.

17. "Susan's Call to Arms": This starts off softly, and gets exciting.

18. "The Ginormica Suite": This is the second longest track. Being a suite, it has different movements, but mostly it's pretty music. It gets more heroic and action-y later on. But the whole thing is really good.

19. "Monster Mojo": This is another sort of groovy one. And sort of sci-fi-ish.

20. "Purple People Eater", by Sheb Wooley: This is another song that I have on my Halloween playlist. It's from 1958. It's just silly fun.

It's cool that the songs on the album are kind of old, but actually I think most of them aren't old enough. The movie feels like a modern take on B-movies from the 1950s, so the songs are mostly too recent by a decade or two. But the whole album is great, both the songs and the instrumental pieces.