Exactly two months before the film's release date, and with five weeks to completely write, record, and edit a replacement score, Hollywood veteran James Newton Howard was hired to unceremoniously replace Shore. With most of the Los Angeles players already booked for other major holiday soundtrack recordings (there are only a limited number of players and recording studios in L.A. for these endeavors, and they are booked individually or as groups well in advance), and a great distance between Jackson in his usual New Zealand location and Howard in L.A., the process required a significant employment of internet technologies to realize. Jackson and Howard would sometimes both view feeds of the recording sessions remotely (with Howard composing while the score was being recorded across town), and all three locations would be linked for communication purposes. Amazingly, the composer and director would not meet in person until the highly touted debut of the film. Howard's production of three hours of music didn't allow him to get overly creative with the score, and despite a promising possibility of actual interpretations of Steiner's crucial historical score for this 2005 interpretation, very little influence from Steiner's work would be evident in Howard's final score. It would be very interesting to determine if Shore's firing was due in part to some kind of more faithful interpretation of Steiner's themes and general rhythmic and instrumental approach.

One thing is for sure: Howard has provided an outstanding score given the time constraints and the numerous headaches of actually producing the recording. King Kong is easily Howard's most straight-forward orchestral score to date, robust in its basic construction and shying away from the electronic and solo instrumental creativity that has often defined his career. From the time of Steiner to Howard, film music has become much more fluid in its progressions, due partly to the career of John Williams, and whereas Steiner would blast his score with all the available power of 46 performers in quick rhythmic fashion, Howard follows the more standard modern format of subtly foreshadowing themes, slowly developing them, varying their instrumentation, and ultimately building to the usual choral finales. Today's technology has allowed the concept of density to be established in film music whereas Steiner could not rely on such nuances to make a substantial impact. Perhaps Howard's tip of the hat to Steiner exists in the relatively simplistic, single-layered structure of the majority of this score, but then again, maybe that was simply done due to time constraints. One funny aspect of Howard's score is a four-note descending brass theme for Kong, maybe indicating that Steiner's three-note descending Kong theme is no longer sufficient in the modern epic (everything must be done today just a little bit larger, no?).

Quick brass rips and percussive rhythms in the final "Beauty Killed the Beast" cues touch at the edges of Steiner's sensibilities, but by the time you hear a solo boy's voice in the finale, you realize that Howard as truly taken his own approach to the score. A theme for Skull Island is the other major idea in Howard's King Kong, and is used with grandiose effect on several occasions. Overall, this Howard score is very enjoyable, though one wishes that he would have made a few more nods to Steiner's work and incorporated more of the Kong-like sound effects outside of the island cues. A harmonically pleasing score from start to finish, Howard succeeds in the bouncing rhythms of his more playful interludes, as well as the broad strokes of strings for the love interest. An almost religious sensibility shines through in an ultra-dramatic series of cues at the end of the score, maybe due to the metaphorical struggles behind the Kong story, and while this may be a 180-degree turn from Steiner, it certainly excels in its mere beauty. Howard has produced the most easily listenable score of his career, but by no means his most creative or intellectual, and while this work will capture the attention of most casual film score collectors, it may not resonate as well with fans of the composer's eclectic styles. With only roughly a third of the score from the film on album (some cues for key sequences from the island are missing), look for an expanded album in future years if the film continues its success into the awards season. Howard has received around half a dozen Oscar nominations to date without a win, and look for King Kong to provide him with another opportunity to take home the golden statuette. In the end, though, Steiner is still the king of Kong.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download