Isles of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games [Album Review]

After the opening ceremony got such a large viewership it was always going to be inevitable that there would be an accompanying CD but in my eyes it’s certainly something that’s welcome.

We got a 2 CD compilation of tracks, some featuring in it in pre-recorded form and some taken live from the event, though it is very much a cherry picked bunch of tracks with many of the prologue tunes, montages, parade songs and the ending material conspicuous in their absence.

Out of the two discs, CD one is by far the most interesting including the excellent ‘I Still Believe’ b y Frank Turner, the four songs to represent the four countries and the weather-themed ‘Nimrod’. We also get the ‘And I Will Kiss’, the powerful piece from the birth of industry, and the tweaked and mashed-up ‘Tubular Bells’ which sounds better than ever. There is also the familiar ‘Chariots of Fire’ theme, Dizzee’s ‘Bonkers’ and a couple of tracks from Emile Sande, alongside the two stonking live Arctic Monkeys tracks and a couple of other instrumental tracks. It’s concluded by the highlight of the whole package and the whole opening ceremony in ‘Caliban’s Dream’, a hypnotic composition.

Sadly there is no space for the ‘Green and Pleasant Land’ medley or indeed any of the other filmed section soundtracks which is a shame, and though I appreciate the cost of licensing having them all on here would justify a higher price.

The second disc, more akin to background music, is made up primarily of Underworld’s well constructed score but with a smattering of other tracks in it including the two-part version of Chemical Brothers’ ‘Galvanize’ and David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’, but considering the raft of material used in the athlete section the absence of a wider range of music – here just represented by sole entries from the Pet Shop Boys, U2 and, more questionably, Wretch 32 – the lack of a wider variety is a shame, as is the ‘Hey Jude’ conclusion. Hey, it wasn’t that good but would have rounded the CD off nicely.

The soundtrack is a worthy momento of the ceremony at a good price of £10 but there’s as much missing from it as there is on it and it’s not really representative of the excellent opening ceremony. The few live tracks on it are great inclusions, as is the wonderful ‘Caliban’s Dream’ but there’s too many omissions to make this an essential purchase, and you should just download the highlights instead.

Here’s hoping the October DVD / Blu-Ray release is more reflective of the wide range of music showcased three weeks ago.

(5/10)