Considering his foray into instrumental music for MTV Sports, it's not
surprising that the prolific, diverse Jim Thirlwell would eventually focus
primarily on soundtrack music. Gondwanaland sounds as if it were
the score for a leather-clad James Bond movie, full of high-action chases
and plenty of suspense. The pieces, although not songs per se, move in
a natural progression towards a climax and are more obtrusive than the
usual soundtrack release. The wailing Arabic sample of "Radio Raheem,"
for example, as well as the four movements of "The Bowel Of Beelzebub"
(it is still Foetus, after all), return constantly to a homing point, creating
a traditional song structure with a nontraditional format. The one cover,
Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse!," shows that Thirlwell knows exactly what
he's doing-the manic hijinks of Scott's composition is ideally suited to
Jim's world by the blasts of horns and industrial squawks. Gondwanaland
stands up surprisingly well to repeated listenings, and offers a compromise
between background and interactive music. Danny Elfman, watch out.