The Polar Express (soundtrack)
The Polar Express: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the animated film of the same name, released in 2004 through Warner Sunset Records.
| The Polar Express: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | November 2, 2004 |
| Genre | Holiday |
| Length | 44:06 |
| Label | Warner Sunset, Reprise |
| Singles from The Polar Express: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
| |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
The song, "Believe", written by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 77th Academy Awards. It was sung at the 77th Academy Awards show by original performer Josh Groban with Beyoncé. It gained a Grammy Award in 2006.
The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in November 2007.[2] Having sold 724,000 copies in the United States, it is the best-selling film soundtrack/holiday album hybrid since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking music sales in 1991.[3]
It is worth noting, that most of the original orchestral score featured in the film was not released on the official soundtrack, and has never been officially released.[4] The soundtrack mostly comprises only songs featured in the film.[5] A limited number of promotional "For Your Consideration" CDs, intended to showcase the film's score to reviewers of the film, were released in 2005. This CD contained nearly the complete score, but none of the film's songs. Various bootleg versions of the soundtrack, combining both the official soundtrack album and the orchestral-only CD, have since surfaced.[5]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Polar Express" | Tom Hanks | 3:25 |
| 2. | "When Christmas Comes to Town" | Matthew Hall and Meagan Moore | 4:07 |
| 3. | "Rockin' on Top of the World" | Steven Tyler | 2:35 |
| 4. | "Believe" | Josh Groban | 4:18 |
| 5. | "Hot Chocolate" | Tom Hanks | 2:33 |
| 6. | "Spirit of the Season" | Alan Silvestri | 2:33 |
| 7. | "Seeing Is Believing" | Alan Silvestri | 3:47 |
| 8. | "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" | Frank Sinatra | 2:35 |
| 9. | "White Christmas" | Bing Crosby | 3:05 |
| 10. | "Winter Wonderland" | The Andrews Sisters | 2:43 |
| 11. | "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" | Perry Como with The Fontane Sisters | 2:40 |
| 12. | "Silver Bells" | Kate Smith | 2:39 |
| 13. | "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" | Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters | 3:04 |
| 14. | "Suite from the Polar Express" | Alan Silvestri | 6:02 |
References
- Allmusic review
- "American certifications – Polar Express". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- Caulfield, Keith (December 6, 2014). "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: 'Guardians' on Cassette Cashes In". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- Goldwasser, Dan (21 January 2005). "Battling Monsters With Alan Silvestri". Soundtrack.net. Autotelics, LLC. Archived from the original (Interview with Alan Silvestri) on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
"I'm not sure [if a soundtrack will be released featuring the full orchestral score], I have no real information about it at this time, but I can certainly say that we all have talked about it, and it's in the air as we speak - it just hasn't gotten any further along at this point.
- Clemmensen, Christian (19 September 2009). "The Polar Express". Filmtracks.com. Filmtracks Publications. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
The commercial album contains only a few minutes of Silvestri's own score material not connected to the songs. Released a month later was a Warner Brothers "For Your Consideration" promotional album featuring five untitled tracks amounting to 27 minutes. Fans eventually took the two albums and combined them to form "complete" bootlegs, some featuring an alternate edit of the suite heard on the commercial product.