Award-winning composer Mark Mancina, who won a Grammy® for Best Soundtrack Album (with Phil Collins) for his work on Disney’s 1999 feature “Tarzan,” produced and composed the score for “Planes: Fire & Rescue.” The Planes: Fire & Rescue original motion picture soundtrack takes off July 15.
Composer Mark Mancina returned to the runway to create the score for “Planes: Fire & Rescue.” As composer for “Disney’s Planes,” Mancina was able to take themes established in the first film and update them to reflect the unique and heroic nature of “Planes: Fire & Rescue.” “Dusty’s more grown-up so the music wanted to be a little more grown-up—a little bit richer. There’s an arc to his life and the music needed to follow that arc.”
Mancina opted for a more orchestral sound in the new score. “It comes from an earthy direction, so there’s a lot of orchestral percussion, French horn, strings and woodwinds,” he says. “There is added texture from other types of instruments, but the heart of the score is an orchestra.”
The melodic score was recorded with a 90-piece orchestra. For Dusty’s training montage, filmmakers agreed it called for a bold acoustic piano that would stand out from the orchestra. Says Mancina, “We were lucky enough to have Bruce Hornsby play piano on the score, which brought a completely different color and a much more mature feel to the score.”
Hornsby, a multiple Grammy®-winning artist, also played a special cue that can be heard near the end of the film, supporting the serious and emotional tone filmmakers sought.
Brad Paisley performs two new songs for the film, including “Runway Romance,” which was written by director Bobs Gannaway and Danny Jacob, and “All In,” a song Paisley signed on to write and perform after hearing of the film’s firefighting themes. “My father’s a firefighter,” says Paisley. “He was my whole life. And my brother-in-law and several family members are firefighters. I was really honored to pay tribute to them. I sat down after seeing a rough cut of the movie and it came to me very quickly.
“My dad was president of the volunteer fire department, which was walking distance from our house,” continues Paisley. “I spent several days of each week there with him—any time the whistle blew, he went. It was truly inspiring to watch him lead that way. It’s a strange and wonderful mentality that these people have. They get so excited about that opportunity to help. My favorite line in the song is, ‘Where there’s smoke and flames, and everybody needs out, I’m all in.'”
Paisley also lends his voice in a cameo appearance as a pickup truck in Honkers Sports Bar.
Newcomer/singer/songwriter Spencer Lee performs “Still I Fly,” a song he co-composed with his writing partners Windy Wagner and Michael “Smidi” Smith. “Still I Fly” can be heard when Dusty, after discovering that he may never race again, leaves Propwash Junction en route to Piston Peak to train as an aerial firefighter.
Planes: Fire & Rescue track list follows:
1. Still I Fly* Performed by Spencer Lee
2. Runway Romance** Performed by Brad Paisley
3. All In** Performed by Brad Paisley
4. Planes: Fire & Rescue – Main Title Score
5. Propwash Score
6. Out of Production Score
7. Dusty Crash Lands Score
8. Fire! Score
9. An All New Mayday Score
10. Sad Mayday Score
11. Pontoons Score
12. A Special Kind of Plane Score
13. Training Dusty Score
14. We Got the Gear Box Score
15. Cad Score
16. Blazin’ Blade Mystery Score
17. Mystery of Blaze-Lightning Score
18. Lightning Storm Fire Score
19. (It’s) Hip to Be Cad Score
20. Harvey & Winnie Score
21. Cheers Score
22. Nobody Has Your Gear Box Score
23. Fire by the Lodge Score
24. Behind Enemy Lines Score
25. Evacuation Score
26. Blade Is Down Score
27. Loopin’ Lopez Score
28. Tourist Trapped Score
29. Fire Heroes Score
30. Rescue Harvey & Winnie Score
31. Dusty Saves the Day Score
32. Saving Dusty Score
33. You Had Us Worried Score
The Planes: Fire & Rescue soundtrack is available for pre-order at both iTunes and Amazon.com and will be available nationwide July 15. For more information on Walt Disney Records’ releases, please visit Disney.com/music, become a fan at Facebook.com/disneymusic or follow us at Twitter.com/disneymusic.
