My biggest criteria when listening to a score album is how well it works as a stand-alone album. Some releases just don't quite cut it when it comes to listening apart from the film, regardless of how well the music worked within the film. Transformers - The Score works great apart from the movie.

Before listening to this album, I cannot say that I recall any of Steve Jablonsky's other work, although I am definitely curious to look for some more, particularly The Island. His work here is, simply put, excellent. I would not call it a great score, but what it does do it succeeds at wonderfully.

Transformers is a big, epic film (whether you like it or not is a completely different question. The score is filled with big, expansive, soaring themes that return in different forms throughout adding to continuity. The string section is huge, the percussion booms, and there is even some electronic synth in the mix, a perfect addition considering the robotic nature of the film.

I think my main problem, and it is a minor one in the big picture, is that the tracks are not presented in the order they appeared in the film. I do not understand the logic behind this, though I am sure this is far from the first to do this.

I only noticed it because as I read the track listing the titles were referring to moments in the film that were not sequential. Does that make sense? Perhaps this will help; I found another site that listed them in film sequence. Here are the track listing and the film order listing, side by side:

Yes, some are in order, mainly toward the end, but you see what I mean about the reordering of tracks? It is sort of like those "best of" albums that are released that don't put the songs in the correct order. Maybe I am making too big a deal over this; it just strikes me as an odd practice with no real logic behind it.