Red Dawn
Basil Poledouris
" Acceptable Poledouris carries a dated sound though "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the expanded release
Red Dawn of 1984 is an apocalyptic look of Mid Western America when a town is invaded by Soviet Forces, resulting in a group of teenagers' fight for survival to save their town from the invading oppression. Starring a now legendary cast of actors (Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, Harry Dean Stanton, Powers Booth and the debut of Charlie Sheen) under the direction of John Milius, Red Dawn was the 3rd collaboration between director Milius and composer Basil Poledouris. Considering Big Wednesday and Conan the Barbarian had a big orchestral sound (when needed) at their disposal, things were looking brightly for Red Dawn. But apparently Poledouris had other intentions with the music. He wanted it to be offkey, and he wanted it to be a lot moodier and grittier. Hence the reason a combination of an orchestra with electronics was better suited than a full bloodied orchestral score.
The "Main Title" cue already sets the tone with high pitched synth, opening for a hopeful main theme and a tender love theme. Both themes are no winners in the long list of Poledouris favourites and the awkward sound of the electronics does make you think back at the lesser age of the 80's sound. The same for "The Invasion". The powerful sound that a real full orchestra could conjure up is now left to a suspenseful synthesizer beat and a series of interesting trumpet calls, but everything just screams out dated stuff like Blue Thunder and others from the genre, not immediately Poledouris.
And so the score is harmed by the electronic accompaniment, and I don't hear exactly a massively pumped up orchestra (like they said on the Intrada website). That way you get moody pieces such as the sinister "Dead Tanks" or the distant emotional "The Drive-In". Luckily there's "The Funeral (National Anthem of the Soviet Union)" that can stir up some enthusiasm once again with a nice marching anthem. The Horner like ethnic whistles in "Let it Turn" (that now sound totally fake through the synthesized tone) and a nice rousing action version of the main theme in "Fire!" all lead us to one of the softest pieces of the disc, namely the love theme moment in "Love Scene".
But that all leads back to another loud representation of the awkward electronic accompaniment in "Attack of the Wolverines". Sad that it has to sound so cheap if you hear an otherwise stirring action version of the main theme behind it, making up for the cheap sound of the electronics. The same can be said about the opening sound of "The Eulogy", but the idea behind it is still nice, with a combination of the soft love theme and the main theme.
The distant emotional sound of the 5th track returns mostly in "Daryl Shot / Windmill" before the suspenseful sound does the same technique in "Attack of the Helicopters", but here the explosive sound comes from the heroic theme and the Soviet Union National Anthem. The same for the emotional value that's felt from the noble main theme in "Toni's Death / Toni's Last Grenade". The love theme in "Jed and Matt / Bella Letter" and a rousing action version in the end credits suite does make "Death and Freedom / End Credits (Take 3)" an interesting experience.
Several bonus tracks and a 30 minute expansion can't make me a fan of Red Dawn however. Even though the shorter Intrada release of 1985 does forget to present some of the best tracks of Red Dawn, I'm honestly not a winner of this 60 minute presentation. Not that there are a lot of dead moments, but the score doesn't have so many winnings moments to begin with. The occasional action version of the theme makes a difference when it appears, but the dated sound of the electronics still kills some momentum, especially if one reads a massive, pumped-up orchestra (which is overrated in my book). This is not a long lost classic of Poledouris (which kinda explains why this particular limited release of Intrada hasn't been sold out yet) but it does its job well enough on disc. It's just too much to listen to for multiple times, especially if you by now have the ability to make your own album listing on Itunes.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (2.43)
2. The Invasion (5.19)
3. Sky Shots / October (0.31)
4. Dead Tanks (1.59)
5. The Drive-In (6.19)
6. Wrong Fire (0.47)
7. The Funeral (National Anthem of the Soviet Union) (3.45)
8. Let It Turn (1.10)
9. Fire! (2.07)
10. Wolverines (3.11)
11. Early Birds (0.30)
12. Love Scene (3.04)
13. Attack of the Wolverines (2.26)
14. Winter (0.17)
15. The Eulogy (2.52)
16. Daryl Shot / Windmill (5.36)
17. Attack of the Helicopters (3.52)
18. Toni's Death / Toni's Last Grenade (4.39)
19. Jed and Matt / Bella Letter (2.03)
20. Death and Freedom / End Credits (Take 3) (6.36)
Bonus Tracks
21. Russian Army Cadence (Solo Percussion) (0.52)
22. Early Birds (Alternate) (0.50)
23. Death and Freedom (Rejected Version) / End Credits (Take 4) (6.39)
Total Length: 68.07
The "Main Title" cue already sets the tone with high pitched synth, opening for a hopeful main theme and a tender love theme. Both themes are no winners in the long list of Poledouris favourites and the awkward sound of the electronics does make you think back at the lesser age of the 80's sound. The same for "The Invasion". The powerful sound that a real full orchestra could conjure up is now left to a suspenseful synthesizer beat and a series of interesting trumpet calls, but everything just screams out dated stuff like Blue Thunder and others from the genre, not immediately Poledouris.
And so the score is harmed by the electronic accompaniment, and I don't hear exactly a massively pumped up orchestra (like they said on the Intrada website). That way you get moody pieces such as the sinister "Dead Tanks" or the distant emotional "The Drive-In". Luckily there's "The Funeral (National Anthem of the Soviet Union)" that can stir up some enthusiasm once again with a nice marching anthem. The Horner like ethnic whistles in "Let it Turn" (that now sound totally fake through the synthesized tone) and a nice rousing action version of the main theme in "Fire!" all lead us to one of the softest pieces of the disc, namely the love theme moment in "Love Scene".
But that all leads back to another loud representation of the awkward electronic accompaniment in "Attack of the Wolverines". Sad that it has to sound so cheap if you hear an otherwise stirring action version of the main theme behind it, making up for the cheap sound of the electronics. The same can be said about the opening sound of "The Eulogy", but the idea behind it is still nice, with a combination of the soft love theme and the main theme.
The distant emotional sound of the 5th track returns mostly in "Daryl Shot / Windmill" before the suspenseful sound does the same technique in "Attack of the Helicopters", but here the explosive sound comes from the heroic theme and the Soviet Union National Anthem. The same for the emotional value that's felt from the noble main theme in "Toni's Death / Toni's Last Grenade". The love theme in "Jed and Matt / Bella Letter" and a rousing action version in the end credits suite does make "Death and Freedom / End Credits (Take 3)" an interesting experience.
Several bonus tracks and a 30 minute expansion can't make me a fan of Red Dawn however. Even though the shorter Intrada release of 1985 does forget to present some of the best tracks of Red Dawn, I'm honestly not a winner of this 60 minute presentation. Not that there are a lot of dead moments, but the score doesn't have so many winnings moments to begin with. The occasional action version of the theme makes a difference when it appears, but the dated sound of the electronics still kills some momentum, especially if one reads a massive, pumped-up orchestra (which is overrated in my book). This is not a long lost classic of Poledouris (which kinda explains why this particular limited release of Intrada hasn't been sold out yet) but it does its job well enough on disc. It's just too much to listen to for multiple times, especially if you by now have the ability to make your own album listing on Itunes.
Tracklisting
1. Main Title (2.43)
2. The Invasion (5.19)
3. Sky Shots / October (0.31)
4. Dead Tanks (1.59)
5. The Drive-In (6.19)
6. Wrong Fire (0.47)
7. The Funeral (National Anthem of the Soviet Union) (3.45)
8. Let It Turn (1.10)
9. Fire! (2.07)
10. Wolverines (3.11)
11. Early Birds (0.30)
12. Love Scene (3.04)
13. Attack of the Wolverines (2.26)
14. Winter (0.17)
15. The Eulogy (2.52)
16. Daryl Shot / Windmill (5.36)
17. Attack of the Helicopters (3.52)
18. Toni's Death / Toni's Last Grenade (4.39)
19. Jed and Matt / Bella Letter (2.03)
20. Death and Freedom / End Credits (Take 3) (6.36)
Bonus Tracks
21. Russian Army Cadence (Solo Percussion) (0.52)
22. Early Birds (Alternate) (0.50)
23. Death and Freedom (Rejected Version) / End Credits (Take 4) (6.39)
Total Length: 68.07