Another holy grail for many people has now seen the light of day, with one of film music’s worst-kept-secrets finally being made public yesterday with Intrada’s release of the complete score for Back to the Future. I must admit I’ve never quite managed to see what makes people so excited about it (beyond the fabulous main theme) – and am really looking forward to receiving the album to find out what I’ve been missing.
That’s how I feel about most of Silvestri’s adventure scores: fabulous themes with lots of filler. I’ve never been able to really get into BttF, The Mummy Returns, or almost any of his lauded actioners. They have a great theme, a couple great set-pieces, and in between they bore me. That said, I do love Judge Dredd with the exception of one track, and G.I. Joe, which I found unfathomably boring at first, makes a pretty compelling album if you start at Track 13!
James, I think that the reason people get so excited about it is because listening to it brings back all kinds of rosy, nostalgic memories of the film itself… and by extension what was going on in their lives at the time that they saw it in the 80s… a banal piece of music can seem a lot more fantastic than it really is when it comes with so much emotional baggage attached… and that’s definitely the case with a film as beloved as “Back To The Future”.
Back to the Future is a score completely WITHOUT filler in my opinion. Just like the movie, it’s very economical in the way it tells the story. Every musical cue is there for a REASON, and it helps that said music never fails to be interesting. Compared to the “wall of sound” approach that you hear in 99% of action movies today, it’s super refreshing.