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A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Jerry Goldsmith's only score for a Mel Gibson movie is a particularly under-rated one.  Forever Young sees Gibson playing a test pilot who is cryogenically frozen in 1939 and doesn't wake up until 1992 when, of course, he falls in love with Jamie Lee Curtis (as I believe everybody did around the same time).  It's an old-fashioned and somewhat corny movie, but it inspired Goldsmith to come up with one of his most delightful scores for a film like this.

It opens with a rapturous arrangement of his love theme for soprano sax and piano, evoking memories of Franz Waxman romance music from decades before, a really beautiful piece that has never been given its due.  It's surprising that it wasn't turned into a song, given how lyrical it is.  Following this is a wonderful piece of action/adventure music, "Test Flight", which sees Goldsmith going for a similar magical sound to that employed to great effect by James Horner in The Rocketeer - no particular similarity in terms of melody or orchestration, just an overall feeling.  It's a boistrous, busy piece that brings back memories of the richest period of Goldsmith's career, the early 1980s.  "The Experiment" sees a couple of new themes being introduced, along with another sweeping performance of the love theme (this time for strings).  There's a new theme in "Tree House", a quite delightful and awe-inspiring one that would be considered an all-time-classic had it been written by another composer - but Goldsmith being Goldsmith, he just seems to casually drop it in for a few seconds, then take it away and bring back the flying theme from the second cue and finally some more vigorous action music.

The pace slows somewhat in "Kitchen Aid" which begins with a gentle, melancholic theme for solo piano, though it develops into some more intense suspense music later on.  "The Diner" is a laid back, gentle piece for flute, synths and small orchestra, a restrained and touching version of the love theme.  "The Air Show" is a slightly odd piece, beginning with the flying theme performed in slow, portentous, grand style by horns but then not really going anywhere after that (while the title would imply something much bigger).  "She's Alive" is an action piece full of tension, helped no end by the intense synth that accompanies it wherever it goes; and then it finishes with a great bit celebratory fanfare, a great moment.  After the celebration, "Let Go" is very sad and downbeat, evoking images of love that cannot be.  Goldsmith saves the best for last, with the eight-minute "Reunited" providing all the thrills and excitement you could hope for in a great score for a family movie, reprising all the score's major themes and bringing its most thrilling action music.

There are many Goldsmith scores which never get mentioned by anyone and, when they are, it is never in a positive light, which I can't understand; Forever Young may well stand at the top of that pile.  Nobody seems to like it.  I simply cannot imagine why.  It is full of the energy, excitement, great themes and sheer joie de vivre that Goldsmith brought to so many of his classic scores of earlier years; anyone who likes scores such as Horner's aforementioned The Rocketeer or Hans Zimmer's Radio Flyer or, indeed, Goldsmith's own The Secret of NIMH or Night Crossing should find much to admire.  A great score.

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Tracks

1. Love Theme (4:02)
2. Test Flight (3:40)
3. The Experiment (3:12)
4. Tree House (3:04)
5. Kitchen Aid (2:41)
6. The Diner (1:57)
7. The Air Show (2:29)
8. She's Alive (3:28)
9. Let Go (3:01)
10. Reunited (7:42)
11. The Very Thought of You Billie Holiday (2:44)