 |
Title |
| Def-Con 4 |
| International Title |
| [Compilation] |
| Music By: Christopher
Young |
| Record Label:
Intrada |
| |
 |
| Running Time: 72:51 |
Discs: 1 |
| Release: March 1990 |
CD Number: MAF-7010D |
|
| Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |
 |
|
|
I'm sure
a number of people are wondering exactly what this compilation
disc is doing on the site, considering none of the films
covered here are Toho productions, let alone Japanese
in origin. The answer to this falls into New World's hands,
when they were preparing The
Return of Godzilla (1984) for North American release.
Somewhere along the line, the firm decided that Reijiro
Koroku's music wasn't nearly as prevalent as it needed
to be, while the new footage they were filming would need
music to accompany it. Rather then looping Koroku's themes,
though, New World decided instead to look toward other
sources. Picking through their catalogue of films, the
company choose composer Christopher Young's score for
the Canadian movie Def-Con 4. Apparently, New World
didn't have much faith in the much delayed disaster film,
considering they were willing to reuse its score for a
movie that would be released five months after its own
theatrical debut.
Not surprisingly, Young's gothic score for the post-apocalyptic
feature ended up working perfectly in the mid-1980's Godzilla
feature, as the work from the future composer for the
Hellraiser series managed to flow very well with
Koroku's already dark soundtrack. What surprised me, upon
hearing the movie's soundtrack here, was how much of the
score New World ended up reusing. The majority of these
themes will be instantly recognizable to people who grew
up with Godzilla 1985. To run off some examples,
they include: the chilling "A Message from Home"
that was used during the Yahata Maru sequence before the
Shockirus' victim is seen, "Ghost Planet" that
was used when Steve Martin slowly uncovers his eyes, "Armageddon"
for Godzilla's raid on the Soviet sub, "I Can't Go
On" for the Evacuation scenes, "Defense Condition"
for the nuclear missiles and a composite of even more
cues to create the new credit music.
Despite what the cover might promote, though, this is
actually a compilation disc. It covers four of Young's
scores from 1985 through 1988. The soundtracks covered
are from fairly infamous films though, such as the prostitute
turned vigilante movie Avenging Angel or the Whoopi
Goldberg vehicle The Telephone, for which Golberg
tried to sue the filmmakers in order to halt its release
(clearly to no avail). Having never seen these films,
I can't say how representative these tracks are in terms
of those soundtracks as a whole, just that The Telephone
selection here was all stuff that never ended up getting
used. I will say that all of the work included for these
other films left me unimpressed. The Avenging Angel
stuff in particular, with its jazz flavor as it brings
in a lot of saxophone work, left me scrambling for the
"next" button, while The Telephone tracks
carry on a "club ambience" type of flow that
doesn't translate that well as a stand alone experience.
That leaves the one ten minute long track for Torment,
which Young cited as his favorite off this disc. The track
is a horror one through and through, with some sudden
moments of piano work to heighten the mode, and while
it does sound closer to Def-Con 4 than anything
else, its mish mash of styles don't work all that well
across the lengthy cue.
Overall, I really enjoyed the Def-Con 4 soundtrack
as a whole, both the themes that were used for Godzilla
1985 and those that weren't. I would fully suggest
the score to others, even though it does run a little
under 30 minutes. Intrada's attempt to flesh out the CD
with more content, however, back fired here due to the
incredibly odd mesh of material, resulting in an almost
train wreck like compilation. Due to rarity and its high
asking price, this disc is really only suggested for the
most hardcore soundtrack collectors.
Rating:  |
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| Tracks |
Def-Con 4
- Def-Con 4 (Main Title)
- Forced Landing
- The Liberation of Fort Liswell
- Armageddon
- Ghost Planet
- Gideon's Law
- The Terminals
- A New Man's Destiny
- Defense Condition
- The Juggernaut
- Electronic Ocean
- A Message from Home
- I Can't Go On
- The New Dark Age
Avenging Angel
- Kit Carson
- Overdrive
- Molly Mey
- Ratamacue
- Dark Angel
- Never
- Bughouse Bust
- Good Golly Solley
Torment
- Thantos
Telephone
- Vashti Blue
- Definitely Not Manhattan
- Pantomime
- Christmas in July
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