Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... the expanded album if you are a true Jerry Goldsmith collector and want even more of his mastery from one of his most unique efforts. Avoid it... the expanded album if the original 1992 album has always suited your needs and more of the same music wouldn't interest you. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Basic Instinct: (Jerry Goldsmith) Make no mistake about it, Jerry Goldsmith's ability to brilliantly capture the essence of an orgasm with the National Philharmonic Orchestra earned him his first Academy Award nomination in many years. The steamiest of Goldsmith scores ever to bless the big screen, the music for the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct turned many heads in its time of release, partly because of the film's controversial and provocative subject matter, and partly because Goldsmith mirrored the same controversy and provocation in his score so well. Basic Instinct stands alongside Body Heat as one of most sensual and alluring works of art in the history of film music. The brilliance of Basic Instinct is its ability, however, to be both sensual and terrifying at the same time. The success of this score is its absolute accuracy in portraying the mystifying and somewhat scary atmosphere of the film. It beckons you to come closer while trying to warn you that disaster is just around the corner. The string section carries the burden of the work, whimsically weaving through every cue of the score. Representing the constantly changing moods of the characters on screen, Goldsmith shifts between these tempting strings and the woodwinds, which, in the minor key, are the audience's reminder of the ill fortune ready to strike. A hammering and pulsating piano in the extremely low ranges adds a distinction to this score that serves to illuminate the danger and suspense that the film, as an erotic thriller, necessitates. As with Goldsmith's previous collaboration with director Paul Verhoven, Total Recall, the score for Basic Instinct has two or three strikingly bold and powerful action cues. The brass section is called upon for harsh blasts and an occasional secondary theme, culminating in the desperate and evocative opening to the cue "Unending Story." Sinister, sensual, dark, foreboding, and passionate, Goldsmith further incorporates his electronics into the orchestrally driven score, accentuating the bubbly, fluid, and falsely hopeful aspect of a hazy and confusing experience. The electronics play games with your stereo, sparring across your speakers from left to right in ways that Goldsmith loved to toy with in the early 1990's. He perplexes us with a concluding track that is desperate and unfinished --leaving the film's grand finale in a perfectly confused and untrustworthy manner. The album is just as enticing for the listener; the graphic sex scenes in the film are scored with remarkable accuracy, with a full group of players in the orchestra who build a steady and rapturous tempo for these scenes. The climax of each cue for these scenes is so well performed that the group orgasm that the orchestra achieves is most remarkable, if not a tad amusing for traditional fans of Goldsmith's work. The score on album, with crystal clear sound quality across the board, is an emotional roller coaster with all the twists and turns of the film, and is highly recommended. The score was available on the Varèse Sarabande label at the time of the film's release, and offered 10 cues over 45-minutes that served as an adequate representation of the various thematic ideas and instrumental motifs that Goldsmith created for the score. A dozen years later, the Prometheus label released an expanded album for Basic Instinct that presents Goldsmith's full effort in film order. While casual fans could probably stay content with the original 1992 album, the Goldsmith collector should definitely be intrigued by the 2004 album. As time has passed, Basic Instinct has proven to be even more of a fascinating and unique work in Goldsmith's career, and while the material absent from the original album is not earth-shattering, it is still as interesting as the music you've heard before. The filler cues --underscore, essentially-- for the film is just as eerie and tense as the rest of the music, and it simply expands upon the mood of the original 45 minutes and places it at about 75 minutes in length (including a slightly longer alternate version of the first killing cue). Highlights on the expanded album are "Catherine & Roxy" (with great electronic work), "Beth & Nick" (a pivotal, disturbing cue), and the "That's Real Music" source cue from the Hellraiser scene on a TV in the film. Overall, either album is a winner, but the expanded one is a real treat for Goldsmith fans.
2004 Prometheus Album: **** Track Listings (1992 Varèse Sarabande Album):
Total Time: 44:25
Track Listings (2004 Prometheus Album):
Total Time: 74:30
* Previously unreleased ** Longer, film version All artwork and sound clips from Basic Instinct are Copyright © 1992, Varèse Sarabande, Prometheus Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/13/96, updated 5/21/04. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1996-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
1992 Album