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Joe Versus the Volcano: (Georges Delerue) The
almost forgotten first pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan,
Joe Versus
the Volcano shamelessly plugged the ultimate corny, modern
fairy-tale love story. It was along the same quirky lines as
Big
for Hanks, but not remotely rising to the same level of popular or
critical success. The film remains a more prominent footnote for Ryan,
who played three entirely different characters for the production. The
silly plot of
Joe Versus the Volcano involves the misdiagnosis of
Hanks' modern day man with an incurable condition called a "brain
cloud," and along his journey to throw himself into a volcano, he
inevitably is sidetracked by Ryan's presence. The failure of the film
led to an early exit from the directorial scene for John Patrick
Shanley (which ultimately lasted 18 years). Far more bittersweet was the venture
for fans of composer Georges Delerue, who was only two years away from his surprising
death in 1992. This project was one of a dozen scores to his credit in the
1990's, showing his enormous productivity in the film composing scene
even up to his final days. Luckily, because Delerue had a strongly
established following of collectors by that point in his career, nearly
all of these scores were released in album form. The most notable
absence in Delerue's scores of the 1990's on album, however, was
Joe
Versus the Volcano. Because the film flopped so terribly at its
debut, Delerue's score was never treated to a commercial release. This
shouldn't be surprising for an additional reason; Delerue's contribution
to the film was originally to comprise about fifteen minutes of screen
time. By 1990, films had just re-discovered the popular idea of
inserting series of pop songs into the mix instead of using an
orchestral score, and
Joe Versus the Volcano made extensive use
of this notion. Interestingly, however, after hearing the mastery that
Delerue had created in those fifteen minutes, the producers of the film
asked the composer to beef up the content to beyond 45 minutes in
length, and Delerue, at the last minute, was happy to oblige.
As fate would have it, however, the producers of
Joe
Versus the Volcano ended up removing a handful of Delerue's
lengthier cues in favor of pop songs anyway, including the notable
recordings for "Brain Cloud," "Shopping Spree," "Alone in New York," and
"Fishing." Much of the remaining score was undermixed in the film,
deflating its impact in many parts of the love story. In fact, as you
will notice if you have watched the film in one of its numerous
television reruns, the fabulous "End Credits" suite is dubbed out and
most casual viewers won't likely get the idea that a strong score for
the film exists at all. As for the score's contents, the music for
Joe Versus the Volcano follows the fairy tale genre of the story
very faithfully. Delerue begins with a music box theme that repeats with
innocence several times throughout the score before eventually
concluding it. The central romance is treated with one of Delerue's many
remarkable career-defining love themes, flourishing in rich strings and
melodic key shifts. This one in particular is even loftier than many of
his other, similar entries, though Delerue, as always, manipulates the
theme for insertion into nearly every cue in some way or another,
whether it be with a sax, full brass, or even a chorus. The lengthy "End
Credits" suite, which had been a popular bootlegged representation of
the entire score (likely yanked from the end titles of a
foreign-released VHS tape), presents the love theme in not only a solid
performance of full strings, but also a lyrical song as well. In terms
of integration, the lyrical version of the theme melds with the
surrounding score much like Jerry Goldsmith's accomplishment in his
rejected fantasy score for
Legend. For Delerue enthusiasts who
collect his plentiful love themes on album, there are plenty
performances of the one here, and because this theme didn't appear on
his popular compilations, the belated 2002 album of
Joe Versus the
Volcano from Varèse Sarabande will suffice to meet your
desire for yet another sugary romance melody from the master.
Several cues highlight
Joe Versus the Volcano
with breaks from the standard Delerue romance formula, however. The sax
interwoven with the love theme in "Shopping Spree" is a success in its
contemporary tones, and the light rock of the rejected "Fishing" cue is
a welcome change, as well as the acoustic guitar performance in "Dinner
with Dee Dee," which finishes with a flash of gusto. Ironically, the
most notable use of music in the film itself is the humorous adaptation
of "Hava Nagila" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," arranged by
Delerue into the tribal chants of the native "Waponis" people of the
volcano island late in the film. Orchestrally, the most powerful
standout cue in the film exists for its only major action scene: the
typhoon sequence. As the storm ravages the ship and forces the main
characters to be marooned, Delerue explodes with a full brass statement
of a secondary "despair theme" of dramatic tragedy that was explored
less melodramatically in "Brain Cloud." The sheer size of this extended
cue, and the mastery with which Delerue creates the perfect "storm at
sea" atmosphere, elevates it beyond even the love theme on the album. It
is fitting that this cue was seemingly Delerue's favorite when scoring
the film; driving brass in the minor key build to one magnificent major
key crescendo, after which the love theme is performed in full. This cue
alone is worth the price of the album. The 2002 CD had been a project of love
for the Varèse Sarabande label's Robert Townson for some time, as he
was a close associate and friend of Delerue. Mounting requests from
fans, along with the simple fact that
Joe Versus the Volcano was
the last of Delerue's great 1990's scores yet to be released on album,
eventually led to this "Masters Film Music" release. How these "Masters
Film Music" albums differ in intent from the label's CD Club albums (a
series which had been resumed just a year prior) isn't entirely clear,
but the fact remains that
Joe Versus the Volcano was also a
limited pressing of 3,000 albums. For both Delerue collectors and
general film music fans alike, this album was long overdue and will not
disappoint you if you enjoy his predictably strong romance scores.
Unfortunately, it sold out within a few years and has been a top
collectible ever since.
Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
Score as Written for Film: ****
Music as Heard on the 2002 Album: *****
Overall: ****
The insert contains a lengthy note from album producer Robert Townson,
for whom it is customary to include lengthy analysis of both the film and score
in many CD Club and Masters Film Music releases from the label.
