Buy it... if you seek one of Alan Silvestri's most enduring and memorable scores, led by an extremely catchy percussive rhythm highlighting the score's menacingly primal thematic ideas.

Avoid it... if any horror score without grand, fluid themes, and especially one with a driving militaristic personality, isn't worth the price of any of its albums.

Silvestri

Predator: (Alan Silvestri) When considering the early projects of Arnold Schwarzenegger, many viewers have argued successfully that Predator presents the actor-turned-politician in his most varied and human light. The bodybuilder (and reportedly regular orgy participant) had been an automated war machine in Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator, and the comical elements in his other projects lessened the effectiveness of his size and attitude. Such was the glory of the story of Predator, the first major feature triumph for successful action director John McTiernan. The plot of the film progressed backwards from the norm, with the technology and hunting spirit becoming more primitive and intensely personal as the film reaches its climax. A Central American rescue mission by American commandos is interrupted by the arrival of a member of a hunting species from another planet, and the crew of bad-ass Earthlings is picked off one by one by this "predator" before the inevitable struggle between the gruesome creature and Schwarzenegger. The human side of Schwarzenegger is portrayed in such a manner that the big guy might actually be killed while fighting for good, and this convincing aspect of the actor's performance helped maintain the film's awesome cult status. Composer Alan Silvestri was brought on to the Fox project at the height of his newly discovered popularity from Back to the Future. The composer had proven his talents with an orchestra during that production, and he had also provided comedy music for a jungle setting in Romancing the Stone. As a first venture into grand horror, though, Predator served Silvestri a test in a new genre that he passed brilliantly. The propulsion behind his Predator score caused the music, like the film, to be adopted as a cult favorite, with bootlegged versions of the music appearing everywhere in the decades following the film's release. He would go on to score Predator 2, which was larger in a symphonic sense (and translated into a more impressive title theme performance in the opinion of some) but lacked the purely primordial edge of its predecessor. Re-recordings of Silvestri's original Predator composition often lack its stylish, percussive appeal and precise, challenging rhythms. It would take until John Debney's faithful resurrection of this score's constructs in 2010's Predators before a convincing and accurate reprise of Predator's best musical aspects was heard.

Silvestri's intended use of music for Predator contains several motifs for the three or four basic situations in which the story's characters find themselves (all of which touched upon by Debney in the 2010 sequel). It was, therefore, a highly organized and precisely mapped score. Unfortunately for Silvestri, his music would suffer the same fate as Michael Kamen's in McTiernan's Die Hard the following year, with most major cues cut and rearranged throughout the film. Despite these questionable edits, the score is still remarkably effective. In a casual sweep of the music, the collection of motifs may seem to be an unorganized mass of jungle-induced sprawl. But the alien predator is provided with its own theme of descent that is wondrous in its string tones (and heard during its arrival). The American commandos counter with the score's most memorable idea, a simple, militaristic procession of piano and percussion. This six-note phrase, which is forcefully accompanied by precise rotations in the percussion section, is extremely distinctive. The commandos are also given a subtle motif for their efforts to run, hide, and complete their rescue mission. A slow fanfare of dread for the villain is hinted at in the score, expanded significantly by Debney in his sequel. A tribute to fallen friends is presented by a solo trumpet during scenes of mourning. A timpani-pounding running rhythm is perhaps the most driving element of the score, pushing the characters to their inevitable doom in the middle portion of the film. In many of these themes, a incessantly pounding piano in its lowest octaves is a menacing constant. Silvestri utilizes some stock horror techniques with brass hits and string strikes, but usually proceeds with a more consistent rumbling of ambient suspense that utilizes well-integrated electronic elements. Despite the use of the synthesizers, the score comes across as a symphonic powerhouse, alternating between Silvestri's racing action cues and suspenseful preparation material. A slight touch of fantasy in the aforementioned, descending string motif heard in "Main Title," "Building the Trap," and "The Pick-Up and End Credits" aides the science-fiction aspect of the score. The highlights of the work are the opening and closing sequences, as well as the "Jungle Trek" cue that presents the running theme's low brass and piano ostinato in its most engaging form. The final cue was unfortunately re-scored with the solo trumpet motif, signaling the loss of Schwarzenegger's team, whereas originally the score called for a repeat of the opening space motif (of descending strings) that had represented the alien, thus revealing in the end that Schwarzenegger was the true "predator" that the title suggests.

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Overall, it's one of Silvestri's most primal but sophisticated efforts all in one, assisting the film greatly in its success. The history of Predator on album has been a difficult one, though. A fictional label called "Alien Records" presented three different bootlegs of Silvestri's score between 1997 and 2001. Some included the song "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard (featured in the film) or other Silvestri works, like seven minutes from Blown Away. Others included four minutes from Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and the "Silver Pictures Logo Theme," and even others had a sampling of music from Predator 2 and/or Schwarzenegger quotes from the original. A fourth bootleg, utilizing the first "Alien Records" cover, had no label, while the three under the "Alien Records" umbrella had the label number 27569. These bootlegs were widely passed around in CDr form so many times since they first hit the market in 1997 that some of them eventually had only the Predator score and no bonus material. The important thing to note is that all of the bootlegs had the same roughly 70 minutes of Silvestri material from the score. Their sound quality did vary from album to album, however, ranging from average to very good. Finally, in 2003, Varèse Sarabande released an official offering of the score as part of its Club series, with superior sound and a complete presentation that easily eclipsed all of the bootlegs. A detriment to the Varèse album, however, is the addition of Elliot Goldenthal's mutilation of the 20th Century Fox theme from Alien 3 at the start of the product. Its inclusion on this product makes no sense given that Predator predates Alien 3, and, besides, who wants to listen to a piece of Goldenthal's often obnoxious avant garde tendencies in a completely unrelated context? This limited Club release enticed owners of the bootleg to seek a crisp-sounding, official release of this cult score, though casual listeners did not have an overwhelming need to upgrade. As of the end of 2003, the issue became moot when the Varèse product sold out and itself shot up to $75 in value. In 2010, Intrada Records slightly rearranged the score from a better, digital source and added another 3,000 copies to the market. Also unfortunately including the Goldenthal intro, this product does have less tape hiss distraction. It sold out within a day, and in response to the wishes of the fans, composer, and studio, the label again rearranged the contents (adding short fragments and finally placing the cues in proper order) for an unlimited commercial pressing in 2012. Despite this history, Predator has always deserved repeated attention on album because of its enduring quality. Percussion enthusiasts, step on board.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Score as Written for the Film: ****
Music as Heard on the 1997-2001 Bootlegs: ***
Music as Heard on the 2003 Varèse Sarabande Album: ****
Music as Heard on the 2010-2012 Intrada Albums: ****
Overall: ****

Bias Check:

For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.34 (in 32 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.27 (in 30,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.