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RoboCop
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1987 Varèse
1987 TER (U.K)
2004 Varèse
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Orchestrated by:
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Steven Scott Smalley
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Conducted by:
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Howard Blake
Tony Britton
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Availability:
The 1987 Varèse Sarabande is completely out of print, as is the identical T.E.R. album released concurrently in the U.K. The 2004 Varèse Sarabande album is another regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you never owned the out-of-print album from 1987 and you
enjoy Basil Poledouris' consistently robust action writing.
Avoid it... if you expect to hear his best merging of synthesizers and
orchestra; the concurrent Cherry 2000 maintains much better style.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Poledouris | |
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RoboCop: (Basil Poledouris) Among the top action
franchises of the 1980's was that of RoboCop, the cheesy, violent,
and entertaining sci-fi story of a Detroit city gone to hell (nothing too
fictional about that part) and the cyborg supercop that battles its criminal
masterminds. The first American film by director Paul Verhoeven, the pop
success of RoboCop would produce two sequels and a television show,
all of which featuring the robotic cop against either the criminals who
killed his previous, human self, or other criminals who are just bad dudes,
or even mega badass robot killing machines conjured to replace or even
destroy Robocop. Like other Verhoeven films such as Total Recall,
Basic Instinct, and Starship Troopers, RoboCop was
extremely violent. And yet, with little public appreciation of the
comparisons, RoboCop was a film full of Verhoeven's supposedly heavy
parallels between Murphy (the cop who becomes the cyborg upon his gruesome
death) and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you
believe these intentions or not, RoboCop did become part of a more
simplistic genre of American "blow 'em up" action films. The director had
originally dismissed the script as just this kind of juvenile American punk
fun; he had just finished Flesh + Blood, but had decided to abandon
Europe's censorship rules and take his work to United States. One member of
his crew that remained with the rising director was Basil Poledouris, who
had written the romantic and yet brutal score for Flesh + Blood. For
RoboCop, Poledouris would be able to tinker with a trend that would
soon become a passion of his: combining synthesizers with hugely orchestral
harmony.
The resulting experiment was suitable for the half-human,
half-machine cyborg at the heart of the film, and score collectors should be
grateful that the producers of the film ultimately elected for this approach
rather than the tempting total-synth (i.e. Tangerine Dream) or hard rock
approach. Poledouris' style for RoboCop would be similar in its
synthesized accompaniment to Jerry Goldsmith's writing for subsequent
Verhoeven pictures. An identical Poledouris reprise would resurface in
Starship Troopers nearly ten years later. If you study Poledouris'
mingling of orchestra and synthesizer, a marriage he explored on a large
scale for the first time in 1987, then you have to consider RoboCop
and the concurrent Cherry 2000 together. They share the same
fundamental ideas, much of the same orchestration and instrumentation, and
the same attempt by Poledouris to find that perfect balance between real and
synthesized instruments. Of the two, RoboCop received the bold theme
and determination that you often heard in broad brass throughout the
Conan compositions. The title theme, appearing after the emergence of
the cyborg in the film, is one of confidence and rightful revenge. It is
heroic in construction and almost mechanized in its progression. The action
music often features early synth rhythms as a pulse in the background,
although the standard of excellence heard in Poledouris' action underscores
of past and present is strangely absent from RoboCop. While
functional, the music for Murphy's slow, painful recollection of his
previous life is scored without the kind of emotional depth that appeared in
the composer's other works. An intriguing use of the violins is heard in
"Home," with only a few notes slurred as Murphy's memories waver, but this
use is never repeated.
Despite its straight forward marching style and sometimes
underdeveloped action material, Poledouris maintains enough volume
throughout RoboCop to keep it entertaining, with the "Showdown" cue
hinting at the robust nature of Flesh + Blood. Getting back to the
comparison with Cherry 2000, however, it would seem that all of the
best ideas that Poledouris had concerning electronic and orchestral mingling
were realized in Cherry 2000 rather than RoboCop. The
propulsive style, thematic diversity, and recording integrity of the synths
with the ensemble seemed more mature in Cherry 2000, even though it
is easily the more playful score. Both scores were released by the
Varèse Sarabande label in the late 1980's, with the limited Cherry
2000 album becoming a top collectible and the commercial RoboCop
one eventually going out of print. In 2004, Varèse Sarabande
re-released RoboCop in remastered sound, rearranged order, a minute
or two of extra score, and with four source cues from television commercials
in the film (not on the original album). American television was a prime
target for comedic jabs in the film, and Poledouris wrote the source
material for several of these pieces. While none is particularly
outstanding, the cue "Nuke 'Em" (advertising a video game in which you can
blow up the world) has a particularly cute ending. For score collectors, the
new availability of the album, along with the clear sound and the additional
cues, will make the album a decent addition to the collection. But don't
expect to hear Poledouris at the top of his game, and if you enjoy his
technique of combining orchestral and synthetic elements, you'd be better
served by attempting to find a copy of Cherry 2000. Leonard Rosenman
would score RoboCop 2 in 1990, but Poledouris would return for
RoboCop 3 in 1993. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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Track Listings (1987 Varèse Sarabande and T.E.R Albums):
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Total Time: 38:05
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• 1. Main Title (0:32)
• 2. Van Chase (4:50)
• 3. Murphy's Death (2:30)
• 4. Rock Shop (3:38)
• 5. Home (4:05)
• 6. Robo vs. ED-209 (2:00)
• 7. The Dream (3:00)
• 8. Across the Board (2:28)
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• 9. Betrayal (2:12)
• 10. Clarance Frags Bob (1:40)
• 11. Drive to Jones' Office (1:40)
• 12. We Killed You (1:30)
• 13. Directive IV (1:00)
• 14. Robo Tips His Hat (2:00)
• 15. Showdown (5:00)
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Track Listings (2004 Varèse Sarabande Album):
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Total Time: 42:20
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• 1. Main Title (0:39)
• 2. Van Chase (4:51)
• 3. Murphy's Death (2:36)
• 4. Rock Shop (3:42)
• 5. Home (4:15)
• 6. Robo vs. ED-209 (2:07)
• 7. The Dream (3:06)
• 8. Across the Board (1:50)
• 9. Betrayal (2:18)
• 10. Clarence Frags Bob (1:43)
• 11. Care Package (2:09)
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• 12. Robo Drives to Jones (1:46)
• 13. We Killed You (1:44)
• 14. Directive IV (1:03)
• 15. Showdown (5:15)
Bonus Tracks:
• 16. Have a Heart (0:31)
• 17. OCP Monitors (1:15)
• 18. Nuke 'Em (0:26)
• 19. Big is Better (0:27)
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The 2004 Varèse Sarabande album insert includes detailed information about the score and film.
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