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Label:
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Bootleg (no label)
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Availability:
Bootleg release only on the 'Pony Express' label (PECD 4002) in 1997. Soundtrack specialty outlets carried the album in 1998 for $30 to $40 a piece.
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Sorry, there are no commercial ordering options for this title. However, you can
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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The Vanishing: (Jerry Goldsmith) One of the lesser
known efforts by Jerry Goldsmith in the 1990's, The Vanishing is a
late entry in the string of highly personal horror/thriller scores that
Goldsmith composed early in the decade. The film itself was one of those
rare cases in which an American remake of a European idea was directed by
the same person who headed the original version of the tale. Director George
Sluizer's film of abduction and obsession was a more unsettled and gloomy
experience in its original Dutch format (by the same title). The American
version had a more dreamy ending, and featured a strong cast which included
an early cameo by Sandra Bullock as the abductee. The disintigration of
Kiefer Sutherland's character, the partner of the long-missing woman, fuels
the horror of the story, with the man's obsession with the highway rest-stop
abduction leading him finally to a grim confrontation with the criminal
mastermind (Jeff Bridges) behind the plot. Goldsmith was very familiar at
the time with scoring films about personal destruction, and his work for
The Vanishing follows similar underscore techniques heard in Basic
Instinct and Malice. The moderately orchestral score for The
Vanishing maintains a subdued level of dread for the majority of its
running time, progressively turning up the heat to accompany the mental
anguish on screen. When the primary character re-lives the abduction in his
mind, Goldsmith employs a metallic, percussive beat, perhaps electronically
rendered or altered, that begins at a slow tempo and leads the orchestra at
a continuously faster pace as the realization of the abduction sinks in.
That harsh beat would sink further into the score through subsequent uses,
although Goldsmith seemingly preferred to keep a more sophisticated and
tight hold on his suspenseful material by intertwining it with familiar
styles from his other scores.
Between the bass string plucking of a simple rhythm (as
heard in The Shadow) and a creepy, descending woodwind and cello
motif heard in Star Trek: First Contact, the pace and sentiment of
The Vanishing is often established around intrigue rather than
fright. As the story unfolds in the cue "Barney's Story," Goldsmith pulls
his strings with more of the agonizing effect employed in Basic
Instinct, begging the relief of listeners and viewers from the darkly
romantic, but equally troubled performances of harmonic ideas. Accentuating
the personality of the villain is a sparse, but interesting inclusion of
descending electronic sound effects that swish and echo like distinct
predecessors once again to Goldsmith's later Star Trek writing. In
"Diane's Fate," the electronics take the spotlight in an almost soft,
carnivalesque rhythm until, as her fate is really revealed, brass and
timpani make their triumphant statement of tragedy. The parallels between
the motifs of this score and Goldsmith's later Star Trek entries is
unmistakable, and while it is curious to speculate about it in hindsight,
the use is still effective. Also foreshadowing the future would be the
brutal attacks of timpani in the final two cues of the score, giving a taste
of L.A. Confidential a few years later. The more interesting aspect
of The Vanishing is the title theme that Goldsmith hints at
throughout the score before its major performance at the end. For some
reason, and perhaps Goldsmith simply had not worked it out of his system
yet, the composer decided to significantly reprise his jazzy theme from
The Russia House. You hear the theme introduced in "The Last of
Diane," making one think that the theme represents the lost love of the main
character's haunted past. But the theme makes another flighty appearance in
"A New Life," suggesting that perhaps the character is shedding that anchor
at last. Either way, the subject matter mirrors The Russia House
along with the theme.
But the final cue of The Vanishing is the key. We
discover that the theme is actually for the new relationship developing
throughout the film (and thus yanking at the chain of the audience), and as
the Americanized version of the story makes a light-hearted pun on "No
Coffee," the score does a 180 degree turn and revisits the final jazzy cue
of The Russia House. Not only does it have the same theme, but it
also utilizes the same piano, sax (this time electronic?), bass, and
percussion ensemble. It is a reprise in its spookiest of forms, not only
because of the genre of the film, but because it is so strikingly a "self
rip-off" that Horner fans should have a field day with this one. That's
right, Goldsmith pulls a Horner on us! On album, the cue is so fantastically
out of place that it could cause one to scratch his head in confusion, and
critics likewise slammed the film's sappy ending for being too soft compared
to the original Dutch film's conclusion. After 45 minutes of emotional
trauma in the score for The Vanishing, however, "No Coffee" seems
like a huge sigh of relief --which was the intent of the last scene of the
film-- but it certainly detracts from the otherwise strong cohesion of the
rest of the score. The thriller material is an interesting study for
Goldsmith collectors; the foreshadowing of ideas in subsequent scores is
plentiful, and The Vanishing must have been a great testing ground of
ideas for the composer. Still, for listenability's sake, the last cue will
overshadow the rest of the effort due to the flashy theme and performance.
For die-hard fans of The Russia House, it's a treat not to be missed.
On album, The Vanishing was never released commercially (a rare
occurrence for Goldsmith in the 90's), but illustrious fans of the composer
pressed an early bootleg and passed it off as a promotional endeavor. The
bootleg, under the 'Pony Express' label, offers all you'll want from the
score, and does so with excellent sound quality. For Goldsmith fans, it's a
strong recommendation, but for others, The Vanishing presents ideas
developed further in other scores by the composer that you likely already
own. ****
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Barney (4:49)
• 2. Diane and Jack (2:14)
• 3. The Last of Diane (1:38)
• 4. Vanished (2:37)
• 5. A New Love (1:42)
• 6. Obsession (4:42)
• 7. A New Life (3:44)
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• 8. Barney's Story (3:19)
• 9. Diane's Fate (2:41)
• 10. Jack's Choice (4:17)
• 11. Night Chase (4:37)
• 12. Grave Trouble/Resolution (9:00)
• 13. No Coffee (3:11)
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Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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