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Wind: (Basil Poledouris) Few films have been made
about modern competitive sailing, and even fewer have captured the glory
of a race on the ocean with cinematography as stunning as that of
Wind. Director Carroll Ballard's film about four individuals
teaming up to build their own boat to race in the America's Cup succeeds
brilliantly whenever giving us the action on the water, but largely
failed with critics because of its clunky melodrama between its primary
characters when on soil. Overcoming a romantic triangle, the young,
brash captain and his associates finish their boat in time for the race
of Fremantle, Australia in 1987, succeeding in a world where the
millionaires who run the crews aren't always the most sympathetic of
characters. Ballard, director of
The Black Stallion previously,
was unable to make use of the screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Mac
Gudgeon outside of the glory of the high seas. Composer Basil
Poledouris, though, largely succeeds in both wet and dry environments in
Wind, thanks to his own personal love of sailing. For anyone who
has watched the 1998 Film Score Monthly video about Poledouris and his
life, you quickly learn that the sailboat and piano are high among the
man's passions, and it's no surprise that ocean-going films have played
a prominent role in Poledouris' career. From
Big Wednesday to
The Hunt for Red October,
Wind to
Free Willy, films
that involve the ocean seem to bring out the best in Poledouris'
writing. Among the projects above,
Wind is undoubtedly the
closest direct match to these passions, and perhaps it is this
connection that caused Poledouris to create such a vibrant and accurate
atmosphere even against the odds of budgetary constraints. Ranging from
solo piano to Poledouris' performances keyboards and drum pads, the
score was allowed four or five cues to be recorded with a moderate
orchestral ensemble. In every case, Poledouris makes the most of
it.
For a listener who has been born and raised somewhere
inland, it's possible that the intangible aspects of Poledouris'
atmosphere for the ocean won't make much sense, but you have to trust
those of us who can place the score in context. In many regards,
Wind is a smaller-scale, less outwardly enthusiastic version of
Free Willy, with almost identical palettes of synthesized sounds
to accompany the solo piano and orchestra. Poledouris' electronic sounds
are very unique to the composer, following him from
Cherry 2000
in the late 1980's through the 1990's, and for fans who miss that
vibrant array of sounds post-2000, then the largely undiscovered
Wind score is an obvious place to journey back. Defined by its
light, flowing keyboarding and ambient sound effects, the score's
greatest aspect is its free-flowing style, playing much like a new age
album in parts, simple and harmonious. The scenes of interpersonal
romance on land, such as "Love in the Sewers," cause plentiful soothing
moments. An almost religious tribute to the wind and water is heard in
the "Irolita" theme, rolling to an elegant boil in "Wind Song" (aka "Prologue"), during
which Poledouris not only makes use of whispering synthetic woodwinds,
but employs a swaying sound effect in the background that is almost
reminiscent of the sound of wind through a sail. For fans of Poledouris'
larger, more famous scores, the four primary orchestral cues will remind
strongly of
Free Willy, with ambitious rhythms set with
synthesizers rambling under brassy fanfares for the races themselves.
The orchestra goes solo for much of "Dead Air," providing one of the
most thematically thunderous cues of Poledouris' career. Despite the
significant contrast between the orchestral and solo keyboarded cues,
Wind works because of Poledouris' ability to continue weaving the
synthetic elements into nearly every other orchestral moment. One of the
few low points in the score is a more dissonant, deep synthetic choir
and larger drum banging in "To Australia."
Otherwise, the only frustrations for fans regarding
Wind have related to poor availability on album since its initial
release. Only released on a 1993 Japanese product from the "For Life"
label, the album was reportedly withdrawn and consequently sold for
upwards of $100 on the secondary market in the late 1990's. Among
distinguishing aspects of the Japanese album was the "Born on the Wind"
vocal song (a decent match to Poledouris' score) as well as packaging
with a majority of notes in Japanese. In 2003,
Wind received a
considerable DVD remastering from Columbia Tri-Star, translating the
sounds of the water and Poledouris' score during racing sequences into a
far more convincing Dolby Digital soundtrack. Just prior to that DVD,
the largely inactive Citadel Records label re-released the score on a
1500-copy pressing, hand-numbered, and revised the packaging to include
notations in English by Poledouris. The composer had a hand in this CD
production, and new audio sources, a remastering, and rearrangement of
cues are all new features. As for the sound quality,
Wind never
exhibited dull or muted sound on the Japanese release, though with the
sharp clarity of Poledouris' usual tingling synthetics, the Citadel
album does do some slightly better justice to that element of the
performances. Advertisements of "greatly improved sound" may be
exaggerated, however. Aside from the absence of the song, the most
startling aspect of the Citadel album is its rearrangement of the cues
so that they are out of film order. Presumably by Poledouris' choice, an
elegant solo piano cue is followed immediately by the majority of
large-scale orchestral pieces. Some awkward edits between cues result,
and regular listeners of the original album may be unnerved by some of
the changes. Especially for a 'story-telling formatted' score like
Wind, such rearrangements take some getting accustomed to.
Nevertheless, Poledouris provides a score worthy of the expense, and
anyone who enjoys his creative merging of synthesizers and orchestra
will appreciate
Wind, not to mention the sailors among you.
****
| Bias Check: | For Basil Poledouris reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.48 (in 30 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.42
(in 27,544 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The inserts for both albums include extra information about the score and film, though
the 1993 For Life album is in Japanese.
