Harold Faltermeyer’s theme from Top Gun made the famed 1986 soundtrack album that was otherwise justifiably dominated by songs, but thanks to La-La Land’s long-awaited 2024 score album release we can now finally experience all the other variations on the idea apart from the film, not just the expected rip-roaring guitar performances but also a few softer takes that prove the tune is a real winner in any format. Other joys include an instrumental of Faltermeyer’s Mighty Wings song, various performances of what’s generally called as the Goose theme (but which the liner notes reveal was intended to represent Maverick’s emotional state more broadly), and the riotously fun slice of era-specific cheese that is Mav vs Viper.
The set also has the classic original soundtrack album, the five other songs included on a 1999 special edition release, and even two tracks that were only released as B-sides on singles and had never been on CD before, though keep in mind one of those is just an edit of action music that appears on the first disc. The liner notes are informative (Harold had spoken before about Bruckheimer vetoing his request for real strings, but now it seems he vetoed a real guitar too) but could’ve gone a step further; it remains unclear if Faltermeyer had anything to do with the three tracks that are largely Danger Zone instrumentals. As has already been noted on the FSM board, there are fade-outs inherent in the original recording as Faltermeyer didn’t want any hard edits that might interfere with switching to songs in the film or on a prospective album, and a few score album choices don’t match the mixes heard in the film. Other sequencing issues are just inherent in having a chronological playlist - the middle of the album ends up having seven straight minutes of instrumental variations on Take My Breath Away, which may try the patience of even the most avid fans of that tune.
Faltermeyer’s action style isn’t terribly distinct from what he did for Beverly Hills Cop two years earlier - find a hook or two and maintain that atmosphere for a few minutes - but quite frankly Faltermeyer’s hooks were pretty damn catchy; you may not generally like this type of scoring, but it’s still worth noting that no one was better at it in the decade. A good portion of the composer’s suspense material is little more than thumping (Cougar’s Troubled Landing most notably), and the warped noises in Goose’s Death will be an extreme challenge for most listeners, but those negatives are understandable in context, not only because the composer had to contend with loud jet engine noises and other aspects of the film’s state of the art sound design (just as he, Hans Zimmer, and Lorne Balfe would have to decades later on the sequel) but also because he had to rewrite much of his score in the eleventh hour after subpar test scores resulted in the movie being reedited.
**** for the score now that the vast majority of it can finally be heard via something other than a bootleg. The strengths of the set should outweigh the weaknesses inherent in portions of the composition for most listeners. If you aren’t bothered by the synth sounds of the era, this release will be a must-buy.
None of this is as interesting as the chaos of the sequel score’s making -
https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=122685
