: (Jerry Goldsmith)
When Walt Disney Pictures decided to venture into the realm of
non-G-rated films, it created the Touchstone Pictures studio in 1984 to
reap the benefits of such productions without tarnishing their own
reputation as the industry leader in the children's genre. Among the new
studio's early ventures was
, a
concept that really had no chance of obtaining an audience given its
inability to determine what its target demographic exactly was. At its
heart, the story is a political statement against the hunting of rare
species, brutally depicting senseless killing and its impact on a family
of brontosaurs hidden deep in the contemporary African jungle. The
existence of the dinosaurs and the plight of a pair of young idealists
to bond with one remaining baby dinosaur and reunite it with its
captured mother is a topic suitable for a children's film, however. When
merging these two halves of
, you
have a fundamentally flawed film. Without significant star power and
relying upon dinosaur effects that were decent but not anywhere near
those of the CGI revolution that arrived with
less
than a decade later, the film was lacking in both production values and
a purpose, relegating it to obscurity. It is precisely because of this
odd combination of children's and adult elements in
, however, that composer Jerry Goldsmith remembered
the assignment so fondly. His ability to bring both halves of the film
together into one cohesive score was an accomplishment of which he
remained proud for many years. When he insisted that the score become
one of four of his works represented on an obscure industry tribute
album to him in 1993, collectors resurrected interest in it. Since then,
the score has maintained a mild cult status due to its unusual origins
on album and the music's tendency to resemble
The style of Goldsmith's music for
Baby: Secret of
the Lost Legend is saturated with all of the tendencies that the
composer followed with regularity at the time, from the blending of
organic and electronic elements to meter structures and thematic
progressions that will all be familiar to other Goldsmith works of the
early to mid-1980's. His knack for applying the electronics to unlikely
fantasy situations was especially intriguing in this era of Goldsmith's
career, and this score, perhaps even more than
Legend, epitomizes
this oddly effective technique. Many of the oddly pitch-wobbling
synthetic effects that Goldsmith was fond of at the time, among some of
his other most strident effects, are prevalent in this work. For
collectors of the composer's works, therefore,
Baby: Secret of the
Lost Legend is a predictable but welcome entry that will yield
fifteen or more minutes of solid material worthy of a compilation of
Goldsmith music from the period. There are three basic parts to
Baby:
Secret of the Lost Legend that intermingle for the entirety of the
work. The first is the ultra-cute, sensitive tone for the titular baby
dinosaur, identified by its own theme on light synthesizers and
woodwinds. This idea is extensively explored in "Dragon Breath" (track
titles in this review will refer to the 2007 Intrada album for the
score; the same label renamed all the same tracks and made minor edits
to the presentation for their 2018 follow-up remastering.), though in
such long performances, the theme's close relation to a secondary theme
in
Under Fire will prove very distracting. The second memorable
aspect of
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend is a theme specific to
the native tribes of the region, complete with an assortment of
appropriate percussion that served as a precursor for
The Ghost and
the Darkness a decade later. Most impressive, however, is the final
identity of the score, and it is in the bold primary theme and its
action variants that Goldsmith previews his ballsy material for
Rambo: First Blood Part II and
Total Recall. Upon the
introduction of the deep, resounding main theme in "The Family" and
continuing through the fanfare at the end of "Just a Legend," this idea
is the score's truly engaging personality, despite owing much to
The
Great Train Robbery in progression.
The main theme of
Baby: Secret of the Lost
Legend fortunately reprises its stomping presence frequently enough
to supply the adult-oriented half of the narrative with due force. In
"Dad," "The Jump," and "The Rescue," this theme, which also serves the
determination of the evil scientist hunting the animals, develops into
propulsive action structures that Goldsmith collectors will immediately
appreciate. Occasionally, you can hear hints of the fantastic
Lionheart previewed in these snare-driven rhythms. The final
minutes of "Dad" and "The Rescue" both qualify in the highest ranks of
Goldsmith's best "ass-kicking" material of brass and percussion ruckus.
When put together, these three overall ideas don't create the greatest
flow in terms of a standalone listening experience, but the score works.
The native material is marginalized after early sequences, leaving the
remainder in a sometimes awkward balance between the hopelessly cute
upper range tones for the baby dinosaur and the explosive action cues
mixed in at regular intervals. Ultimately, Goldsmith's three major
action cues, each of significant length, are the main attraction,
impressing especially with their extremely meaty lower brass emphasis.
These highlights all existed on the 1993 tribute album, but Disney
finally worked with Intrada Records in 2007 to produce a full, 53-minute
release of
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend. The album was limited
to 3,000 copies and predictably sold out. Sound quality was improved on
the product despite a circuitous route taken to obtain suitable sources;
a few archival-sounding moments did exist in a few cues, unfortunately.
A decade later, Intrada was able to obtain access to the original
session masters and provide an even crisper presentation on a 2018
re-issue with different track titles and one long cue split into two.
This likewise limited product sounds even more impressive in its
layering of Goldsmith's percussion and electronics on top of the
resounding brass. The label also adds five source cues of little
interest. Either Intrada album will render the famed 1993 collectible
album moot; all its contents were available in fuller form by the 2007
debut of this score. In the end,
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend
is not a spectacular score in its whole, and the fuzzy synthetic moments
for the familial bonds do become tiresome, but there is a suite of
superior, raging Goldsmith action music here that will please any of his
collectors.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.26
(in 124 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.29
(in 153,454 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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