| CLOSE WINDOW |
|
FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Back to the Future (Alan Silvestri)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... without reservation if you, like the majority of modern
film music collectors, have awaited a proper treatment of Alan
Silvestri's fantastic and memorable score on album for decades.
Avoid it... on the 2009 Intrada 2-CD set if you are a casual enthusiast of the film who seeks only the best of the score material to accompany the famous songs on the soundtrack, in which case the original, best-selling album should suffice.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Back to the Future: (Alan Silvestri) It may have
taken several years to get there, but 1985's Back to the Future
came as close to perfection as any of Steven Spielberg's most famous
productions of the era. It's so difficult to make any comedy action film
about time travel without suffering from all the usual pitfalls of
infinite fallacies of logic. Whatever holes that the script for Back
to the Future may possess, they are negated by an extremely affable
personality, precise pacing, and a knack for capturing the cheesy
romantic atmosphere of popular teenager-aimed flicks of the 1980's.
After shopping the film unsuccessfully through a plethora of studios
throughout the early 1980's, Robert Zemeckis and his concept for Back
to the Future were eventually green-lit by Spielberg's own fledgling
production house. An embarrassing miscasting of the lead role led to the
re-shooting of a significant amount of the film, though even a frantic
post-production schedule could not derail a project that was so well
conceived in the years prior. The popular contemporary and romantic
elements in Back to the Future were almost of parody demeanor in
the film's 1985 scenes, from Marty McFly's aspirations to be the next
Eddie Van Halen to his skateboarding skills, his love interest, and his
eventual receipt of a grotesquely monstrous 4x4 truck. But the tongue in
cheek aspects of the plot transferred effortlessly over to the science
fiction elements as well, from Christopher Lloyd's eccentric performance
to his awkward choice of car to use as a time machine. Today, he'd
definitely be on a few of the government's terrorist watch lists. The
silliness of the entire circumstance of McFly's transit back into the
past (including the use of not only time as the villain, but Libyans in
search of stolen plutonium in suburban America) is adeptly balanced by
his mission to lead his parents into each other's arms in the past to
save his own future existence. Several parts of the production's visual
landscape became the stuff of pop culture legend, including the
clocktower at the heart of the studio's fictitious Hill Valley town
square and the pair of streaking, burnt rubber fire tracks that the
time-traveling DeLorean leaves in its wake. Even several decades later,
Back to the Future is a film that defies its age; it could be
made exactly the same way in retrospect today and would be just as
thrilling. Among the reasons the film became a smash hit in the summer
of '85 was its equally popular music, including a collection of songs
that spanned the two time frames with distinction and, of course, Alan
Silvestri's grandiose score.
Looking back, the immense popularity of the song placements in Back to the Future in comparison to Silvestri's contribution was understandable. The 50's songs were staples of their own era and the 80's alternatives tore up the radio waves when the film was released. Silvestri, despite providing Back to the Future with perhaps his best career achievement, was a relative unknown at the time, and film scores were suffering from a change in corporate emphasis in music that diminished their availability on LPs and tapes. The fact that it took until 2009 before the Back to the Future score would receive its own comprehensive album presentation was surely frustrating during the interim, but no grudge can really be held against the songs in the production. The two songs written and performed by Huey Lewis and the News were the cornerstones of the film's advertising, and "The Power of Love" was a chart-topper that saturated the radio waves and led to an Academy Award nomination. Although the group's more subdued "Back in Time" also received significant air time, "The Power of Love" was an instant classic that has managed to survive the test of time quite well (aiding in the film's continued appeal so long after its debut). Anchoring the 1950's era's songs was an important juxtaposition of "doo wop" style, embodied best by the memorable incorporation of "Mr. Sandman" and "Earth Angel" to accompany the innocent side of that culture, and the transition to rock and roll, which McFly single-handedly introduces by mangling "Johnny B. Goode" on guitar in a fashion that would make Van Halen proud. A smart collection of songs, mostly on the 50's side, is used as source material for the radios and other dance pieces in Back to the Future, all of which rooting the film in the appropriate atmosphere of both eras. Even Van Halen himself makes an important contribution to the film; an unused rough draft of a song he has previously worked on was used by McFly when he dresses in his radiation suit and claims to be Darth Vader, blasting Van Halen's wicked guitar performances from a Walkman into his father's ears in the middle of the night (truly one of the funniest scenes in the history of cinema). That song would never actually be used by Van Halen in any of his future music, and no expanded version of the excerpt heard in that scene has ever existed. Silvestri provided Back to the Future with its remaining source pieces, three instrumentals for the 50's and a few transitions in which his orchestral material was meant to mingle with (and, in the case of "Earth Angel," overtake) the songs. Spielberg originally expressed lingering doubts about whether or not Silvestri was up to the task of writing a score as boisterous and thematic as necessary for Back to the Future. The composer's history with an orchestral ensemble, especially one pushing 100 members, was very limited. But when Silvestri was half finished with the score, Zemeckis switched out the temp material with it for a few scenes, Spielberg applauding what he thought was new temp music when in fact he had enthusiastically praised what Silvestri had written. Because of the numerous production changes that affected the film, Silvestri had the luxury of scoring most of it twice. With the songs taking up so much time in the film (the first piece of the score is heard 19 minutes into its running time), the task of revisiting the 45-minute score wasn't too monumental. Several small pieces of even the second recording of Back to the Future still didn't make it into the picture, though that is due to no fault with Silvestri's material. It is as well organized and precisely crafted a score ever to exist, a perfect match for the suspense, fantasy, and sense of humor conveyed by the story. The composer's thematic motifs and structural tendencies in the work cause it be extremely cohesive in all of its parts. You could pull any single cue from this score and within seconds a learned film music collector will know that it derives from Back to the Future. That extremely well reasoned approach is likely why Silvestri simply extended the same general sound (and in some cases, almost identical cues) into Back to the Future Part II four years later. In fact, whatever brevity that exists in the treatment of any motif in Back to the Future is likely rectified by the sequel, despite decreased sound quality and a sense that there isn't really anything refreshing about the follow-up. That loyalty to the first score, which extends to a lesser degree into the third film in the trilogy, is testament to its very effective applications. The first recording conducted by Silvestri reflected a darker, more suspenseful variation on the script (in part a result of the miscasting of McFly), with more expansive dissonant passages. The mood was lightened for the second and final recording of the score, with the more frequent employment of the title theme a request directly from Spielberg. Zemeckis had always requested the score to be "big," but Silvestri easily enhanced both the bold statements of the main theme's two halves and the "magical" motif surrounding Doc Brown and the concept of time travel. A greater emphasis on the thrill of the ride and wonder of the travel was the ultimate result. The primary theme of Back to the Future is divided into two parts, both based on three-note phrases that prove to be surprisingly malleable. Arguably the more famous of the parts is the heroic fanfare, a nine-note sequence that typically finishes the theme with all the bravado of the ensemble. It's the redemptive half of the idea, often punctuating McFly's triumphs. It was meant to open the film with a brief, robust performance, but this cue ("Logo") was dropped from the finished cut. The theme's first usage is thus as a suspenseful phrase of disbelief and foreshadowing in "DeLorean Reveal." As McFly escapes from the crazed Libyans at the end of "'85 Twin Pines Mall," the theme makes its first heroic charge. While this treatment, very similar to one in the latter half of "Skateboard Chase," is the most memorable tone from the score, the idea's translation to romantic strings in the latter half of "George to the Rescue - Pt. 2" is a key example of the theme's adaptability. Still, whenever it comes to announcing the arrival of the score, as in the opening of the end credits suite (complete with plentiful cymbal accents on almost every note), Silvestri clearly chooses the fanfare as the primary identity of the work. That said, the secondary part of his theme for Back to the Future is the not only more enjoyable but also the propulsive heart of the score's action pieces. Easily identifiable due to its distinct, opening three notes, this often rhythmically rolling theme often introduces the fanfare, as it does in its first full statement in the aforementioned portion of "'85 Twin Pines Mall." After McFly has arrived in 1955, this part of the theme is frequently referenced in solo performances of the first three notes, sometimes hidden within longer lines of otherwise random phrases. Solo horn performances at the start of "Lorraine's Bedroom" and "1.21 Jigowatts" are versatile references to the larger adventure. Between the theme's extensive employment as a source of adventure in "Skateboard Chase" and "Clocktower," it wouldn't be surprising if this half of the theme is perhaps more recognizable to some average movie-goers than the actual fanfare. Silvestri's frequent applications help that distinction; he uses the theme to draw the romance of McFly's parents into the action realm, too, not only applying it as a set-up tool in "Tension - The Kiss," but also integrating it directly (and with high class) at the end of "Earth Angel." No performance of this theme, in conjunction with its fanfare counterpart, is as satisfying as the lengthy "Clocktower," however, one of the most exhilarating cues of anticipation ever written for the screen. Not only is "Clocktower" the highlight of Back to the Future, but it also encompasses nearly all of the secondary themes in the score. The most expertly realized motif to support the primary themes is a pair of descending three-note phrases for tingling percussion (with a slightly synthetic sound at times) that punctuates the fantasy aspect of the film. Established extensively throughout "Einstein Disintegrated," this idea can then be used by Silvestri as a stinger to punctuate any precise moment of time travel or destiny reference on screen. It supplies all of the "magic" in the score, teasing the senses in a number of "realization" scenes. This motif often accompanies the theme for Doc Brown, and its solo use during his resurrection in "'85 Lone Pine Mall" is brilliant. The mad scientist atmosphere of Doc's own, playfully rhythmic theme is introduced in "Einstein Disintegrated," extended in "1.21 Jigowatts," and translated into action fragments in "Clocktower" before returning to an even fuller comedy incarnation in "Doc Returns." For Doc's more sensitive interactions with Marty McFly, Silvestri twists the first three notes of the adventure half of the title theme into a wholesome, dedicated Marty theme. Although teased in the unused "Logos," the theme is fully realized on French horn in "Marty's Letter" and "4x4." Because of this theme's proximity to the adventure theme, it's difficult to determine if Silvestri intended for Marty's unique idea to be adapted in any cue of heightened action. The final two themes in Back to the Future are both dedicated to suspense and villains. The first is a frenetic rhythmic piece in the minor key that rambles in various shades of nervousness in the score's most suspenseful moments. Because of its fully symphonic representation in "Skateboard Chase" and dominance of the latter half of "George to the Rescue - Pt. 1," it's tempting to point to the troublesome character of Biff as the target of this theme, though pieces of the idea are also heard in "'85 Twin Pines Mall" and "Clocktower," so it is possibly a more general motif of unsettled atmosphere. Of more certainty is the Predator-like military procession on snare, cymbal, and deep woodwinds heard in "'85 Twin Pines Mall," accompanying the initial historic gravity of the time-traveling event and eventually becoming a theme of danger to address the encroaching Libyans. While the melody on top of this rhythm often reverts to the adventure half of the primary theme, there's enough unique character to this idea to call it the official danger motif of the franchise. It would be expanded upon extensively for Back to the Future Part II, which seems to remove the Libyans from consideration as the owners of the theme. The main reason for the overwhelming success of Silvestri's score for Back to the Future goes beyond any one theme, however. It's the masterful integration of all of the six or seven motifs in the score that, along with a keen sense of tone, makes the work so effective. To think that Silvestri had never even attempted a large-scale orchestral score of this variety at the time speaks to the man's mostly self-taught talents. He had literally learned how to write film music out of a book, though you could never tell that he wasn't classically educated and trained in the industry for twenty years prior to Back to the Future. Aside from an over-reliance on cymbals, which was likely a choice made to appease Zemeckis and Spielberg's request for even more bravado, Silvestri's employment of percussion is phenomenal. A varied drum section, a plentitude of struck metallic tones, and a flowing harp for the "Enchantment Under the Sea" scenes are outstanding contributors. The pounding piano in the two "Pine Mall" cues is a force. The pacing of the percussive rhythms, especially in the slowly increasing tempos of "Clocktower," are impressive precursors to Predator. Muted trumpets, one of the changes (from standard open tones) made to the score in its revision, are eerie in their initial use after the transition to the 50's; Silvestri cleverly re-opens a solo trumpet in "Helicopter" to acknowledge McFly's arrival back to the present. Silvestri scored the identical action in the overlapping "Pine Mall" scenes slightly differently, a hint that the future (or present, one could say) has been changed. In the end, though, the instrumental highlights are the numerous brass explosions, the fully bombastic enunciations of the title theme's two halves that went on to anchor the two sequels (and a ride at the Universal theme park). Unlike many scores with an obvious and memorable pop culture theme of an orchestral nature, Back to the Future hasn't really become obnoxiously overexposed, making it a pleasure to revisit. The resurrection of this score for Back to the Future Part II was too much of a good thing, however, so perhaps it's for the best that that film isn't well remembered by many. To a degree, it made sense for Silvestri to reprise most of the first score in the sequel, because the timeline was meant to include an immediate transition between the two films. But the level of copy and paste work in Back to the Future Part II is, despite the strength of the material, a disappointment. Silvestri would largely rectify that problem in Back to the Future Part III, but by then the scores had lost the "magic" motif and much of the sense of wonder that the original had so gloriously espoused. To the extreme dissatisfaction of many listeners, only the two sequels received score albums at the time of their releases. The original Back to the Future album was a best-seller and featured a decent mix of the 80's songs, 50's songs, and score cuts. The most prominently placed songs and score cues in the film were all present on that product (with the exception of "Mr. Sandman"), the score portion amounting to about 12 minutes. From a 45-minute score, that wasn't a terrible deal, especially since the songs are good and the two score tracks do represent the best of Silvestri's recording (the end credits arrangement and most of "Clocktower," the latter renamed "Back to the Future Overture"). Still, this selection was never bound to satisfy film score collectors, and the score remained one of the most requested unreleased titles in modern soundtrack history. Bootlegs of poor quality long circulated on the collector's market. A 1999 re-recording of highlights from all three scores in the trilogy, conducted by John Debney, was a vast improvement in sound quality, but enthusiasts immediately noticed pacing issues in regards to the initial score's major action pieces. This quibble aside, the re-recording remains a very good product and those unsatisfied with the slightly muffled sound of the original score will find the 1999 version appealing. In 2009, Intrada Records finally filled the void with a limited pressing of not only the second recorded score for the film, but the first as well. (The differences between them will probably be more subtle than you expect). Because of anticipated demand, Intrada pushed the maximum quantity of this pressing up to 10,000, but even at this number, the album sold out. They rescued master tapes that were in poor condition (resorting to Silvestri's personal copies as a backup), though despite a few inconsistencies in quality from cue to cue (especially "Marty's Letter"), most of the work sounds good. Intriguingly, the 12 minutes on the original album sounds slightly more vibrant than the 2009 album's equivalent cues. Overall, however, the score is beautifully presented on the 2009 2-CD set, and the recording has been cleaned up to levels of clarity that will please all but the most discerning audiophiles. The first CD of this presentation was resurrected alone on a re-issue by Intrada in 2015. Those who love the film will want to merge some of the songs from the original album (and maybe even the Van Halen "Darth Vader" sequence and "Johnny B. Goode" film version for kicks and giggles) with the majority or all of the score for a fantastic hour-long experience. There are few films and music with as happy a marriage as Back to the Future, and the work stands alone as the crowning achievement in Silvestri's career despite his immense and high-quality body of work to follow. *****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1985 MCA Album:
Total Time: 38:04
2009 Intrada Album: Total Time: 89:08
2015 Intrada Album: Total Time: 49:28
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1985 MCA album includes no extra information about the score
or film. The 2009 and 2015 Intrada albums are beautifully packaged, with extensive
photography and notes about the film, score, and album production.
Copyright ©
2010-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Back to the Future are Copyright © 1985, 2009, 2015, MCA Records, Intrada Records, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 1/4/10 and last updated 4/11/16. |
