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Beverly Hills Cop
(1984)
Album Cover Art
2016 La-La Land
2019 La-La Land
Album 2 Cover Art
Composed, Performed, and Produced by:
Harold Faltermeyer
Labels Icon
LABELS & RELEASE DATES
La-La Land Records
(November 29th, 2016)

La-La Land Records
(November 5th, 2019)
Availability Icon
ALBUM AVAILABILITY
No physical commercial release exists for this score. The 2016 La-La Land album was limited to 3,000 copies and available only through soundtrack specialty outlets for an initial price of $20. After it sold out, the label re-issued the same contents in 2019 for another 2,000 copies at $22 each. After that product sold out as well, both pressings escalated in value to $75 or more.
Awards
AWARDS
Winner of a Grammy Award. Nominated for a BAFTA Award.
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ALSO SEE





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Availability | Awards | Viewer Ratings | Comments | Track Listings | Notes
Buy it... if you recognize how challenging it can be to record contemporary, synthetic comedy music that is cool rather than cringeworthy, Harold Faltermeyer accomplishing that feat with pure 1980's exuberance.

Avoid it... if you cannot tolerate film scores that repeat their constructs ad nauseam without significant alteration to their base performance inflection.
Review Icon
EDITORIAL REVIEW
FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #2,222
WRITTEN 3/25/24
Faltermeyer
Faltermeyer
Beverly Hills Cop: (Harold Faltermeyer) It's hard to imagine anyone other than Eddie Murphy staring as wise-cracking detective Axel Foley in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, but the original 1984 movie's production had cycled between everyone from Mickey Rourke to Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford by the time it landed the lead. Murphy's inherent humor, which had catapulted him to the forefront of the industry in just a couple of years, led the buddy cop genre to the peak of its popularity in the 1980's, his Detroit-originating character forming an unlikely bond with Beverly Hills police as he investigates the killing of a friend. Together in a clumsy but affable bond with the skeptical Beverly Hills officers, the group busts major drug cartel operations and a lasting partnership is formed. These formulaic films thrive on the interactions between Murphy and his colleagues, much of the dialogue conjured on the set at filming. The initial Beverly Hills Cop film was an immense critical and popular success, leading all R-rated movies in grosses for decades and spawning several sequels. While the subsequent films were not as popular, Murphy's ascent was complete; he would sire at least ten children from a variety of women starting shortly thereafter. The movie was also continued affirmation for the production skills of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who themselves were enjoying a remarkable period of success in the 1980's. The soundtracks for their films, and particularly the resulting albums, were a top priority, and they had reaped immense profits from the music of Giorgio Moroder up to that point. German musician and synthesist Harold Faltermeyer became the go-to composer for the Simpson and Bruckheimer team in the years between Moroder and Hans Zimmer, mostly because they had taken notice of Faltermeyer's skills in collaboration with Moroder on their previous projects. The producers had confidence that Faltermeyer was a better match for the humor of Beverly Hills Cop than Moroder, and their bet paid off. The soundtrack became an international sensation, in part because of the bevy of popular new songs included in the film but also because of Faltermeyer's own impact.

The songs selected for Beverly Hills Cop were a variety of pop, dance, and R&B originals, and each reinforced the upbeat nature of the film's personality. Faltermeyer had a hand in writing "The Heat is On," the Glenn Frey headliner that drove the compilation's popularity and became an anthem for Los Angeles itself. Despite its success and that of other songs from Patti LaBelle and The Pointer Sisters, it was Faltermeyer's score track, "Axel F" that became an ultimate chart-topping favorite, its synth theme ubiquitous throughout the 1980's and inspiring countless covers. Rarely do the original score cues placed on a popular song compilation help drive the product's popularity, but Faltermeyer had the knack in the mid-1980's for doing just that. His synthetic music for the first two Beverly Hills Cop films was largely identical, and they reflected pop sensibilities relating to the instrumental backing of mainstream songs more than the experimental tones coming out of John Carpenter and others. In that regard, Faltermeyer was met with the kind of acceptance and awards consideration that blessed Vangelis in the same era. For enthusiasts of synthesizers, however, Faltermeyer's equipment is no less interesting. He utilized a Roland Jupiter 8 for the main melody, a Moog System 15 and Oberheim OB-8 for its bassline, a Yamaha DX7 for the marimba of the banana theme and other motifs, a Linn LM-1 for the drums, and various other Roland machines for the hand claps and water drops throughout. The demeanor he yields with this equipment is unyieldingly positive, even the suspenseful portions rather lighthearted. Faltermeyer admits having attempted to emulate Henry Mancini's playfulness in the score's tone, the endless stream of major key rhythms and melodies keeping the environment exactly as the producers wanted: humorous. Music that can qualify as "funny" is notoriously challenging to create, especially without specific instruments from an orchestra, but Faltermeyer succeeds very well at this task with his synthetic options and flowing movements. To some listeners, the themes may be overly simplistic and the whole score may come across as endless variants of drum machine programs. From a structural standpoint, that's an accurate observation, but this film benefitted greatly from it.


Ratings Icon
VIEWER RATINGS
144 TOTAL VOTES
Average: 3.54 Stars
***** 36 5 Stars
**** 45 4 Stars
*** 35 3 Stars
** 18 2 Stars
* 10 1 Stars
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COMMENTS
1 TOTAL COMMENTS
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The best performance of Axel F with synths and orchestra
Zack - July 6, 2024, at 9:33 a.m.
1 comment  (273 views)
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Track Listings Icon
TRACK LISTINGS
All Albums Tracks   ▼Total Time: 62:55
• 1. Foley Finds Mikey (1:20)
• 2. Bad Guys (1:23)
• 3. Flowers (0:23)
• 4. Foley Busted (1:29)
• 5. Cops Follow Merc (0:43)
• 6. Late Dinner/Warehouse (2:48)
• 7. Shoot Out (1:44)
• 8. Customs (1:31)
• 9. The New Team (0:40)
• 10. Chase To Harrow's (2:42)
• 11. Rosewood/Foley to Gallery (0:57)
• 12. The Discovery (2:15)
• 13. Rosewood Saves Foley/Rosewood/Foley to Mansion (3:10)
• 14. Good Guys on Grounds (3:14)
• 15. Foley Shoots a Bad Guy (1:22)
• 16. Zack Shoots (1:06)
• 17. Zack Shot (0:54)
• 18. Maitland Shot (0:51)

Bonus Tracks: (13:44)
• 19. Shoot Out (Alternate Ending) (1:42)
• 20. The Discovery (Alternate) (2:18)
• 21. The Discovery (Theme Suite) (2:51)
• 22. Zack Shot (Alternate) (0:54)
• 23. Axel F (Album Version) (3:00)
• 24. Shoot Out (Album Version) (2:44)

Songs: (19:57)
• 25. The Heat is On - performed by Glenn Frey (3:45)
• 26. Neutron Dance - performed by Pointer Sisters (4:12)
• 27. New Attitude - performed by Patti LaBelle (4:36)
• 28. Do You Really (Want My Love?) - performed by Junior (3:41)
• 29. Stir It Up - performed by Patti LaBelle (3:36)

Notes Icon
NOTES AND QUOTES
The inserts of both pressings include significant information about the score and film. Only their cover art slightly differs.
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or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Beverly Hills Cop are Copyright © 2016, 2019, La-La Land Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/25/24 (and not updated significantly since).
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