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Beverly Hills Cop
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Composed, Performed, and Produced by:
Harold Faltermeyer
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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La-La Land Records
(November 29th, 2016)
La-La Land Records (November 5th, 2019)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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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.
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AWARDS
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Winner of a Grammy Award. Nominated for a BAFTA Award.
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ALSO SEE
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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.
BUY IT
 | 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.
While the themes in Faltermeyer's score for Beverly
Hills Cop are largely single-phrased melodies repeated countless
times, there is a significant number of them at work in the narrative.
These ideas sometimes overlap in meaningful ways, including three of
them at once at 1:03 into "Foley Busted," the most complicated moment in
the score, but don't expect such complexity often. The famed "Axel F"
theme actually consists of four distinct elements that the composer can
apply in any combination depending on the action and characters on
screen. The main melody of the film that opens the "Axel F" suite
arrangement on the Roland Jupiter 8 is a jaunty, fun, and repetitive
phrase with no secondary development. It starts "Foley Finds Mikey,"
"Flowers," and "Foley Busted" solo, follows all the other main themes at
0:54 into "Late Dinner/Warehouse," and interjects over the bassline and
buddy cop theme in "The New Team" and "Chase to Harrow's." This theme
for Axel's swagger follows the lead of the bassline per usual in
"Rosewood/Foley to Gallery," offers confidence over the tepid beginning
at 0:38 into "The Discovery," and overcomes the villains' rhythmic motif
early in "Good Guys on Grounds." It totally dominates the early portions
of the score but is sadly diminished to near total absence in the final
third. The same path is taken by the bassline of Axel's theme, which is
its own entity that moves cyclically under many of the main melody
performances but can exist by itself. Heard at 0:16 into the "Axel F"
suite, this bassline guides most of "Foley Finds Mikey" and "Flowers"
after other parts of the theme stop. It assists in "Foley Busted," opens
"Late Dinner/Warehouse," starts "The New Team," sets the action pacing
in "Chase to Harrow's," and again begins "Rosewood/Foley to Gallery" and
"The Discovery" with no variation. The catchy B phrase to the main
melody is the buddy cop theme, lightly keyboarded in staccato fashion at
0:48 into "Axel F." It is liberally applied to the score, debuting at
0:24 into "Foley Finds Mikey" and recurring at 0:16 into "Foley Busted"
in identical form and rising out of the main bassline in "Late
Dinner/Warehouse" and persisting for most of the cue. It again follows
the bassline opening of "The New Team," shifts to a bass marimba effect
at the start of "Chase to Harrow's" before returning to normal, and is
reprised at 0:38 into "Rosewood/Foley to Gallery."
The buddy cop theme in Beverly Hills Cop does
receive more variance in inflection compared to the other parts of the
"Axel F" suite. Most of the score's thematic ideas espouse no
significant development or adaptation into different emotional states
from their base performance, with the drum machine altered the most for
different levels of excitement, but the last third of the movie does
allow Faltermeyer to explore varied states with the buddy cop theme. It
is lighter in the soundscape early in "The Discovery," very slight over
villain material at 0:45 into "Good Guys on Grounds," and vaguely
meanders through the middle of "Foley Shoots a Bad Guy." The theme never
shakes the ultra-staccato keyboarding, which is a shame, because it may
have sounded better with fuller notes or a little more reverb. The final
component of the "Axel F" suite of themes is the composer's comedy
theme, which he endearingly terms the "banana theme" after a funny scene
in the movie. It provides the marimba comedy effect at 1:44 into "Axel
F" and exists in the score at 0:32 into "Foley Busted" (taking a
counterpoint role later in the cue), 0:29 into "Late Dinner/Warehouse,"
and at 1:46 into "Good Guys on Grounds," where it shifts to a beefier
but still funny action mode twice. Four themes and motifs occupy the
actual pursuit of justice in Beverly Hills Cop, and all are
tangentially related to the villains as well as the cops' actions to
hunt them down. The main bad guy chase/pursuit theme is frequently
applied by Faltermeyer from start to finish, an ascending, deep marimba
motif against high pulses on key and cyclical surrounding action. Its
secondary lines consist of a more prominently exciting, undulating line
for fake brass synth effects that ultimately becomes the de facto
villains' theme by the end of the story. Developed throughout "Shoot
Out," which was reworked by the composer to serve as a secondary suite
of themes from the score for album consideration, this chase/pursuit
theme continues similarly in "Customs." There, both parts of the theme
build the two halves to their familiar role in "Rosewood Saves
Foley/Rosewood/Foley to Mansion," the secondary lines returning to its
heightened brassy synth mode in the middle. High pulses open "Good Guys
on Grounds" with this theme and later yield it against protagonist
material, bursting from the other villain motif briefly in the middle of
"Foley Shoots a Bad Guy" and gaining momentum in the second half of
"Zack Shot."
While the various facets of Faltermeyer chase/pursuit
theme for the villains handle most of their appearances, the composer
does explore some secondary ideas related to them. A confrontation theme
is a cyclical formation for deep keyboards throughout "Cops Follow Merc"
that returns a bit faster in "Foley Shoots a Bad Guy" with the main
villain rhythm attached. It continues in its supplemental lines only
during "Zack Shoots" and guides the start of "Zack Shot" while lending
only its background elements to "Maitland Shot." Ancillary to this
material is a specific suspense rhythm, a simple keyboarded pulse on key
that is used to generate what little challenging environment exists
musically in this score. This suspense technique is heard during all of
"Bad Guys" and builds to the climax in "Maitland Shot." Faltermeyer also
supplies a rather oddly romantic discovery motif to the score, a
keyboarded deep bass theme of two phrases heard in the second half of
"The Discovery" that eventually gains an electric guitar effect for a
brief moment of coolness. This idea blends with the chase/pursuit theme
in the first half of "Zack Shot" and is provided its own thematic suite
in "The Discovery (Theme Suite)." That suite arrangement is an
attractive extension of Faltermeyer's more romantic tendencies, and
while it may not make total sense in the context of its placement within
the picture, it makes for a good listening experience on the composer's
bass synths that would earn their stripes in Top Gun. That theme
exposes a rather interesting aspect about the score for Beverly Hills
Cop, and that is the lack of impactful role for guitars in the work.
Faltermeyer applies synthetic tones that emulate the same general sound,
but they obviously can't supply the same performance inflection. Still,
the composer managed to hit his target squarely with this assignment;
it's nearly impossible to record contemporary comedy music that is cool
rather than cringeworthy, and whether you like his style or not,
Faltermeyer's work is a great match for the concept. While the song
album was commonplace, the score itself was not released until La-La
Land Records provided a full treatment of it on CD in 2016, appending a
variety of alternate takes and arrangements in addition to the most
pertinent songs. That product is a long overdue and worthy homage to the
score despite an awkwardly sudden splice at 0:42 into "Zack Shoots." The
same presentation was re-issued by the label in 2019, though all 5,000
copies from the combined pressings sold out in short order, testimony to
the lasting impact and popularity of Faltermeyer's score.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
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)
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The inserts of both pressings include significant information
about the score and film. Only their cover art slightly differs.
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