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•	2001 Album

•	2019 Album

A weird combination of a number of other Barry modes, Howard the Duck sometimes functions and at other times simply sounds out of place. He wasn't truly a master at either the comedy or superhero genres, so hearing him try to manage both at the same time leads to questionable stylistic choices, especially given his preference for really slow tempos. What Barry did always excel at was his thematic writing, and he graces this score with five significant identities and some secondary suspense motifs. Perhaps truest to Barry's typical methodology is his Duckland theme, the identity for Howard in his native environment. This lazy lounge jazz idea is at home with the composer's roots via a flugelhorn in "Lullaby of Duckland." It offers counterpoint to the light source piece in "Disco Duckland" and opens "Main Title" in a softer and brief saxophone rendition. The theme returns back to original jazz form with low flute and piano at 0:11 into "Beak Jobs and Tail Tucks" but largely disappears from the score thereafter. Replacing it is the hero theme for the picture, the de facto main identity. A rhythmic snare introduction provides militaristic tones and is somewhat trite in personality. The theme's actual melody is somewhat awkward, the primary phrase sounding like a secondary answer to some other section of a theme. The hero idea debuts in stately form at 1:55 into "Main Title" and returns with enthusiasm at 1:04 and a few times later into "Howard to the Rescue." Its chords guide the quasi-noble openings of "Special Destiny" and "Experiment Video (Alternate)," the fuller theme providing a short reminder of its heroics in restrained form during "So Long, Copper." This main theme prances with some reservation for brass layers in "Howard's Bar Brawl," offers hope in fragments at the start of "Ultralight Discovery," explores a different melody over the general chords in "Ultralight #1 (Alternate)," and dabbles in related motifs until full renditions in "Ultralight #1" and "Ultralight #2." Alternating several times with the villain material in "Ultralight #3," it chops its way to reserved defiance in "Jenning as Dark Overlord," eventually displaces the villain theme in "Dark Overlord," and follows the love theme half a minute into "End Credits - Suite (Version #1)."

For his part, Levay reprises Barry's hero theme wholesale in "Howard's Bar Brawl (Rescore)" and again at 1:07 into "Ultralight #1 (Rescore)" with more streamlined harmonics from synths and brass. It's largely the same in "Ultralight #3 (Rescore)" and "Ultralight #3 (Rescore)," and some interesting variations ramble in "Ultralight #1 (Alternate Rescore)," "Ultralight #2 (Alternate Rescore)," and "Ultralight #3 (Alternate Rescore)." One benefit of hearing Levay's interpretations of Barry's hero theme is its overdue change of rendering. A major detriment of Barry's own handling of the idea exists in his inability to adjust the theme for differing circumstances, his statements of it all sounding pretty much the same. That was a problem with the composer's music in general, of course, but it hits a bit harder in the superhero genre for some reason. Barry's love theme is a standard romance idea from the composer, expressed like many others in his career and not really reaching for any memorability here. It starts "You're the Duckiest" on low flute over soothing strings, shifting to violins and trumpet. After resuming the same tone on strings in "So Long Ducky," it informs the faux-Bond suspense in "Duck Bond I Presume," strains at the outset of "Experiment Video," becoming ominous later, and returns to its sensitive origins for an extension in "Hard Boiled Egg." The love theme is then vaguely referenced in "Dark Overlord - Introduction (Alternate)" while solo flute opens "Filthy Scum Bucket" optimistically and the idea rediscovers its extremely slow pacing in "Fallout." Barry increases its tempo for strings and flute in "End Credits - Suite (Version #1)" and Levay quotes it in his portions on flute in "I Need Your Body (Rescore)" and "I Need Your Body (Alternate Rescore)" with more suspense. Also on the positive side of the score is a fantasy theme that Barry supplies as something of an inspirational anthem. For lack of a better name, it could be termed the Out of Africa theme, because it is so similar to that famous score's main identity that you cannot help but smile at its presence here, especially given underlying cello lines. This theme is afforded bold brass layers over piano slashes at 1:00 into "Main Title," reprised for most of "Man's Oldest Fantasy," and altered for a different approach in "Ascent of Duck."

The lesser Barry motifs in Howard the Duck all involve the darker side of the story, which receives identities that aren't all that effective. A plucky motif for the villain of the tale is lightly expressed on violins and woodwinds in "Super Powers" and continues at the start of "Beddy-Bye for Howard," generating a longer jazz melody that persists the same way in "Take His Clothes Off." A more whimsical take develops in "Dark Overlord - Introduction (Alternate)" and "He's Got a Whole Gang," but Barry revisits its moderate marching demeanor in "Filthy Scum Bucket" and "Nuclear Drive." The villain motif then builds momentum on the low piano rhythm and brass melody in "Power!" before becoming more aggressive in "Smog Inspection" and "Ultralight #3." Finally, it turns up the intensity with pounding percussion in "Dark Overlord." Often mingling with this idea is Barry's overarching set of suspense motifs, usually a cascading phrase on strings or quietly inevitable snare rhythms over brass anxiety. These passages are heard at the outset of "Howard to the Rescue" and during all of "My Eyes, My Eyes" and "So Long, Copper" in a more familiar Barry fashion. Subdued identically in "Give Me the Code Key, Howard" and "It's Closing Time," this material opens "Jenning as Dark Overlord" and serves as an undercurrent for the hero theme at 1:04 into "End Credits - Suite (Version #1)." Levay doesn't really attempt to do much with these identities in his rescored portions of the final third of the story. Overall, the music outperforms the other production elements in Howard the Duck but still struggles to fit well in the genre. Some listeners may blame the movie's own discomfort finding the right personality, but it's safe to say that Barry was no master at the superhero genre. It was a project better built for the comedic sensibilities of Elmer Bernstein at the time. All of that said, 19 minutes of Barry's score was released by MCA Records when the movie debuted, long the only representation of the work on CD. In 2019, though, Intrada Records pressed a comprehensive and limited 3-CD set containing the full Barry score, a slew of his alternate takes, Levay's final and rough cues, and the original 1986 album with the Dolby songs. Barry's alternate cues aren't radically different from the final versions, essentially just elongating an already redundant experience. But the presentation on this set is fantastic, and it fully exposes the iterative challenges that the composers faced when tackling this awful film.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

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For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.77 (in 31 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.48 (in 28,973 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.