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Review of Rocky IV (Vince DiCola)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the relatively obscure 2010 score-only album to
experience the full but rather brief score by Vince DiCola, a decent,
electronically-defined deviation from the franchise's musical norm.
Avoid it... on that score-only product if you expect most of its material to be as inspirational as the famous "Training Montage" cue released on the popular song compilation album.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Rocky IV: (Vince DiCola) Though it's considered by
critics to be among the weaker films in the Rocky franchise, the
1985 cold war entry, Rocky IV, is certainly one its most
memorable. The film became a political tool, Sylvester Stallone writing
and directing a story pitting American boxing legends against a
seemingly unstoppable Russian counterpart, with the pride of both
nations on the line. The Russian, Drago, the menacing Dolph Lundgren in
his initial performance, kills Apollo Creed in a Las Vegas exhibition
bout, prompting Rocky Balboa to challenge him to a fight in Moscow.
Lundgren's physicality was so immense that Carl Weathers (Creed)
threatened to quit the production during the filming of their bout, and
Lundgren reportedly struck Stallone so hard in the chest during the
final fight sequence that Stallone spent more than a week hospitalized
in intensive care. In the plot, Rocky trains in the Russian countryside
with improvised equipment while Drago is shown utilizing
state-of-the-art exercise techniques and, of course, steroids. The
inspiration of Rocky IV comes not just in how Rocky manages to
best Drago in the final scene and wrap himself in the American flag in
front of Russian leadership, but in his path to that success, including
the strain his quest to defeat Drago has on his wife and son. Audiences
ignored skeptical critics and made Rocky IV the highest grossing
entry in the franchise. It is, interestingly, by far the shortest
Rocky film as well, its MTV-inspired shooting of the fight scenes
actually amounting to a shorter narrative. This brevity caused the
soundtrack to require less music. The Rocky movies were known in
part for their extremely popular soundtrack albums that combined better
than average songs with contemporary sports scores by Bill Conti, whose
career shot through the roof with the early music in this franchise. Due
to the composer's involvement with The Karate Kid: Part II,
however, he was unavailable to score Rocky IV. Stallone turned to
Vince DiCola, a regular collaborator of his musician brother, Frank
Stallone, who had contributed significantly to the Rocky III
soundtrack. As a keyboardist and arranger, DiCola had limited experience
in film scoring, mainly with 1983's Staying Alive, but his sound
was what Stallone was looking for in this film.
As expected, Rocky IV continued to utilize a variety of prominent song placements, headlined this time by James Brown's "Living in America," which previews the Las Vegas bout. After Survivor's incredibly popular "Eye of the Tiger" in the previous movie, the group returned with the decent "Burning Heart." John Cafferty's "Heart's on Fire" is a particularly inspirational song, to which DiCola contributed and would adapt into a moment in his score. As a bit of irony, Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love" was reportedly rejected from this movie and used instead as a love theme in The Karate Kid: Part II, partially supplanting a Conti-written idea. The song album went platinum in the United States, selling over a million units, but it was the final Rocky album to experience such success. DiCola had two score tracks featured on that compilation, the pair not surprisingly the most famous from his work, but the mix on these recordings was an earlier version of what was actually utilized in the film. His music in the film is roughly half an hour in total length, and much of the incidental material failed to make an emotional impression. His soundscape is largely defined by his keyboards and percussion, though piano and slight orchestral accompaniment provide some color in the family and victory passages. His synthetic element is of particular interest in Rocky IV, DiCola utilizing electronic effects exclusively for Drago while retaining the organic elements of the mix for Rocky and his family. If anything, the split between these two sounds is not as great as they needed to be, Rocky's most engaging moments in the film scored with contemporary keyboarding and drum kit coolness. The choral aspect brought to the franchise by Conti is completely gone from this equation. To his credit, DiCola was extremely cognizant of Conti's legacy in the music of the franchise, and while he didn't access the full range of Conti themes to any great degree in Rocky IV, the two he chose to interpolate were the themes that really mattered. The primary anthem of the series, "Gonna Fly Now," is provided in various guises in DiCola's score, and Rocky's triumphant music from the first score's "The Final Bell" is reprised in the closing scene here as well. Sadly, DiCola's performance of the latter accelerates the tempo and provides terrible synthetic accompaniment for this theme in the insufferable "Victory" here, though he does allow the score to close out again with the "Gonna Fly Now" fanfare. DiCola's adaptations of Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" theme are thankfully much more nuanced and impressive in Rocky IV than some listeners might expect. On the score-only album that came long after the original song-laden product, the "Theme From Rocky" arrangement is actually a demo recording not used in the picture, likely for the better. But DiCola often appends the melody to his own family theme in this work, and it's highly effective in that position. A very nicely intimate piano rendition occupies the latter half of "Anniversary," the idea again softly extending out of the family material at 1:28 into "Rocky and Son." It's provided after the family theme once more in an unresolved phrase at the conclusion of "Training Montage." More brazenly, it punctuates the final 45 seconds of "Up the Mountain" to match first film's equivalent scene in Philadelphia, and the underlying rhythm informs the short, fully orchestral "Knockout" crescendo that represents the score's only truly orchestral track. (Unfortunately, the performances here are embarrassingly novice and lack the gravity of Conti's ensembles.) DiCola's new family theme is anonymously generic but pretty, with a slight hint of jazz inflection at times in later performances. It opens "Anniversary" on piano and strings, is reprised in much the same fashion in "Stairs," takes a new direction with more keyboarded emphasis in "Rocky and Son," and emerges again on piano late in "Training Montage" as Rocky's wife, Adrian, joins him in Russia. The villainous Drago receives arguably the most interesting music that DiCola provided to the picture, and the composer himself considers this material to be his favorite from the project. The Drago theme consists of a thumping rhythm over industrial percussion and breathy, air canister-like noises, with an octave-hopping bass motif that makes it very highly (and almost distractingly) reminiscent of his Unicron music for The Transformers: The Movie the following year. The simplistic melody on synth strings above all this action is somewhat non-descript. Summarized in "Drago Suite," this material extends to the first minute of "Apollo's Death and Funeral" in mostly its melody over a pounding rhythm. It develops further out of a distinctly unnerving alarm effect at the outset of "Drago's Entrance." Despite the breathing effects incorporated into this theme, the tone of its performances sound appropriately inhuman, an intentional choice given perceptions of Drago's unbeatable physical capabilities. Not many other themes weave consistently through DiCola's short score for Rocky IV, the most prominent of them being the composer's "War" theme playing strategically over the fight between Rocky and Drago. It is previewed in one phrase that closes "Apollo's Death and Funeral" with subtlety on the synth, signaling the inevitability of the future bout for retribution. This idea helps turn the tide in "War," though DiCola's work here is not quite as famous a recording as "Training Montage." It remains somewhat grating with militaristic snare and wailing guitars; the cue needed to be more symphonic as a propulsive force directly against Drago's synthetics. If anything, this cue is the biggest missed opportunity of the score despite DiCola and Stallone holding it back until Rocky starts to show some capability to defeat Drago. The melody of the DiCola-written "Heart's on Fire" song is also the basis for the "Up the Mountain" rock inspiration for Rocky's ascent. Singular moments in DiCola's score worth mentioning include a piano, synth, and string theme of lament for Creed in "Apollo's Death and Funeral" and an uninteresting, ambient heartbeat effect with atmospheric swooshes in "Pre-Fight." The early duo of "Gym" and "Paulie's Robot" are forgettable, Stallone eventually coming to personally loathe the latter cue's character and its techno music. The closing references to Conti's style, at about 90 seconds in length, are too brief to really work. The most hype for DiCola comes with the pop rhythms and distinct theme of "Training Montage," a cue so immensely popular and memorable that it has been heard in sports stadiums for decades since. The synthetic accompaniment for Drago overlaps synthetic inspiration for Rocky here, but most listeners will remember the likeable drum kit and keyboarding that foreshadows early Autobot material in The Transformers: The Movie. Overall, "Training Montage" and "Drago Suite" remain highlights from the short score for Rocky IV, the new family theme and other cues not memorable enough to endure. While the Scotti Bros. song album had been released widely on LP and CD since the film's debut, DiCola's score didn't experience its own release until 2010, when Intrada Records provided a 32-minute product with only the score and none of the songs. Listeners may not prefer the final, film-oriented mixes of "War" and "Training Montage" on this product, but the whole is an interesting study and supplies a sufficient narrative. There are just enough references to previously existing material for this score to fit into the franchise, but Conti returned for the following two sequels to bring the music home. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
1985 Scotti Bros. Album:
Total Time: 43:12
2010 Intrada Album: Total Time: 32:31
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1985 Scotti Bros. album includes no extra
information about the score or film. That of the 2010 Intrada album
contains details about both.
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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 Rocky IV are Copyright © 1985, 2010, Scotti Bros., Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/31/22 (and not updated significantly since). |
