Goldsmith's instrumentation is key to defining several of the uniquely individual motifs that represent technology (for the atomic bomb and the lead character's sanctum organization) and hypnosis (for both the prime characters and mystic at the start of the film) in the plot. To balance the traditional comic book heroism and the bizarre mental and futuristic mechanisms within the film, Goldsmith makes fine use of his usual array of synthesizers and library of sound effects. The resulting combination of organic and synthetic in The Shadow stands among the best of the composer's career, not as obvious as in works like Legend and Hoosiers, but in purely complimentary bliss that allows the electronics to effectively aid both major facets of the score's personality. Two specific applications of the synthetic pitch-altering effects are frequently referenced in the score, and both are integral to its success. Heard at the very start of the film (in "The Poppy Fields") is the first of these two mini-motifs, a rising tone in the treble that denotes mystery and the psychological elements of the plot. It is the opposite of the all-too-common "sinking feeling" effect that dominated film scores in the 2000's, a lightly ascending treble tone rather than a deeply descending bass one. While it may seem indiscriminately applied at times, Goldsmith actually starts its rise on a specific harmonic note and often matches the orchestral material to its pitch later in the effect. The other major electronic motif utilized throughout the score is a descending but still treble-rooted swooshing that resembles both a cymbal roll and the passing tires of a vehicle on a wet street, again accentuating the noir style of the film. Goldsmith provides this effect as an extended substitute for traditional cymbal crescendos, such as the introduction of the title theme in "The Poppy Fields." Additional synthetic effects include deep bass thumping for the descending major third pairs under the main theme's rhythmic counterpart, highlighted in "I'll Be There" and sometimes suggested alone to solely represent a hint of the Shadow. The composer's more common, tingling, rambling electronic tones accentuate that main rhythmic figure. Less obvious is the soft keyboarding that Goldsmith provides for the love theme at the start of "Secrets" and elsewhere. On the whole, "I'll Be There" is a good place to study the various electronic elements, and you'll also encounter some of the score's only snare usage there as well (at about 1:30). For enthusiasts of the flying theme from Forever Young, Goldsmith reprises the electronic and woodwind rhythms from that cue (and even hints of the theme on brass above) for roughly half a minute at 2:45 into "The Tank."

The enhanced role for electronics in The Shadow is made all the more impressive by the composer's employment of the traditional orchestral players. In some cases, as in the use of muted trumpets to accentuate the noir atmosphere, the choices are intuitive. But in some cues, it's hard not to get the feeling that Goldsmith and his orchestrators did everything they could to tinker with the performance aspect of each orchestral element without causing them to become dysfunctional. The trombones, for instance, perform some striking synth-like slurs in "The Hotel" to cleverly reflect the brainwashing concept, a technique that he would rarely touch upon again in his career. In fact, so successful was Goldsmith in this task that no subsequent performance of The Shadow by another body of musicians has ever been able to capture the same stylish personality. Even with all of the strange instrumentation and eclectic performances, though, the composer manages to maintain an airtight sense of continuity that makes the score distinctive even within a long career during which he utilized many of the same basic ingredients. Overall, you have to remember that The Shadow has a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek attitude, both on screen and in its music. But Goldsmith's score remains tremendously entertaining in its highlights and easy to appreciate for its unnecessary complexities when heard in its fullest length. At 85 minutes, The Shadow represents one of Goldsmith's longest scores of the era, and this doesn't include a major 5-minute cue (the final battle in "The Mirrors") that the composer re-wrote later in the production process to match the completely rearranged scene. There is very little filler material ("No Shadow" and "The Jumper" among the few rather uninteresting cues) in the 90 minutes of the complete score, the plethora of motifs and instrumental creativity keeping the work surprisingly fresh from start to finish. The original 1994 commercial album from Arista for The Shadow only offered thirty minutes of the score, but it features most of the essential pieces that you will hate to love and your neighbors will love to hate. There is enough action of significant, stereo-swooshing volume on this album, whether it be noble, pounding, or just downright strange, to cause your neighbors to become irate, even more so than something as masculine as the lion sequences in The Ghost and the Darkness. Included for good measure on this album were two dialogue clips, the first of which, with the slogan of the legend performed by Baldwin in a distorted mix, of perfect length and substance to whip on telephone solicitors at the highest possible volume. The other features Orson Welles' vintage narration.

Not worthy of much discussion is the Taylor Dayne song "Original Sin" meant for the end credits of The Shadow. While misplaced in terms of style and personality (and of no relation technically to Goldsmith's score), it does at least utilize lyrics relevant to the film and has a sense of pizzazz that lends it well to appreciation in another context. The Arista album presented two mixes of this song and compounds its presentation problems by separating Goldsmith's opening cue from the rest of the score with an otherwise reasonable vintage jazz song performed by Sinoa. The product disappeared from the market quickly (within a year after its release) and has since fallen badly out of print. Never to be daunted, however, are those illustrious Goldsmith fans. An expanded bootleg album with only Goldsmith's score appeared many years later, though the various versions of the presentation typically offered only roughly an additional 14 minutes of material. Although the early packaging of this bootleg suggested that it was a Universal Music-produced promotional item, don't be fooled by its illegal status from birth. It's important to recognize, though, that these bootlegs still lacked half of Goldsmith's total recordings for the film and were often unsatisfactory in their sound quality. While including the important nightmare sequence cue, they still lacked the full "The Mirrors" and other vital music. At least twelve short cues comprise the extra material, and many of them repeat short sequences (0:15 or less in length) from the larger, better structured tracks heard on the Arista album. Realistically, the expanded bootleg was advisable only for seriously devoted fans of this score, and Intrada Records finally made its existence moot in 2012 with a stunning 2-CD release of the full 90 minutes of sessions work, complimented by two source pieces by Dennis Dreith and the original Arista presentation. With outstanding, remastered sound quality, this set offers a wealth of additional material that will tickle fans of this score, almost all of which presenting worthy extensions of Goldsmith's many ideas for the film. The title theme's renditions in "I'll Be There" and "Nice Tie" are not to be missed, nor are the Khan and hypnosis extensions in "The Clouded Mind" and "Don't Open It!" and the several love theme renditions finally exposed in three or four cues. The highlight of this product is the alternate version of "The Mirrors," which features some of the composer's best career action material. While there have been several outstanding expanded re-releases in 2012 (Hook and Star Trek: The Motion Picture among them), this set of The Shadow competes favorably with those products. It represents Goldsmith adventure and fantasy at its most affable, and despite the film's questionable quality, it will be impossible to put this fantastic album too far away.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download