: (Lee Holdridge) Long before his seemingly
endless parade of accolades for his dramatic acting performances, Tom
Hanks was a regular favorite in the realm of dumb comedies. While most
of these comedies were really quite awful, one of the exceptions was
1984's
, a very early entry in his career and featuring an
endearing supporting cast lead by the sizzling Daryl Hannah and
supported by Eugene Levy and John Candy for laughs. After much
alteration, Ron Howard's film of a New York dock worker twice saved from
downing by (and eventually falling in love with) a mermaid hit all the
right buttons, delivering its fantasy with grand comedy while tempering
its message about love with the necessary bittersweet ending. For
composer Lee Holdridge,
was an equally important
career-turning success. The composer not only flashed his skills in the
lush, orchestral themes that most remember from the film but also
extended his abilities in action and pop culture writing. This work also
included his adaptation of his main theme for a reasonably popular song,
an area of expertise in which the composer would support himself well in
the coming years. The 1980's would in turn be considered the pinnacle of
recognition for Holdridge, despite the composer's prolific production in
the two decades to follow on a variety of typically obscure television
and video projects. The wide scope of genres that
covers
as a film led to an accomplished score sadly neglected through the years
until resurrected in the late 1990's on its first digital album. There's
nothing surprising about how Holdridge tackled the mostly orchestral
score, using piano and strings as the centerpiece but supplying brass
for poignant moments throughout. Electronics, drum kit, and other modern
elements contribute as necessary, though light, tingling percussion
often helps the magical element. The ambience of the work is almost
constantly accessible tonally, very few moments of genuine worry
interrupting the easy experience.
For most listeners, the glory of the soundtrack for
Splash will reside completely in the flowing string theme
occupying the film's titles. In "Main Titles," "Reunion," "Return Home,"
and "End Title," Holdridge unleashes the pleasantly romantic theme with
no reservations, utilizing the familiar high string structures also
present in his song orchestrations. Deeply resonating bass strings under
flowing layers of violins and brass accompany the theme, with the
composer's keen sense of counterpoint always merging sections of the
ensemble with the usual dynamic skill. The theme may not have the
gravity of those later heard in his more robust classics like
Old
Gringo or
The Mists of Avalon, but the allure of the lovely
bittersweet atmosphere it creates for
Splash is undeniable. For
the cues in between the full performances of the main theme for
Splash, Holdridge manages to avoid most of the pitfalls of
typical fluffy, light-hearted comedy scores. Although resorting to a few
of those elements throughout, he builds the score around a very
captivating thematic variant for a solo pianist. As the orchestra swells
in and out of this theme, the piano is a constant reminder of the work's
core. One of the most remarkable aspects of the score is Holdridge's
ability to capture the underwater beauty and allure of the mermaid's
world and then translate those musical motifs into a pop and jazzy
format for the contemporary New York City lifestyle. Never do the
percussive pop elements overwhelm the orchestra, however, elevating the
work to a level beyond the immature silliness of a more average urban
romantic comedy score. A few of the chasing action cues definitely
betray the score's mid-1980's origins, but they are generally
light-hearted and affably conveyed. There seems to have been some
dissention regarding the extent to which the pop elements were needed;
Holdridge recorded more powerful, purely orchestral variations of the
film's late chase sequences (with some notable performances by the
French horns) that were replaced by renditions heavier on the drums and
guitars. For the most part, though, the
Splash score contains a
significant number of slight conversational cues, led by the acoustic
guitar in "Watching TV."
The song variant on Holdridge's main theme is decently
performed by Rita Coolidge, with alternate versions with sax and guitar
in the lead. The music was originally released on LP in 1984, but to
save on costs, the original Los Angeles recording was supplanted by a
London re-recording for the album. The Royal Philharmonic performed a
shorter arrangement of the score's highlights for that LP that still
managed to span all the different modes of music within the broader
score. The tempos and resonance of that recording are widely considered
superior to that of the film version. Still, collectors eagerly awaited
some form of CD release of the film's recording of
Splash for
years, only receiving a single track on a Ron Howard score compilation
in the mid-1990's. Even Holdridge had expressed interest for years in
seeing a comprehensive digital release of the
Splash score, being
that it was often referred to as the most popularly recognizable film
music work of his career. A promotional album pressed by the short-lived
Super Tracks label in 1999 finally offered the full film version of the
score, properly arranged in order and featuring several bonus tracks of
alternate recordings. The only thing missing from the CD is the giant
fold-out poster of Daryl Hannah as a nude mermaid that came with the LP,
though the CD album's art designer had to be given credit for the
abundant cleavage included on the promo's packaging as possible
compensation. The same team leveraged Holdridge's personal tape copy of
the London re-recording for a long-overdue digital and CD-on-demand
release of that performance by BSX Records in 2023. A trio of
supplemental tracks, including a cover in the place of the Coolidge
performance of the song, accompany that BSX presentation. The appending
of the Charles Gerhardt-conducted rendition of the score's theme with
the London Symphony Orchestra (originally for the "East of Eden"
compilation of Holdridge scores) is a nice choice; this performance,
highlighted by superb piano runs, remains the fullest and most powerful
rendition of anything ever recorded for
Splash. Ultimately,
Holdridge collectors will find merit to both the original film and album
recordings, though only the movie's most ardent enthusiasts will likely
prefer the film version from the 1999 promotional product. Either way,
for those familiar with the frequently gorgeous romance themes produced
by Holdridge throughout the years,
Splash is an easy
recommendation.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Lee Holdridge reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.77
(in 14 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.34
(in 7,817 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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