Heard first in "The Terminator's Arrival," this four-note heartbeat effect always foreshadows or accompanies the terminator when it is at its calmest, most procedural mode. Interestingly, the motif seems to slightly increase in tempo as the story progresses, noticeably faster in "Arm & Eye Surgery" and determinedly forceful in the harrowing "Terminator Gets Up" as the metal exoskeleton of the machine first reveals itself. Before Connor realizes that she is a target, Fiedel uses the piano to define her normal everyday existence, assisted by acoustic guitar in a light, solitary major-key idea in "Sarah on Her Motorbike." Her realization of trouble in "Sarah in the Bar" takes that piano motif to a quickly fearful incarnation. Reese is given an 8-note ascending loop on raw, synthetic keyboarding that accompanies him in the future (as in the prelude to the main title) and 1984 (as in his initial elusion from authorities heard during "Reese in Alley"). Outside of these explicit structures, Fiedel relies upon his instrumentation to identify the level of menace in a particular scene. The manipulated choral effects for the future scenes is appropriately other-worldly, leading to the dissonant climax with a descending motif that literally mimics the crushing and thrashing of the terminator. On album, many of Fiedel's looped effects are quite effective in their bouncing from one speaker to another, a technique negated in the mono theatrical release of the film. His contribution to The Terminator is almost always sufficient in context, though given its inherent limitations, it's difficult to say if a deeper, more complicated and/or timeless score would have functioned any better. It is, on the whole, a work that remains a cult favorite for those devoted to both the composer and this franchise. For collectors of more commonly embraced orchestral film scores, Fiedel's sound may be simply too dated for repeated album enjoyment. Regardless of where you fall in that spectrum, the title theme for The Terminator has to be recognized as one of the most memorable of its era. Aside from the score, Cameron's employment of contemporary songs also had a significant impact on the narrative of The Terminator, with five notable source usages becoming fan favorites themselves. Embedded in the lyrics of these songs is also a tremendous sense of humor, for most of them precisely match the action about to happen in the story.

The two songs in the "Tech Noir" nightclub are most obvious and vital of the vocalized entries in The Terminator, both performed by Tahnee Cain and Tryanglz. They represent California new wave music of the early 80's very distinctly, and demand for them alone caused the original album for this soundtrack to become scarce. Their lyrics cleverly reference the aspects of pursuit and masquerade relevant to the scene. The first, "Photoplay," is heard as Conner walks into the club, but the second, "Burnin' in the Third Degree," is the centerpiece of the scene. Perhaps the most suspenseful moment in the film shows Conner leaning over to pick up a beverage she accidentally knocked to the floor in the club, thus coincidentally obscuring herself from the vision of the ominously passing terminator. Cameron slightly slows the visuals to accentuate this scene, adding an eerie, wet mix to "Burnin' in the Third Degree" in this exact shot (heard in its original mix at 2:10 into the song on album) while still somehow synching the dancers on the screen to the song's regular speed. Cameron seems fond of using slightly slower or faster speeds of photography in The Terminator (the latter used to increase velocities during the car chases), but never is this technique more effective than with the manipulation of the music here. The subsequent merging of this song with the Fiedel cue "Tech Noir" represents the official shattering of Conner's world as she first spots Reese in the club. The same group also performs "You Can't Do That" for the scene earlier in the film as Conner and her roommate are seen preparing for their dates; the lyrics and title of the song, of course, reference a gun shop owner's final words to the terminator before his killing in the forthcoming scene. Outside of the contributions of Tahnee Cain and Tryanglz, Cameron also placed two additional songs into situations involving Conner's ditzy roommate, Ginger. The first, performed by Jay Fergusson and 16mm, is "Pictures of You," which is used by Ginger's boyfriend to drown out the phone message from Conner in an adjoining room. The use of picture identification by the terminator in the following scene is what this song references. Right before she is killed by the terminator (because he mistakenly believes her to be Conner), Ginger is listening to Linn Van Hek's "Intimacy" on her Walkman. The male choral baseline repeatedly says "it's a mistake" in distinctly European tones, producing perhaps the most humorous moment in the film because it underlines or foreshadows so many different fallacies involved with the scene.

None of the songs will likely appeal to film score collectors, regardless of whether they appreciate Fiedel's work or not, but the careful application of these songs to the film assists in not only a high number of in-jokes, but also the reinforcement that even the most intimate or popular pop culture situations in the setting aren't immune from the death that follows the singular attention of the terminator. Despite the high profile nature of the film, the music from The Terminator was difficult to find on CD for decades. Its initial release in digital form came in 1991, when Cinemaster (a DCC subsidiary) produced a CD identical to the contents of the Enigma LP release (which had originally placed Fiedel's score on one side and the songs on the other). Only about 14 minutes of Fiedel's music existed on this album, though it did provide a basic survey of the highlights. Missing were the actual title sequence cues, the extended piano performances, and most of the chase music. Because of the songs, though, it went out print and shot up to unrealistic prices. In 1994 and 1995, Edel distributed what it called "The Definitive Edition" with only Fiedel's score (71 minutes of it!), and because this was primarily a European product, it quickly became difficult to find as well. Interestingly, it stated on the back, "The Producers freely acknowledge The Works of Harlen Ellison," which not only speaks to the circumstances swirling about the film's production but also album producer Ford A. Thaxton's erroneous spelling (one pressing used "The Definite Edition" on the front cover, too). Sound quality on both albums is decent, the 1994 Edel CD very clear in even the most yearning, low-volume piano performances in "Conversations by the Window." Still, these products forced fans to shell out more money than they were worth. While the songs remain neglected, the score received a long-overdue remastering by Fiedel himself for a re-issue in 2016. This Milan product, primarily aimed at the vinyl audience but also available at regular commercial prices on CD, shortens the presentation by a few minutes but is a better consolidation of the actual score as heard in the film. Surprisingly, this new mix from original tapes contains an unfortunate number of audible artifacts such as pops and warbles, the worst of the latter existing distractingly in "Love Scene." The product places the score back into affordability, but the questionable sound and lack of songs remain a problem. The best, ever-elusive presentation of music from The Terminator would merge most of the score with the songs, but no such product has ever existed. Given the popularity of the film, such a treatment (complete, hopefully, with standalone quotes) may someday come, but unless you're well aware of the dated and often grating synthetic tone of Fiedel's score, don't pursue this one blindly.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download