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For his part, Silvestri approached Young Guns II with a clear strategy of balancing the rock element necessary for the franchise with dashes of orchestral depth to match the improved visual scope. It's a truly weird score in the composer's career because it doesn't really match anything else in spirit or execution, and it doesn't often emulate the styles that had already made Silvestri famous by 1990, aside from The Delta Force. The wildly disparate musical genres clashing in the score may make it a hit or miss prospect for some, for the suspense (typically the composer's standard high string technique) isn't particularly strong, nor is there true Western tradition in any of the Aaron Copland, Elmer Bernstein, or Ennio Morricone moulds. Silvestri's orchestra is heavily laden with acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, drum kit, and wide percussive variety. His synths follow the Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer mode of the era and suit Silvestri's rock past pretty well. The overall tone combines Zimmer's contemporary blend with James Horner's Latin sensibilities, cues like "Small Hands" and "Lynch Mob" foreshadowing Horner's The Mask of Zorro franchise scores. That Latin element is extended by tambourine, guitar, flute, tabla drums and other percussion. The acoustic guitar is especially good in its flamboyant performances, notable great in "Little Tom Dies," but underutilized overall. A slight bluegrass alternative unexpectedly emerges in the sparse "Coy Dog" and in even crazier enthusiasm during "Little Tom Dies" as well. When not infusing the rock personality, Silvestri ensures that his percussion is dominant. His more traditional collectors will hear some Back to the Future Part III (composed just prior to this score) in occasional Western-flavored moments, especially during "Lynch Mob" and "Battle." A few of the ambient cues preview Judgment Night, including the electronic woodwind tones, though "Devil's Deal" and "Tom Sees the Light" offer very little to the album experience. Meanwhile, some of the percussive jungle rhythms native to the Predator franchise return in "More Than Hello," and action material periodically impresses, as in the first half of "Battle."

Silvestri really only develops one main theme in Young Guns II while regularly revisiting two secondary ideas that don't receive as much variation. His dominant primary theme for the film represents Billy and the gang of outlaws together. It's a more traditionally Western identity than anything heard in the prior score but still appropriately modernized, using a simple, alternating phrase repeated in call and answer form. Of particular importance to the score is the rock ballad-inspired secondary phrase of four notes that offers the star power of the theme. This secondary phrase is directly related to the riff at the start of the song, a nice connection. Its renderings often apply choral crossover from the score's Chavez theme to remind that death will come for all of them in the end. The main theme is introduced brazenly at 2:15 into "Scars" with its brash tones and choir joined by drum kit pounding, electric bass, and synths. The secondary sequence at 2:34 really pushes the modern element, and they both slow considerably at 3:35, the supplemental sequence at 4:01 smoother. The theme returns at 0:48 into "Small Hands" with choir and a more percussive pop infusion. It suddenly emerges late in "Lynch Mob" with the choir, plucked banjo, and tabla, leading to the secondary phrase on shameless pop keyboarding and drum kit again. The idea reprises the same form in "Finish the Game" with a more electronic woodwind sound, blows up briefly after a long passage of rhythmic anticipation in "Yoo Hoo," and becomes a bit restrained on winds and guitar in "More Than Hello." It overtakes the more traditional Western action in the middle of "Battle" with big brass accompaniment, but wild electric guitar over staccato synths definitely raises the Faltermeyer memories thereafter. (If orchestral film score collectors are going to hang their heads in shame about only one cue in this work, it'll be this moment late in "Battle.") Reduced to somber contemplation as it's lightly plucked in "Little Tom Dies," the theme erupts in full form again with massive brass, snare, and choir at 2:55, and the secondary phrase is nicely converted to a choral lament at 4:38 before the cue closes with one more major rock performance of the primary phrasing again.

In the concluding scenes of Young Guns II, Silvestri allows his rock-defined main theme to explore more contemplative territory. It's lightly Latin on woodwinds at 0:33 into "Chavez's Wound," returning on solo guitar and triangle later and the choir finishing the scene with almost religious power. The theme's secondary phrase opens "Stolen Horse (Finale)" on only the choir, yielding to a Latin rendition at 0:32 that contains heavy bass elements and eventually transitions to a choral closure. Among the two supporting themes in the score, the Native American one associated with Chavez is the better remembered, if only because it represented that lone track on the Bon Jovi song album. With a deep choral chant of reverence and contemplation for the concept of mortality, this identity factors right away after guitar flare at 1:03 into "Scars." Recurring early in "Finish the Game" with more varied percussive rattling, this theme mounts an increasingly forceful performance in "Ride to Guano City," returns on an electronic wind over synths late in "Little Tom Dies," and achieves great stature with the choir at 1:42 into "Chavez's Wound." Finally, the villains (and lead bad guy Garrett) receive their own rambling, long line of suspense that teases in "Devil's Deal." Slight on violins in the middle of "More Than Hello," this material consolidates for its most major rendition throughout "Garrett's Place" and gains steam in the latter half of "You Gonna Shoot?," where it becomes moderately compelling by the cue's end. Regardless of these additional ideas, though, Young Guns II is only going to be remembered for the Bon Jovi song and Silvestri's main theme. There is charm to the composer's approach to the sequel, and he accomplished the balance between genre norms and rock sensibilities about as well as anyone could have. Does it work? You'll get wildly different answers to that question. The score wasn't released on album until a limited Intrada Records product of 46 minutes in 2011, the result of significant effort to locate and restore the original recording. The presentation neatly combines shorter cues into longer tracks for an admirable experience, and the album escalated to hundreds of dollars of value after falling out of print. It remains Silvestri's most outlandishly creative and unique mainstream score with a dedicated following, but don't approach it expecting to hear anything like typical Western music.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ****
• Music as Heard on Album:  ***
• Overall:  ***

Bias Check:

For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.21 (in 68 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.15 (in 43,672 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 56:07