Blown Away / Fandango (Bootleg)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Alan Silvestri hardly received any double disc bootleg but this is the one that proves me otherwise. Both scores aren't the ones the fans have been crying for but I believe the fans will be interested in it the moment they see it somewhere. First of all Blown Away, a mighty explosion film that receives the bombastic style of Silvestri to proof it. It also becomes a very exciting score at the time, mostly when Silvestri starts to build the tension with his main theme. Apart from this main theme, there is one underused melody which translates itself to the love of Jimmy and Kate, and it is a wonderful piece of music. It also starts and closes this score with 'Main Title' and 'End Title', it is a wonderful Irish piece with vocals and the people will be surprised that this is coming of Silvestri's hand. Why Irish? Because Jimmy Dove (Jeff Bridges) plays an Irish bomb disposable man in the movie. But mostly this score is set on action and the rhythms flow from left to right. Always a favorite is 'Lord Forgive Me' with its building movement before a mighty theme performance rocks the sound system of your television and your CD-player. Anyone not impressed when hearing this during the movie (the score takes center stage with this one) will not find Blown Away worth it.

Also to mention is that the track listings weren't correct when I got this version, so I changed them myself. This is not a problem for me because I have the movie in my possession and I know it like the back of my hand no matter what. One thing to say with bootlegs is always the sound quality, which is acceptable but every time you raise the volume, the purity is gone and for a score that needs its powerful volume, it is a short hinder for those who are real big audiophiles. Now speaking of Fandango, it was a score I knew nothing about. First of all, it was scored in the same year of his massive blockbuster Back to the Future, it pinpoints at several spots short moments of other scores, like for instance strangely but true Aliens and of course his own Back to the Future work. The real problem is, this score never takes flight and it somewhat remains at the background, but the real hinder is this score's sound quality, it is unbelievably poor. Like for instance, when the first track starts to play and you hear a suspension mood (that links itself with Aliens of Horner), this sound quality isn't improving the quality of that score. Of course grading a score you know nothing of or don't know what it represents is difficult, and makes the listen even more harder than before.

At times the music sounds action / adventure orientated, at other times it receives a western mix or even a comical moments (like Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the track 'Real Men'). If you see the score apart from anything that Silvestri has done, and realize that this was one of his first scores, you must confess this score is not that bad, it improves with each listen, but the thing is, it never gets a response from you. And when the quality of this score is like this, you don't even like listening to it. It would have been a better listen (still an average one) if it had the sound quality of recent scores. This score is a difficult whistle along score, because it's sound quality and power will never rise above your voice. See Fandango simply as a background listen that apparently is fifty feet away from you, blocked by massive walls. This could be a nice gift for true collector's of Silvestri's music, Blown Away offers enough exciting moments and has the best quality in sound as material. Fandango is somewhat of a second guess. Both scores have a disappointing sound quality, with Fandango as the ultimate winner and in these days this might be a serious drawback. This bootleg I can only recommend to those who are big Silvestri collector's or if you see it somewhere cheap, there's always a risk of not getting it or becoming disappointed if you did bought it. Dilemma for you and even for me, because I'm the one who has to figure if out if it's worth it or not.

Blown Away: ***
Fandango: **1/2

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Tracks

Single Disc

Blown Away

1. Main Title (2.26)

2. Castle Gleigh Prison (1.38)

3. The Escape (3.00)

4. It's Blanket (1.17)

5. Inspection Of The Bridge (3.18)

6. To The Crime Scene (1.01)

7. A Warning For You, Bomb Squad (1.18)

8. Lord Forgive Me (4.54) Excellent Track

9. On The Dolphin (3.11)

10. Don't Use The Brakes (3.42)

11. End Title (1.40)

Total Length: 27.25

Fandango

12. Rough Cut (1.04)

13. On The Move (1.48)

14. Real Men (4.37)

15. Acknowledgement (4.56)

16. Once Around (2.54)

17. Let Me Do The Thinking (1.33)

18. Smooth Talk (2.19)

19. Keep It Cool (1.02)

20. Passing Away (1.47)

21. The Other Side Of Madness (1.57)

22. War And Peace (3.14)

Total Length: 27.11

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Alan Silvestri ===