Volcano

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Silvestri's only bombastic action score in '97 and knowing you would have to wait to 2000 for Reindeer Games, and more importantly to 2001 for a release of action Silvestri with The Mummy Returns, you sure thought that Volcano would be a no miss. But in fact for 29 minutes this score offers us pulsating powerful heroic marches that Silvestri can obviously do as the best in the business. Volcano indeed has just 29 minutes of music but it isn't that we don't receive anything in the place, it has the best action volcanic eruption moments of music you can possibly think of. I don't know if the score can compare with Howard / Frizzel's Dante's Peak but it sure belongs as the better entries of action music in '97. And for 29 minutes we are sure glad they are found on this release.

While 'Main Title' and 'Cleansing Rain' are the softer pieces of music, the rest thrills and pulsates, offers us march after march of exciting Silvestri music. Put it with the visuals on screen and you've got magic that both pleases the audience and respects the characters on screen, movie music doesn't have to be difficult to be fully understandable and Silvestri's Volcano does it with style. The best action marches are found in the trio of highlights 'Team Work', 'Build a Wall' and 'March of the Lava'. These three tracks bring the excitement of the movie to life and deliver Silvestri's knack for coming up with these kind of moments, normal fanatics might see it as a little too less but Silvestri fans will embrace and treasure the result.

Overall the running time of Varase Sarabande's release might scare off potential buyers of Volcano, and this wouldn't do Silvestri's effort any justice. You have to see it in a certain context, for the 29 minutes does it bring something worth of that particular price and indeed the answer is yes, it does. While not the best score that Silvestri produced and composed, it surely offers its thrill and peak moments of original score and in a way it is all we sometimes want. So Volcano will bring movie fanatics the thrill of a sensational story and the people ready to embrace it will find the original price the correct number, because Silvestri goes directly from begin to finish with the biggest pieces of score.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (2.44)

2. Miracle Mile (3.58)

3. Tarnation (5.54)

4. Team Work (2.40) Excellent Track

5. Build A Wall (5.01) Excellent Track

6. March Of The Lava (3.42) Excellent Track

7. Roark's Missing (2.45)

8. Cleansing Rain (2.31)

Total Length: 29.26

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

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