Robocop

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

It is without doubt to say that both Jerry Goldsmith and Basil Poledouris can deliver the so called Verhoeven sound, to accompany his violent yet most entertaining movies. Robocop was the first and while it struck blockbuster proportions Poledouris' highly charged score seem to sound mostly cool inside the movie, and it got that main theme to prove it. Today it is one of the better known themes and the soundtrack is a proud classic in Poledouris fans' collections and most of all it has that strange experience of sounding simply so connected with the movie. It has the kind of dissonant moments and it all sound hugely loud, but make no mistake about it, it is still one of Poledouris' highest achievements in musical composition for film credits so far.

Do not be fooled about 'Main Title', it isn't the big main theme but the commercial news tune, found in so many of Verhoeven's movies. 'Van Chase' offers one of the most vibrant and energetic moments, Poledouris' first two minutes are classic action fun while the second part underscores the events more loosely. The next highlight is 'Rock Shop'. It is the only time where the main Robocop theme shows its most vibrant performance. Other worthy moments include the short theme performance in 'Betrayal' and 'Showdown' concluding with the final fight and some impressive pieces of action music, mixed in for good fun. Still the biggest things that captured my attention were the misplaced tracks. Track 11 has to be 12 and visa versa with 13 and 14. 'Robo Tips his Hat' is actually really strange, it starts with 'Directive IV' and then it continues with the mentioned track 'Robo Tips his Hat', lasting one minute more then initially intended. This isn't the first time that the track times are incorrect with a Poledouris soundtrack, the winner on that contest is still Les Miserables, but Robocop fails miserably with giving the wrong music for the wrong moment in the movie.

Not paying too much attention to the flaws and misrepresented tracks of the soundtrack, Basil Poledouris' score still presents the amount of brass to enjoy it any moment of your time. Robocop offers that main action sound that we discovered only in one other Paul Verhoeven film, Starship Troopers. It makes the score only more enjoyable and not one of the other Robocop scores in the series attended its high standard of sound. Robocop has to be the main film score that succeeds in beating all its sequels and only Poledouris has that ability to make it count. Its fun, its loud, its a typical energetic score for a typical violent movie, both with the accent on fun.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (0.40)

2. Van Chase (4.50) Excellent Track

3. Murphy's Death (2.35)

4. Rock Shop (3.42) Excellent Track

5. Home (4.14)

6. Robo vs. ED-209 (2.06)

7. The Dream (3.06)

8. Across The Board (1.49)

9. Betrayal (2.17) Excellent Track

10. Clarance Frags Bob (1.43)

11. Drive To Jones' Office (2.08)

12. We Killed You (1.44)

13. Directive IV (1.42)

14. Robo Tips His Hat (3.11)

15. Showdown (5.14) Excellent Track

Total Length: 41.28

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Basil Poledouris ===