The Meteor Man (Promo)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Written, produced, directed and starring, its amazing Robert Townsend didn't do the scoring duties as well. Luckily, he left that to a man who was capable of doing the job while being just cheap enough to fit the budget. Yet, with Star Trek 6 and Christopher Columbus already on his resume, Cliff Eidelman deserved more respect than just a wannabe superhero movie about an ordinary man who got stronger just because he came in contact with a meteor containing radiation of superhuman strength. Call it a Superman spin off, the dude can fly and even the cape reminds us of the concept, but also the music, which evidently was temp tracked from start to finish. So Eidelman could not completely follow the true path of self discovery, but with the result he created here, I be damn curious if he didn't do the best spin off Superman deserved. Yes, we heard themes already being so close to Superman, they sounded fake for doing the obvious rip off. But the main theme Eidelman created here is so spot on the money, hearing it over and over again is a blessing for such a crappy movie. Its amazing how he lets it erupt partly in 'Main Title' after an ominous Williams like opening. The first part of the score however is mostly dark and building on the discovery of Jeff's powers. This is evident in 'Hospital Vision' which is basically comedic underscore while the Star Trek 6 like darker action music is for 'Initiation' and 'Offensive Plan', even covering a couple of Silvestri like tinkling Back to the Future moves, before the second brings some brief statements of the main theme, rather cool how easily Eidelman creates with brief parts a Superman like theme that immediately jumps at you. The abrasive dark action music is to signal the danger from 'Meteor Strikes' while a choral effect and a dramatic piano sub theme, stating more the emotions surrounding the cue. The real fun however starts to unleash the hero within after 'Jeff Protects Dad / Rebirth' with more Star Trek 6 like moves, and even in this film it has full effect, again the Silvestri like BTTF tune is present as well. Some respite is guarded for 'Mrs. Walker' with a nice soft melody while the main theme bursts open in 'Cleaning up the Hood', a real fun moment where the main theme truly shines.

But what's interesting of all is Eidelman's dramatic bouncy cue namely 'Garden of Etin', and again you can't help but sense a Silvestri flair surrounding it, especially with the jazzy influence at the end. And when you hear 'Impostor' and 'Jeff Catches Bullets' you know for sure that both Silvestri's Back to the Future and Williams' Superman were heavily featured in the temp track. The emotional theme returns on piano in 'I'll Leave' while 'Dog Alert' has as astonishing burst of the heroic main theme, basically the power it exhibits. Sadly more of Williams is discovered in 'Meteor Spill / Woratg Duel'. Despite it covering great versions of the main theme it sadly also brings out of nowhere Star Wars and more specifically the Tie Fighter Attack music. Somewhat sad is the fact that while this track has the honor of being the biggest bombastic cue of all, it contains the most temptrack ideas all in one. I however said that while I don't appreciate it, if it works I accept it at a certain rate. And this track is an example of a composer that needs to stick with the music chosen in his place. That his own Star Trek 6 music and above all voice survives in other tracks is a testament that Eidelman didn't have to do it always. 'Ultimate Hero' for instance has dark powerful fanfares with the main theme in abundance, and here the main theme truly shines. The lovely soft 'Reviving Ellington' shows by then a true Eidelman voice, the one we would discover more in Now and Then amongst other scores. Yet how much you had to crawl around the many dark pieces in the begin, how easy you get the exiting adventure music in the second part. With 'Bloods & Cripts Unite' we have more energetic variations on the theme while the final main theme makes 'Meteor Man Suite' truly fly. For a long time the music of The Meteor Man was only discovered on a hideous sounding bootleg with half the music presented here. Now out of nowhere came this almost crisp sounding stereo release, covering twice the music first discovered and above all the stereo makes the music come to life. Now we just hope it ever gets a commercial release. Because Cliff Eidelman deserves it, for his recognition and for his fans, and especially because its a too good spoof of Superman to ignore.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (1.46)

2. Initiation (2.39)

3. Meteor Strikes (2.50)

4. Hospital Vision (1.41)

5. Offensive Plan (1.34)

6. Jeff Protects Dad / Rebirth (3.56)

7. Mrs. Walker (1.32)

8. Cleaning Up The Hood (3.24)

9. Garden Of Etin' (2.38)

10. Impostor (4.37)

11. Jeff Catches Bullets (3.02)

12. I'll Leave (2.21)

13. Double Cross (3.13)

14. Dog Alert (3.02)

15. Meteor Spill / Woratg Duel (7.00) Excellent Track

16. Ultimate Hero (3.34) Excellent Track

17. Reviving Ellington (1.22)

18. Bloods & Cripts Unite (3.05) Excellent Track

19. Meteor Man Suite (3.12) Excellent Track

Total Length: 56.36

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Cliff Eidelman ===