Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (Bootleg)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Whatever John Williams does, Jerry Goldsmith does equally, only in more inferior movies. Superman vs Supergirl and Indiana Jones against King Solomon's Mines are examples. The dinosaur movies Jurassic Park and Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend are another pair. While at the time, Baby was considered kinda cool but you know it lost its niche just more when you compare this with the Jurassic Park movies of today and again it was a sample of Goldsmith doing great with less then inspiring results. Baby never received proper commercial attention though a couple of tracks appeared on the Jerry Goldsmith SPFM Tribute compilation which is equally hard to find these days. However, according to sources the sound quality of the 4 tracks are much better there and even here, a full bootleg can't completely box up against that fact. A 53 minute bootleg presents the themes and the music in a normal yet unspectacular sound quality. The power, the clarity and the strength of Goldsmith's music is totally lacking and its good for a listen but not from a perspective to enjoy it, simply to hear. And I know there are pieces on this disc which would enjoy if they were presented in the best possible clarity and power. Anyway, Baby presents several themes and one is the cute playful main theme, often reminding me of a mix between Horner's own big creature movie Mighty Joe Young and the calmer material of Legend and Medicine Man. Anyway, the theme is heard a lot and appears the best in various tracks, including the opener 'The Drawing', 'No Problem' and the final track 'Baby's Alive', along with any other track practically. The theme is lovely and fitting yet none to spectacular if it doesn't receive full clarity and emotional depth.

There is also a second theme which works actually as the action theme only that its not an action theme per se. Its actually a theme supporting the action on screen, with brass results that will make people smiling when they hear the results in 'The River' and 'The Family', brining music with an epic quality and a building danger with rhythm. It however also works as the danger theme for when there is danger nearing or someone is chasing the victims of the movie. Its however the brass theme of these two final mentioned tracks which makes more of a difference then the main theme in my book. Other notable occurrences are the end fanfare of track 1, showing the pompous sound of First Knight that returns, the plunky playfulness of jungle entries like Medicine Man (track 2 for instance) and the synthesizer tones (often downright awkward) resembling those heard in Innerspace (yet there more fitting because of the genre). Nonetheless, it all clicks and the quality of the music is much better then the quality of the sound. This is another example of a musical score which lacks the total direct power of an orchestral powerhouse effort. The power and the total enjoyability rest in the hands of the sound and how to crank it up, and Baby is making no big impressions in that department. That the quality of the music doesn't make big impressions compared to other Goldsmith efforts is also true, but good moments of classic scores as First Knight, Lionheart and Medicine Man do pinpoint that Baby has much at offer if there is an example of enjoying it in the best possible way. For now, the score is presented on a black market bootleg with sound quality that is acceptable but totally lacking strength. And its especially in those situations that Baby is only for Goldsmith die hards! Let's hope that Baby receives better conditions to showcase its strong points to a more wider audience in the future.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. The Drawing (6.09)

2. No Problem (7.12)

3. The River (4.01)

4. Picture Party (2.39)

5. A Little Joke (2.53)

6. The Family (3.36)

7. Papa's Death (2.11)

8. Papa's Gone (2.53)

9. Baby & Monkey (4.11)

10. Food Time (1.50)

11. No Play (2.15)

12. Where's Baby? (1.15)

13. The Cave (1.58)

14. Baby's Gone (1.22)

15. The Captive & Mother Is Free (3.13)

16. Baby's Alive (5.36)

Total Length: 53.52

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Jerry Goldsmith ===