Small Soldiers

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Small Soldiers remains one of the most creative efforts that Jerry Goldsmith scored in the last couple of years. Why is because Goldsmith throws in at least too many themes not to take notice of its impressive creativity. More, you have got the Goldsmith that is interested and inspired in the project at hand, and not surprisingly it is for a Dante movie. Joe is one of the directors that takes great pride in his composer Jerry and he himself sees to find a spark in the Dante productions that make his scores interesting, wacky, fun and inspiring. With all the others like The 'Burbs, Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch and lesser but equally interesting names like Matinee and Innerspace, it is Small Soldiers that is equally interesting in its approach. The themes that Goldsmith wrote are fun and the mood that sets this score on fire from the begin come from the best Goldsmith pen available. The only downfall perhaps is its running time, only 30 minutes long and in a way too short to really give the fans the true scope of the movie. The reason of the short release is simple, too many short tracks. But I feel that differently, the many short tracks give more diversity (especially the synthesized choir is great) + they cover good moments overall. Still, the original release has much to offer.

The soundtrack starts with a rousing main title theme. 'Assembly Line' states both the patriotic military fanfares representing the Commando Elite and the more noble heroic Gorgon sound that works both perfectly in harmony. 'Alan and Archer' states even more new ideas, like the wonderful Powder momentum in its strings (creating a sense of wonder), a statement of the gorgon theme (that is not the theme of the first track) and the playful heroic theme that receives quite stunning effect later in the score. But it keeps going, 'Roll Call' uses with great pride the theme of "Johnny comes Marching home" and resembles the Commandos with short whaling guitar riffs. The love theme receives air time on piano in 4 and 5, with 4 receiving more credit because it becomes a great action chase cue thereafter. And even the danger theme of Gremlins 2 appears in track 6 along with the guitar riffs. 'Trust Me' captures the wonderful creative theme of track 2 and bundles it in great inspiring fun, culminating to a great climax before the real finale is delivered in 'Off to Gorgon' stating in order, a strong statement of the love theme, the energetic helicopter music (appearing more in the film and on the full release), the noble Gorgon theme and the wonderful fanfare that all make an impact. Even for a 30 minute release, there is much to discover in Small Soldiers.

Of course, people will always complain about the lack of more material. In a way, more then true because the many short moments are perhaps not long enough but create just like other scores enough interest to keep them close to you. On the other hand, there is at least a 30 minute release of the music and many scores can't even get that (when they are stuck with a song album instead). I will tell you something. There is a bootleg available, namely the recording sessions of Small Soldiers and perhaps that is your ticket to the full release (see more info on the review of the expanded score). But I think most people will have to do with the normal one and that is not a tragedy per se. Small Soldiers even in its 30 minutes covers enough fun to give you whirl after whirl of pleasure. Because due to its short length, the score runs like the easiest listen, hardly bores and has many themes to grace the listener with. And also remember that Goldsmith wrote this for a Dante film. Perhaps for some scores it didn't directly do brilliant things but Small Soldiers is definitely one example where the goods came out of the mind. And all covered in great inspiring thematic fun.

Small Soldiers "Recording Sessions Promo"

Directors and composers, a breed apart. Especially if they feel and connect like they were made for each other, and one of those rare examples of the recent generation has to be Joe Dante (an underrated and top notch professional director) and Jerry Goldsmith (the master of the small blockbusters and for some a truly inspirational mastermind). Dante has that over the top, not too serious attitude for making a not too serious flick of a movie, yet those examples including The 'Burbs and Small Soldiers are some of the best movies available, for pure pleasure speaking. And Goldsmith delivers what in those circumstances? Right, a pure melodic treat in gift wrapping. The original Small Soldiers score contained 30 minutes of music, and while they offered the biggest highlights, there was so much material missing, good exceptional if short stuff; the kind where even Goldsmith can make it a highlight for just 30 seconds. And that is found in our own special expanded Small Soldiers release, cool huh.

There is a bootleg available, somewhere on the black market, consisting of two discs, both featuring 40 minutes including some extremely short tracks (10 seconds) and several performances of certain musical tracks. So, I bought it and while it was fun, the music wasn't found in order and I basically didn't knew what each track represented in the movie. So with the movie in our possession we went for the big challenge. We put every track in the film's order, we named and categorized them, and with the help of a CD recorder we put our own prime CD release to the shelve (our shelve, not commercially speaking). The one thing missing was the cover and one exceptional website created the answer, providing their own collection of hard to get bootlegs with visually stunning, self created covers of soundtracks. And there you have it, one of Goldsmith's best creative soundtracks of his career, with each moment we ever wanted to hear on disc and in the movie, neat huh.

Everything is in order, so let's start examining the package. The score starts with the drum fanfare and the short burst of Small Soldiers music in 'Opening Fanfare'. While the short Helicopter music is heard with the Major Chip Hazard guitar motif we discover the first real highlight, 'Assembly Line', the film version followed by the 'Ride to Toy Shop' track. 'Batteries not Included' is one great cue missing, its when Alan and the Delivery truck man go out while both unwrapped toys face each other, with the excellent over the top strong music by Goldsmith supporting it. Moments found on the original release but worth remembering are 'Roll Call', 'Alan and Archer' and 'Prepare for Assault', all with their respected high notes. Most of the tracks are rather short and somewhat explain the producers of Varese Sarabande for not including them, but no way are they unnecessary or unwanted. They simply are short but fun and pure Goldsmith's creation. 'Taking a Hostage' has a brilliant war fanfare and choral accompaniment is found in 'Bring me the Head of Nick Nitro' and 'We Lost the Battle, we Will Win the War', short but as I said before, superb moments. The excellent end tracks 'Trust Me' and 'Off to Gorgon' portray some of Goldsmith's best musical moments, the first one has brilliant over the top creative ideas while the second brings a pure emotional highlight. And to conclude just for the fun, we inserted two bonus cues, fun huh.

What is then missing on this disc, well, the two classical pieces, one at the begin and one at the end (they were on the two disc bootleg), the Patton march heard in the movie (not found on the bootleg) and the end action music when Hazard flies with his helicopter in the air (mostly edited music already heard in the movie). But what our little creation offers us is 60 minutes where Goldsmith simply has fun, where he is creative and where he offers us that excellent musical energy, mostly accustomed to a lot of his classics. The original was great, our "CD" simply brings a bit more. You can compare it with Total Recall and its Deluxe Edition. The original offered the main action material, the Deluxe simply the rest, without bringing something spectacularly new. It is this fact that makes our own fun palette the joy to listen to, and to tell you the truth, we somewhat feel proud. This release could belong with any other high commercialized product (but we're not gonna). Again, this brilliant Goldsmith score can not be found on the market nor in the shops, you could stumble on the two disc bootleg however, the same as the one we discovered. And if you haven't found it yet, continue to search for it. If you don't see it, it doesn't mean that it isn't there. Great huh!

Small Soldiers: ****
Small Soldiers "Recording Sessions Promo": ****1/2

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Assembly Line (3.33) Excellent Track

2. Alan And Archer (2.58)

3. Roll Call (4.49) Excellent Track

4. Prepare For Assault (3.46) Excellent Track

5. Branded (2.15)

6. Special Design (2.33)

7. I'm Scared (2.01)

8. Trust Me (4.04) Excellent Track

9. Off To Gorgon (4.41) Excellent Track

Total Length: 31.06

Small Soldiers "Recording Sessions Promo"

1. Opening Fanfare (0.58)

2. Arrival By Helicopter (0.31)

3. Presenting Major Chip Hazard (0.13)

4. Assembly Line (Film Version) (2.41) Excellent Track

5. Ride To Toy Shop (1.24)

6. New Delivery (0.59)

7. Batteries Not Included (1.14) Excellent Track

8. Placing The Toys (1.12)

9. Roll Call (4.51) Excellent Track

10. Alan And Archer (3.01)

11. Toys From Hell (0.46)

12. Branded (2.17)

13. Prepare For Assault (3.49) Excellent Track

14. Special Design (2.35)

15. The Commandos Will Take Revenge (2.45)

16. Some Assembly Required (1.09)

17. Searching For Gorgon (1.01)

18. Neutralize These Civilians (0.53)

19. Taking A Hostage (1.02) Excellent Track

20. Bring Me The Head Of Nick Nitro (0.39)

21. Video Air Mail (1.08)

22. Gorgonite Trap / Archer Missile (1.23)

23. Escape From The House (1.24)

24. They're Toast (0.24)

25. We've Lost The Battle, We Will Win The War (0.39)

26. I'm Scared (2.04)

27. Destroy That Gorgonite Scum (1.09)

28. Trust Me (4.07) Excellent Track

29. Battle Aftermath (0.33)

30. Off To Gorgon (4.41) Excellent Track

Bonus Tracks

31. Commando Elite Drum March (0.54)

32. Assembly Line (CD Version) (3.35) Excellent Track

Total Length: 56.22

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

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