Jerry Goldsmith: 1980 to 1990

So we find ourselves back with Jerry, and boy I thought it was hard trying to pick his three best scores from his early years! The 80's is where Jerry Goldsmith really REALLY hit it home.
With movies like Poltergeist, Gremlins, First Blood, Supergirl, Runaway, Hoosiers, and even more titles that would most likely fill up this entire blog, it was a bloody tough choice.
Jerry was a busy boy in the 80's.

So turn up your speakers, and let me present to you the best scores that Goldsmith composed between 1980 to 1990, non inclusive.

1985: Rambo First Blood Part II.

Yeah I could have cheated, and just said The Rambo Trilogy. The music in these films evolve with the character of John Rambo. While First Blood comes off quite serene at times and beautiful, it also has it's action packed Goldmsith enriched moments, those very moments also appear in the soundtrack to First Blood Part II. This soundtrack is the PERFECT amp up to a lowly monday morning.
Rambo III also has a beautiful, and absolutely amazing soundtrack rivalling the first film in its tone and depth, but half of the real score heard on the CD was actually replaced in the film by snatches of music from the second movie. Also I will mention that if you ever try to source out the cd for Rambo First Blood Part II, make sure you get the full extended soundtrack, and not the one missing all of the good tracks.

Listen to this when you are walking up a hill with a bow and arrow (explosive tip optional).

1987: Extreme Prejudice

What film says badass more than Nick Nolte facing off against Powers Boothe, beating the shit out of every dirty mexican henchman along the way, in a film directed by Walter Hill, and scored by Jerry Goldsmith?
Nothing.
Rumour has it that Ry Cooder was in line to score the film, due to the long standing partnership between him and Walter Hill. The producers (Kassar and Vajna) saw differently however, and told him to go with Goldsmith because they love him so much. GOOD CHOICE!!! This album rocks, heavy synth, typical Goldsmith riffs and a snazzy electric western vibe make this album and the movie a must buy.

Instead of just showing a track of music, I have uploaded the entire intro to the movie, as a teaser so that you can hurry the hell up and aqcuire this film. The intro also has one of the best credit sequences I have ever seen, thanks to Jerry Goldsmiths outstanding score.

1989: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Outside of Alexander Courage's theme for Star Trek in the 60's, Jerry Goldsmiths score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture is most likely the most recognizable and well regarded music in the Star trek universe. It was used for Star Trek: The Next Generation and once more rehashed for Star Trek V. So why then is Star Trek V's score better than The Motion Picture? Simple, theres more to this score. While the score to TMP was amazing and suited the exploratory nature of that film, I can't help but think that outside of the main theme, Jerry just used some of the leftovers from Alien. Listen to them together, and you can hear the similarities. This doesnt make it a bad score, it just knocks it down a notch from the amazing effort that is Star Trek V. This is an inspiring and beautiful score and even if you arent a fan of Star Trek, you have to give kudos to Jerry Goldsmith for creating something entirely original out of a franchise that had already seen over 20 years.

Listen to this when you are either climbing a mountain or at quarter impulse speed heading to spacedock (perhaps that may be too fast, ah fuck 'em).

So concludes Part Two of our insight into Jerry Goldsmiths greatest hits over the years. Next week I will post years 1990 to 2004.

To keep you satiated until then, i will leave you with one last morsel.

This theme will create instant nostalgia for fans of Terminator 2, Total Recall and a lot of other 80's and 90's action films. Jerry Goldsmith composed this, aswell as the 90's verison of the universal logo. without further ado, I present to you......CAROLCO!!!