Basic Instinct
Complete Score

Almost every Paul Verhoven film has some erotic or sexual aspect to it, but the most full on and successful is undoubtedly Basic Instinct. For someone occasionally seen as a peddler of smut, Verhoven is a rather precise craftsman with exacting demands from those working for him and this extends to the music. After their hugely successful collaboration on Total Recall, Basic Instinct provided Goldsmith with an even greater challenge as Verhoven famously rejected many thematic alternates, eventually settling on a melody that Verhoven noticed in the middle of an underscore cue. It does seem slightly difficult to believe that a fairly simple melody took so long to appear, but it was worth the wait as its icy eroticism turns sex from something to be enjoyed, to something suspenseful, verging on horrific.
The film itself has a number of allusions to Hitchcock and this is partly reflected in the score as Goldsmith beds many of the cues with steely, ebbing string motifs often augmented by subtle and appropriate synths. However, his mastery of orchestration is such that the mixture of overlapped woodwinds and high end strings often sound as if electronically enhanced, even when entirely acoustic. The first half is slower burn tension, but the latter half ratchets up the suspense, peaking in Pillow Talk as detective and prime suspect consummate their relationship. Goldsmith doesn't score it as sex or even titillation but as an act that may lead to a grisly outcome. This is followed by the score's action highlight in Roxy Loses, built around a six note motif bounced around the orchestra and clever suggestions of the main theme in counterpoint.

This new release from Prometheus adds around half an hour to the original Varese album, but only a couple of the extra cues really add a great deal. Certainly the lengthy Catherine & Roxy is a pivotal early scene and First Victim provides the shocking setup for the story. However, some of the shorter tracks are somewhat transitional, although one, That's Real Music, is a seemingly strange change in direction, but is quasi source music for a film on television. The liner notes are typically fine, with an extensive quote from Verhoven about the score's conception and a nice background to its production by Gary Kester. Goldsmith fans will, of course, want to pick up this new edition, but the original release does contain all the highlights and is perhaps a tighter album overall.