Wind

Synth scores don't often work since they invariable have hours and hours of soft pads that create 'atmosphere' which is all very nice when you're watching the film, but when you plonk the CD into your player you want just a fraction more than that. It's fortunate that Basil Poledouris is a good enough to produce something rather better than what might be expected. I gather that some of the more atmospheric sections are like Vangelis (a composer whose work I've never really been partial to I must be honest), but if nothing else, they do perfectly evoke sailing. Living on a tiny island as I do and going sailing on quite a regular basis when it's lovely and sunny, I would defeinitly be inclined to say that Poledouris' music neatly captures the feel of sailing and sailing races. The music is almost exactly how I imagined it to be (albeit a great deal better than I imagined it to be), lots of rushing synth noises that mimic the sound of the sea and, well, the wind as well as a lot of jangling synth percussion with the more propulsive action segments. For some reason, jangling percussion seems to suite the sea, perhaps as an imitation of the clattering of rigging that you get when all the cables are bashing against the mast of a yacht in strong winds.

The score opens, unsurprisingly with the atmospheric, but tuneful prologue and a brief romantic interlude. It is the fact that Poledouris always remembers to make his music tuneful or at least containing repeating motifs rather than just pads that float from one buzzing noise to another. The first more bouncy moment is the Dinghy Race (although I don't know what Senta means; I assume it's the type of dinghy they are racing in). It is a quite joyful and light hearted action cue with the jangling percussion and brief motifs which are then added to with some nice wind effects, most notably an almost synth vocal effect which seems to go slightly sharp at the end of a phrase, which works extremely well indeed. The Break Up features some very nice guitar work (presumably synthesised), but still backed with the soft pads and then breaking into some more energetic music. Windward Work and Downwind are basically a combined, extended action cue which progressively becomes more edgy as it progresses. These cues also have the most prominent use of acoustic instruments with some great brass writing along with the synth percussion in the background.

From then on, the more, dare I say it, atmospheric side to the score becomes more prominent, but as I've said, it is always tuneful and there is always some kind of melody to keep everything moving along and prevent it getting tedious. There are other very notworthy moments such as the rather lovely The Glider which uses some light jangling percussion with a flute melody to provide the light airy feel of flight followed by some string work to make the music soar. It seems to be getting rather tedious, but this is one of those scores where the composer has perfectly captured the mood of the film. Ok, I've not seen the film, but I can't imagine how this score wouldn't fit perfectly, even my ultra critical movie guide mentions the 'surging musical score.' It is very rare these days to find a score where what happens on screen is so neatly encapsulated in the music that the movie isn't required viewing to get the most from the score. Listening to the score while sailing is something I will certainly be trying, however!

The score ends with Born to the Wind which is a somewhat cheesy eighties pop song that would have sounded a bit dated even when the score was released, but it's relentlessly energetic and lively and caps off the score very well, not diverging too much from the style of the rest of the score. As all the liner information is in Japanese, I have absolutely no idea as to what Poledouris' contribution to the song was, but whoever did write it (the Amazons? Never heard of them), they certainly made it a good spin off song. Sadly, as this score was only released originally in Japan, it is very hard to come by, although I have seen it for sale on occasion in London, although it was rather on the pricey side (double regular UK prices). The good news is that it appears to be getting a regular release sometime soon, so keep a look out for it and hopefully it will appear at a more reasonable price. When it is released, it is certainly worth hunting out since it's generally an excellent score with some great moments in it. It is perhaps a touch on the slow side in the second half, but that makes it more relaxing. As an musical personification of sailing I would be hard pressed to find something better and most definitely puts many other synth scores to shame. Perhaps not worth getting at a very high price, but regular price a must buy for sure.