Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II
Composed and Conducted by JERRY GOLDSMITH
INTRADA INT 7149

At long last, Jerry Goldsmith's Asian-tinged, action-packed score to Rambo: First Blood Part II joins First Blood and Rambo III in the Intrada catalog. Goldsmith's schedule in 1985 was no less action-packed than Rambo's latest outing, including Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, King Solomon's Mines, and Explorers, all filled with action and wonder. But it was this film that kicked off the summer movie season in May of 1985, with a CD that thundered into players shortly after. Since then, collectors have clamored for a complete release of the score -- but that proved trickier than expected. When Rambo II was first expanded, not all source elements were available, and while nearly complete, the release was still missing some moments, as well as important pick ups and featured unusual mixes that weren't quite right.

After poring through some 150 reels of 35mm magnetic film of the various audio elements (dialog, sound effects, outtakes, rejected audio mixes, radio spots, demos, etc.) Intrada located everything (save “The Map” and “Home Flight”) from the first-generation three-channel scoring session mixes recorded by Mike Ross-Trevor at CBS Studios in London and subsequently remixed by Bruce Botnick at The Record Plant in Los Angeles. The sound was not as vibrant as the analog-to-digital elements Botnick had prepared (presented on CD 1) but it was still clean and free of major imperfections and because these elements presented a nominally different sound to the more familiar elements in existence, they appear on a CD 2. Also unearthed were the 24-track elements for the summer of 1984 Rambo II teaser trailer. Although previously released on the First Blood album, that was sourced from 1/4" elements, and this new mix allows Intrada to present it in the best possible sound, along with an alternate version. The CD also includes Goldsmith's Carolco logo, which integrates the Rambo theme.

Appearing now for the first time is the brief but crucial “Pre Lift Off” that immediately precedes Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) taking off in his helicopter after having just defeated his nemesis, Russian Lt. Col. Podovsky (Steven Berkoff). Another tiny piece now included is the brief but powerful percussion outburst that plays at the end of “Stories,” when the film cuts from Rambo to a shot of the American military base camp.

The grail to include in this expanded release was the mysterious original end title. As with the other two films in the series, Goldsmith's end title was replaced with a vocal, but in this case the end title was not included on any prior soundtrack album. Goldsmith had composed a brand new theme to meld with the Rambo: First Blood Part II theme. The result was a stunning piece that develops both of the melodies into a single rousing medley, unfolding over the familiar Rambo rhythms until everything climaxes with a powerful fortissimo coda. Alas, stereo masters were completely elusive, to the point where they may have been discarded or erased. However, a promotional cassette from 1985 still existed, and while not optimal, allowed Intrada to include this rare recording as a bonus on CD 2.

Intrada's decades long journey to present all three Rambo scores is complete, and for now the presentation of Rambo II is about as definitive as it can get.

INTRADA INT 7149
Retail Price: $29.99
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For track listing and sound samples, please visit:
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.10541/.f

Well Done Intrada! Look forward to this! The sound quality upgrade is terrific and the wealth of goodies is enough to gloat over. Thank You!

One of my all-time favourite Goldsmith scores along with:

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE
STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER
SUPERGIRL
TOTAL RECALL

Love the artwork.

OMG this set is gonna hit you like an explosive tipped arrow.
Intrada pulling the strings this time around is a job well done.
A huge thank you to Doug & Co and everyone else involved in making this happen.
So glad to see this release finally home where it belongs.

ORDERED

I try to mostly opt out of the double/tripple/quadrouple dipping for stuff, and I do own the Silva Screen release of this score.

However... since I got the other two Rambo scores from Intrada... and this presentation seems to be as good as can be... and the score is just BANG!, I cannot resist... I picked up CHINATOWN, and I will pick up this. Got me.

This is just sublime, absolutely sublime. As a lifelong collector of original soundtrack recordings I have to say there are few (if any) better collecting days than this, and that "End Credits (Original)" is just out of this world, it pushes every button for this listener, so, so glad to have it, and in very good sound too! Thanks Doug, Roger, and thanks everybody at Intrada.

Wonderful news to see this score get the Intrada treatment. The attention to every possible detail is jaw dropping. A stunner and the last word on this action opus. I remember getting the original album on cassette back in 85 as a birthday present. Then got the Varese CD and finally the Silva version. Probably the most played Goldsmith score I have. Looking forward to playing this one even more!

Well done Intrada and thank you!!

_________________
Jason Needs
Webmaster, Jerry Goldsmith Online

Thank you Mr Feigelson,Thank you Mr Fake,Thank you The Intrada Team.....Another action Stallone's score

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Most Wanted Unreleased scores:
Giorgio Moroder OVER THE TOP 1987 MGM/Cannon
Giorgio Moroder SCARFACE 1983 Universal
Brad Fiedel FRIGHT NIGHT II 1988 Vista Organization/Columbia
Sylvester Levay COBRA 1986 MGM/Cannon
Gary Chang 52 PICK-UP 1986 MGM/Cannon

I just received my CD set today in the mail.

What a beautiful set it is...can't wait to hear it.

This is a HUGE upgrade from the 1985 LP that
I still have.

Thanks to ALL involved for getting this out to us!!!:-)

Thanks for supporting this release, too. It took quite awhile to get all three Rambo titles under our roof... to say nothing of locating all the various bits and pieces missing from earlier editions. Our goal was always to find everything we could and make it available to you folks, no matter how trivial, repetitive or inconsequential that little bit may have been. We of course would have loved to find those rare end credits in some format other than a cassette... and, even a standard cassette would have been workable. At least it would have been satisfactory audio which we could then have worked some magic on. This official Carolco studio cassette was something completely oddball, duped at the sessions but in sound that was in between low-fi stereo and something piped in through a telephone line. Weird to say the least. It literally defied help. Every bit of audio processing that was tried just made things sound more and more like an electronic sampling rather than an orchestra. Even our professional engineering friends said to just leave it alone.

That said, wow! What a treat to hear what Goldsmith had written for that finish! An all-new Rambo theme no less, trading with the familiar one! Ahhhh, what might have been. And to think that all those folks involved back in 1985 may have just deleted everything (except the cassette) way back when. Maybe Carolco (now Studiocanal) should just frame that thing!

Personally, I was always more interested in finding that previously unreleased short piece when Rambo starts up the rotors and heads off into "Home Flight", since that's actually in the movie. The timing of Goldsmith's short cue coincides with the revving of the engines perfectly and gives a start to the incoming cue, which otherwise always played as if it was abruptly cut into... since literally it was!

In any case, people nowadays seem to love putting together their own "playlists" and assembling their own perfect listening experiences. With this new Rambo: First Blood Part II set, at least we've found all the pieces for them work with.
--Doug

My CDs arrived a short time ago, I'm just about to make a cup of tea and sit down for what I know is going to be a fantastic listen! I just want to say once again thanks for all your efforts Doug and team. To me, the sound on the sample of the End Credits (Original) was perfectly acceptable, it's a miracle we have it at all, and so many of us are just thrilled to have it! Now, on to the music and to hear that fantastic End Title music on my player, hallelujah!!!

P.S.
And looking forward so much to August 23rd!

Wow!

This beauty arrived promptly the other day and I have not stopped playing it! I can't say how many times I played this score over the years but it is rather a lot since 1985!

Great to see the effort and attention to detail here. Mind blowing how much love and attention went into this. Sonically a step up but those original album tracks still sound just as wonderful. The key extra tracks that didn't sound as good on the Silva CD like forced entry, river crash and the gun boat still sound much the same. And that goes for Village attack and Helicopter fight too. But the wonderful news is the 35mm mixes for these tracks sound so much better and I have used these in my playlist instead. I have also grabbed The Map version from the Silva CD as oddly it is longer and actually pretty good quality. Though consensus is that this version just has a pickup at the end not a coda so there is very little missing. I know there was mention The Map was missing from the 35mm Mixes perhaps this could not be lifted as a source from the Silva? Great to finally have the pre flight take off moment now at the beginning Home Flight too. That moment always gives me goose pimples when I hear that and watch the film!

The end credit is great to finally have but so frustrating it sounds like this. I played around with this in Audacity and changed the balance to more on the right channel and added some reverb which to me helps this great Goldsmith moment just a little bit. But I hope one day a miracle occurs and this turns up or gets re-recorded perhaps by Tadlow. Also, the alternate to Helicopter Fight is a bitter sweet treat. Incredible alternate and a great extra but such a shame it does not exist in high quality.

PS The Percussion 1 and 2 tracks are for the Cage sequence where Rambo kills two guards with arrows to the head. You can overlay each one over the Cage cue at the precise moments to re-create the film version of this cue.



All in all though this is a wonderful release that will be getting a lot of play from me to the end of days!

Thank you INTRADA Team and Mr Fake!

_________________
Jason Needs
Webmaster, Jerry Goldsmith Online

Great release. I was wondering though why The Map is shorter on this release then it was on the Silva Screen one from 1999. The final phrase is missing.