Ride Of The Valkyries - The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Georg Solti
Suzie Q - Flash Cadillac
Nung River
Do Lung
Letters From Home
Clean's Death
Clean's Funeral
Love Theme
Chief's Death
Voyage
Chef's Head
Kurtz Chorale
Finale
In the mid to late '70s, director Francis Ford Coppola put his career on the line to complete Apocalypse Now, his quixotic attempt to variously document, deconstruct, and mythologize America's military involvement in Vietn... more »am. The end result was a troubling masterpiece and technical tour de force whose use of sound and music influenced films for decades. As originally released, the soundtrack album was equally groundbreaking: an intriguing, dreamlike collage of dialogue, sound effects, and music that both evoked the film's artistic sensibility and underscored the innovative, Academy Award®-winning efforts of sound designer Walter Murch. Two decades later, Coppola revisited the project, adding nearly an hour of previously unseen footage and revamping its soundtrack release as well. But while the film may have taken on fresh new dimensions, the new soundtrack album seems stripped of virtually all of Murch's key contributions. What remains is primarily music--and a telling argument for the notion that the whole is considerably more than the sum of its parts. Inspired by synthesist Isao Tomita's '70s classical adaptations, Coppola hired father Carmine to write an orchestra score, and then set about synthesizing it. The Doors' "The End" remains an iconic touchstone, but removed from the context of the film (and its original album release), much of the Coppola music all too clearly reveals its inspirations (Tomita, Holst, Wagner, Stravinsky) and the technical limitations of the relatively primitive synth technology involved (mirrored in a pair of newly recorded tracks as well). --Jerry McCulley« less
In the mid to late '70s, director Francis Ford Coppola put his career on the line to complete Apocalypse Now, his quixotic attempt to variously document, deconstruct, and mythologize America's military involvement in Vietnam. The end result was a troubling masterpiece and technical tour de force whose use of sound and music influenced films for decades. As originally released, the soundtrack album was equally groundbreaking: an intriguing, dreamlike collage of dialogue, sound effects, and music that both evoked the film's artistic sensibility and underscored the innovative, Academy Award®-winning efforts of sound designer Walter Murch. Two decades later, Coppola revisited the project, adding nearly an hour of previously unseen footage and revamping its soundtrack release as well. But while the film may have taken on fresh new dimensions, the new soundtrack album seems stripped of virtually all of Murch's key contributions. What remains is primarily music--and a telling argument for the notion that the whole is considerably more than the sum of its parts. Inspired by synthesist Isao Tomita's '70s classical adaptations, Coppola hired father Carmine to write an orchestra score, and then set about synthesizing it. The Doors' "The End" remains an iconic touchstone, but removed from the context of the film (and its original album release), much of the Coppola music all too clearly reveals its inspirations (Tomita, Holst, Wagner, Stravinsky) and the technical limitations of the relatively primitive synth technology involved (mirrored in a pair of newly recorded tracks as well). --Jerry McCulley
Shane K. Bernard | New Iberia, LA USA | 07/30/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is an excellent CD and one that I've wanted for many years. I, like others who've reviewed the "Redux" CD, once had the soundtrack from the _original_ version of the movie, which was basically the entire movie, complete with all dialogue. I liked that "soundtrack," but what I really wanted was _only_ the music, without dialogue, because if I really wanted the dialogue I'd just as soon watch the movie. Fortunately, the "Redux" CD does indeed have _only_ the music, which is eerily beautiful and haunting. I should point out to potential buyers, as I didn't learn this until I actually listened to the CD, that the version of The Doors' "The End" is actually the interesting remix heard in the movie, complete with synthesizer enhancements, chirping jungle crickets, and Jim Morrison's Oedipal vulgarities brought to the surface, instead of buried under the instrumentation as on The Doors original recording (in which the vulgarities can barely be heard). "Suzie Q" sounds to me an awful lot like the version in the movie, though I'm unsure it's exactly the same; it doesn't matter, it's so darn close. What's really nifty is the intro and conclusion of "Suzie Q," which contains the synthesizer effects heard in the movie as a sort of musical segway. In short, if you love "Apocalypse Now," and what you want is _the music_ from the movie, this CD is perfect. To my ears, the music doesn't sound dated at all; it could've been done yesterday for a new movie."
Eerie and forboding...
Darin Campbell | Toronto | 12/17/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I've noticed some griping that this new version of the soundtrack does not contain dialogue, unlike the original 2 disc version that came out originally. well, you can't please everybody. one of my other favourite soundtracks, "Blade Runner" often gets slagged in reviews because it contains some dialogue, which some people find intrusive. if you want to hear the dialogue, watch the movie. this disc is about the music, which is as dark and forbidding as any synth music i've heard, perfectly evoking the chaos and hellish atmosphere shown on screen. track seven, "nung river" has a particularly sinister feel, making that trip up river feel inexorable. "do lung" has a nightmarish carnival sound to it, appropriate to the scene's images of a place spiralling out of control. overall, if you like dark, atmospheric soundtrack music, (it is also very rhythmic) you will enjoy this, even if you haven't seen the movie."
Previously Missing
carcosa@gol.com | Tokyo | 08/10/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I have yet to see the Redux as it hasn't opened in Tokyo but I was able to obtain the soundtrack. I have been a big fan for 20+ years of both the movie and the original soundtrack. Love it or hate it, Coppola (and the soundtrack) captured the zeitgeist of that war and its clash of cultures. The original soundtrack follows the movie with audio scenes taken directly from it together with Willard's running dialogue -- in the Redux soundtrack these are gone. I cannot rate the new material but can comment on track numbers 11 and 17. Track 11 is titled _Clean's Funeral_ and is billed as "previously unreleased". In fact, a version of it did appear on the original soundtrack as _Clean's Death_ (Disc Two, Track 3 of the "Definitive Edition"). The original soundtrack version was very beautiful with the inclusion of female vocals, the Redux version lacks this and comes off as rather antiseptic with synthesizer and trumpet only. Track 17 is a gem, entitled _Finale_, and includes the music from the final scene of the movie which was previously missing, it not being included in the original soundtrack. This scene (to me) is the most powerful of the entire movie and the music accompanying it equally so -- it alone being worth the price of the CD. The Redux soundtrack is worthy of your money and attention, my only complaint being that certain tracks were shortened and others did not blend well together."
Stil Strange After All These Years
J. Miller | East Hartford, CT United States | 05/14/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The soundtrack to "Apocalypse Now" has probably undergone as much remixing, remastering, revising and restoring as the film it's derived from. According to the liner notes, director Francis Ford Coppola originally approached Japanese composer Isao Tomita to do an all-electronic score for his epic Vietnam film. But due to prior commitments and the laborious nature of his work, that was impossible. Instead, he collaborated with his father Carmine on a symphonic score that would then be played into the latest (for 1979) synthesizers. With additional sounds courtesy of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Wagner, and U.S. Army helicopters. Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead also contributed various percussion effects that eventually became an album of its own ("The Apocalypse Now Sessions"). The result is music just as strange and hypnotic as the movie. The Doors got a major career revival thanks to this film and the version of "The End" here gives you a true sense of the journey you, as a listener, are about to undertake. Coppola remixes the original song with electronically treated sounds of helicopters flying across your speakers, jungle crickets and generous use of echo. The "Redux" version pares everything down to the music alone, adding 2 tracks not on the original double album ("Love Theme" from the French Plantation sequence, and "Clean's Funeral") But the MAJOR drawback here is the absence of Martin Sheen's spooky narration from the film that really underscored everything happening and gave you a better context as to where you were in the film's story. I can only imagine what Coppola could do with the samplers and computers of today. But knowing Francis, as we read this he's probably in his underground bunker/wine cellar hunkered over a KEM editing machine with Hendrix on in the background preparing the "absolute final cut" (for now) of "Apocalypse Now".
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1
