by geejayaye on 12/2/2002
favorite track: 4
 
I feel this is one of Barry's overlooked scores from the mid-80s. It could be because the 80s were a time when some felt he'd started losing his edge. Yes, he was an Oscar winner for Out Of Africa, but the cynics would point out this was more due to the hype of the film than the quality of the score. So, when he did the music for Coppola's time travel/nostalgia fest (or a grown up Back To The Future as some saw it) it passed by relatively unnoticed except to us Barry fans.

Which is a pity because while this score isn't a major one, it's certainly a lovely sounding one. In atmosphere and style it's similar to Somewhere In Time, which coincidentally is another time travel film. Perhaps it's the dreamy sense of nostalgia and certain melancholy that infused these films that brought out the best in Barry's style, where he could use his string sound to its best effect.

The opening track "Peggy Sue's Homecoming" sets the tone for the score. It starts slowly and sparsely before moving into a fuller string sound. It's a lovely theme and all the ingredients of the score are there. "Charlie's Unplayed Guitar" is an excellent guitar-led cue that has an air of melancholy. "Did We Break Up?" is the most dramatic piece of the score and contains familiar Barry drama motifs. Here a sax sound is to the fore and in some ways and as such there's a slight familiarity with parts of the Body Heat score. Finally "Charlie, I Had The Strangest Experience" is the best and longest cue. It's a more lush version of the first track and moves at a leisurely pace for the first half of the track, but then for the second half, with sax and the strings in full flow, it becomes a moving and beautiful finale to the score.

As I alluded to earlier, this could be a companion piece to Somewhere In Time. This is romantic, dreamy music with just the occasional hint of melancholy that comes with time travel. This score captures the sense of going back and seeing your early life through your adult eyes. Seeing what you missed or are missing, going though certain heartbreaks again - that's where the melancholy comes in. But there are good times to be relived and that's where other elements of the score come into play.

Also on the album are 5 good old rock 'n' roll tracks, that pile on the nostalgia aspect of the album. "Peggy Sue Got Married" by Buddy Holly is of course here. It's a simple song (almost a piece of gossip) with simple strumming guitar. Proof that sometimes less is better. Dion & The Belmonts provide two songs, the best and my favourite of the songs is "I Wonder Why" with its catchy na-na-na backing vocal (it sounds better than it looks written!). Nic Cage, as well as acting, sings in "He Don't Love You." No disgrace either. The other song is "You Belong To Me" which is the slower, most melodic of the songs.

Overall then, a very good package. Lovely Barry score and a nice choice of period songs. Thankfully the producers resisted the urge to fill the soundtrack with period songs and just give John Barry's contribution a few minutes (a la The Cotton Club). Phew!