Customer Reviews

Explorers: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This soundtrack is great, especially track 1, but I found that much of the music from the movie was missing(good music too). For intance, the whole theme that is played when the thunder road is sinking at the end of the movie and the part right after that when they are at the tree and it is cloudy is missing from the soundtrack. That highly dissapointed me because I would gladly swap one of the other tracks for that music(such as track8). The songs with vocals are ok when watching the film but i wouldn't want to listen to them on their own. But be warned, if you like the music in the parts above(also when Dick Miller is searching for the thunder road), they aren't on this cd, but all in all its a good one.

Do a quick internet search, and you'll see Academy Award winner Jerry Goldsmith's huge, ever-growing resume. Out of all of his brilliant work, this is my very favorite! The music, like the movie, is truly fantastic! Also of note: A portion of the first track, "The Construction," was utilized in first season commercials for the science-fiction television series "Sliders." (which featured explorers of a different sort) Whether you're a fan of the "Explorers" film, a long-time fan of "Sliders," or simply a fan of great musical scores, you should BUY THIS ALBUM!

The honest truth is, the movie itself is what I truely love. It is somehow ingrained into my youth. Being one of my favorite movies of all time, I have to have the soundtrack, mainly for track one, the construction. This song is played inside my head whenever I need motivation, or excitement. Owning the movie or soundtrack would be great for anyone who likes a good adventure film, (from the 80's).

Truly one of Mr. Goldsmith's most uplifting themes is "The Construction" from Explorers. It is a fabulous piece of music that expresses the inspiration, passion and the process of a creation of something important. I listen to this track whenever I'm writing and I lose myself in my work. It's classical string arrangement reverberates throughout, giving you a feeling of power.

It belongs up there with Maurice Jarre's "Building the Barn" in Witness.

The rest of the soundtrack works with the film but rarely retains the flourish of "The Construction." But in my humble opinion, you must have this track, and thus, get the CD.

Hello everyone. I've noticed in other reviews that some folks are concerned about the amount of music on this release of Explorers by Jerry Goldsmith. Some tracks heard in the film are not featured on the CD. Well, I just want you to know that there was a very limited Expanded Score that had all 20 tracks written for the movie; not 12. I know because I own a copy. Here is the track listing for Explorers - The COMPLETE Score by Jerry Goldsmith:

1. Main Title (0:47)
2. Electronic Dream (0:57)
3. Sticks and Stones (2:22)
4. The Brawl (0:32)
5. A New Friend (2:08)
6. The Bubble (1:45)
7. On the Roof (1:22)
8. Official Document (2:22)
9. Free Ride (3:43)
10. The Junkyard (1:40)
11. The Construction (2:31)
12. "Thunder Road" (1:26)
13. First Flight (2:54)
14. No Air (2:24)
15. The Diagram (0:49)
16. The Discovery (1:46) *Theme playing at the tree on the foggy day.
17. Fast Getaway (4:56)
18. The Tunnel (0:30)
19. She Likes Me (2:38)
20. Have a Nice Trip (7:59)

The reason I give this score 3 stars is because although it has a great main theme with a full orchestra, several of the tracks are plagued by 1980's syntho-junk that was all too common during that decade. There are moments where Goldsmith's music will please the ears...and there are others that will make you want to skip to the next track hoping it won't be a repeat of what you just heard. IMO Goldsmith should have stuck to more 'traditional' pieces and discarded the cyber-stylized music. The late Mr. Goldsmith was one of Hollywood's BEST composers and he had a wide range of talent....but I do not believe this was one of his best works.

Jerry Goldsmith did something here.The movie was ok but the music is the real star!All of the songs are good,even the vocal songs are but I would what more Goldsmith music than the singing. Goldsmith`s themes 1 through 9 are all fantasic.This music really sounds good.Just sweet music.Goldsmith did it again!

Two problems exist when it comes to buying a soundtrack CD for this film. The first, as with all score CDs it seems, is to make sure you don't end up with a bootleg. Granted, it is simply a fact of life for score collectors that some material can only be found on these "import"/"limited edition"/"promo"/"expanded" score CDs, but the problem with bootlegs is that in the event of an official release, it muddies the market in terms of what is worth buying, and for what price.

The other issue isn't necessarily unique to this film, but is just due to the combination of rock music and score pieces found on the original Varese Sarabande CD. The short answer when it comes to what I'd recommend for anyone wanting a "complete" score for this film is to buy the recently-released Intrada CD. However, for true completists it's not that simple. The reason I've purchased the Varese Sarabande version and not the Intrada release is because Intrada did not include the rock tracks on their CD. It may have been a licensing issue, or simply due to limited space. Intrada's release of the Manhunter soundtrack also featured a track by Red 7, but I suppose these are licensed differently. I assume it might just have been a matter of focusing on the score tracks, and for anyone who is a collector of score CDs that should probably suffice.

For me, the goal was to obtain a properly-mastered version of the song "Less Than Perfect" by Red 7, since the CD release of their album on the Renaissance label was sub-standard at best, with "Less Than Perfect" being particularly affected by a lack of low end and what sounds like clipping distortion throughout. I was disappointed to find that the version on this CD is somewhat remixed, so that it doesn't begin with the pumping bass line that started off the album version, and that the bass on this CD is only marginally better than that on the Renaissance release. It's still nice to have, but not what I was expecting. As for the score pieces, I could take or leave them... I never saw the film, but I do like electronic music, so some of the "synth junk" another reviewer alluded to might be appealing.

The most important point to get across is that bootlegs of this and MANY other soundtracks abound. As someone who has spent more than 20 years working in radio, the fact that these bootlegs are often labeled as "promo only" to avoid detection personally offends me. If someone offers you a "promo" score CD, ask yourself "why would a promotional CD of this material be issued?" Remember that ALL promos come from the rights holders... there are NO "unofficial" promos, so if they're not released by the record company who owns the rights to the score, avoid buying them. Obviously Varese Sarabande and Intrada license material from the rights holders, but even if a release appears to be from one of those labels, it's worth checking online to see if a particular title is indeed part of that label's catalog. There are some very skilled graphic artists involved in creating fake score CDs, so you really have to do your homework and check out EVERYTHING. As I said before, sometimes an unofficial release is the only source for some material, but in cases where official releases have been made, you could end up spending too much on a fake CD only to potentially find the official version later, possibly for a lower price.

I know this is a rare score. When i finally got it, it dissapointed me a bit. There is nothing here that we didn't already hear in other Goldsmith scores. No truly heroic piece, lots of terrible eighties synthsounds. apart from nice moments of melody, there is to little to enjoy here. Why the horrific blues in the last track? Goldsmith has done better, it is not bad, but rather average. Too short though too.

This soundtrack will give you all the feelings created in the movie whilst not even watching it. The music is also perfectly suited to the film with scores from all the major scenes and even features "All around the world" sung by the alien when the kids reach the alien mothership! With the variety of scores and rock, this proves to be essential Explorers fans (if you are out there!?).

"Explorers" is a cool film... Well,... The first hour if it. After that it gets terribly boring and I almost fell asleep watching it. The one thing that kept me awake though was Goldsmith's wonderfull score. The track "The Construction" is extremely powerfull and on it's own cool enough to buy this soundtrack. It clearly shows how great a composer Mr. Goldsmith really is, even though his newest work tends to be a little repetitive and not as full with energy as his earlier work. If you're a fan of majestic orchestral scores like John Williams' or Goldsmith's work you'll be sure to like this one.