Customer Reviews

Jacob's Ladder: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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It absolutely pains me to my very core that a film as universally beautiful and horrifying as "Jacob's Ladder" has become such a relic of its age (even though, relatively speaking, it wasn't released that long ago). The soundtrack, similarly, is overlooked. That Maurice Jarre could get an Oscar for his Dr. Zhivago soundtrack and not for this one is beyond me (he must have had STIFF competition that year). The soundtrack will take you to another place. It has the power to terrify, to lull you into an altered state of consciousness, and to make you weep like a baby. The 3rd track has a horrifying and atonal chant at the end that I frequently skip, only because it terrifies me, but the rest of the soundtrack I can digest whole. Upon losing a loved one, as I recently did, this can help you through so much grief and affirmation that it has been on my disc player on repeat for some time now. Spiritual, healing music.

The movie blew my mind when I first saw it. Most people didn't get the concept right away and probably didn't understand how universally horrifying it truly was. The soundtrack compares in it's own way. There are two types of soundtracks: those which put you right back into the scenes of the movie and those which help you create your own scenes. Jacob's Ladder is both really. You can use this album to escape into your own world, or picture the dark world derived from the haunted imagination of Adrianne Lynn. There are soft, melancholic, yet hopeful piano pieces. There are warm middle-eastern undertones which paint awesome, dream-like visions, laced with subtle Native-American themes and appropriately placed percussion. The entire score moves very smoothly together, without big choppy breaks that tend to kill other scores because they were set to a startling moment in a movie. This album is a trance/hypnotic descent through a world touched only by our kindred senses. If you liked some of the themes in other soundtracks like Gladiator, The Mothman Prophecies or even Blade Runner, I think you'll find this one worthy to add to your collection, if you can still find it used. And don't be fooled by the number of tracks listed, they're long enough and each one strong enough to carry the weight.

Maurice Jarre composed the score to Adrian Lyne's 1990 masterpiece, JACOBS LADDER, shortly after he did the score for GHOST. All I have to say is that it is a masterpiece. You may not want to listen to it alone! It is extremely unsettling. The orchestrations are all powerful. Score collectors, if you find it, buy it!

This CD is absolutely wonderful. The atmosphere is mysterious and haunting. If you have the musical score to The Crow(Jarre did this one too) than you already know that it's similar to the that. Listen with the lights turned off. The last track is kinda out of place but it's very "sunny" compared to the dark music of the first five tracks. Worth the money!

The only thing on here of worth is the piano theme, and ESPECIALLY the eerie soloist theme used while Jacob is in the bathtub, and at the end credits , sounding as if angels are in despair, all the while beckoning Jacob from in between worlds
They also cut short a piece of the soloist/Choir (KITKA) with tablas at the point the chemist is speaking of the ladder as soldiers are running silently and in slow motion on the screen. THAT had impact.
Sadly the soloist of that theme has died.
IT would sure be great for them to remaster this as sounds like a low budget effort

If you love the movie, you will love this score. Maurice Jarre has drawn on a myriad of influences to produce a soundtrack that is positively haunting.