Customer Reviews

Taxi Driver [Original Soundtrack Recording]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an import from Arista Europe. Upon first glance, the only difference between this and the American version is that this CD is cleverly made to resemble a vinyl disc from it's 1975 release, not 1968 as the Amazon product description states.
The good news is that the difference between this version and the US version extends far beyond the merely superficial and cosmetic. This soundtrack sounds so crisp, it sizzles! No wonder, since it's a 20-bit transfer mastered from the original tapes.
I've been a huge fan of Bernard Hermann (and Martin Scorsese) for many years and I've never heard this music sound so sparklingly clear and detailed. Beyond all this, there's a stunning dynamic range on this disc that simply blows the US version out of the water.
I'm completely delighted with the sonic quality of this disc and would recommend it without reservation to anyone who appreciates Bernard Hermann's incomparable scoring.

There is something fascinating and still very haunting about this music. The main theme, with such a simple theme of just two notes, is barely music and almost absurd in its base form, but given the pacing, dynamics and subtle orchestration, it becomes gold. In its understated and twisted beauty, if you could even call it that, this is more horrifying than the theme from Psycho, for example. The theme from Taxi Driver is ethereal and subsconscious, rather than in your face. There is great influence of jazz in the score and Miles Davis certainly comes to mind.

For example, listen to "Thank God for the Rain": the music literally inhales and exhales; there is a sublime, constant tension that is never quite resolved. It matches the film and the stressed mind of main character of Travis Bickle perfectly.

It is not without reason that the producers of Taxi Driver, and Martin Scorsese, honored "friend" Bernard Herrmann in the credits by dedicating the film in his memory.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the final tracks (those not scored by Herrmann) sound horrible in comparison. They sound very '70's', which is appropriate for the film and the time, but very dated and not fitting the intense, gritty mood of the film at all. It shows how differently the same material can be handled by two opposing minds, and how drastic the contrast can be. Still, this does not detract from the release, since they are all placed at the end of the CD, so they are easy to skip without hassle.

I first became aware of American composer Bernard Herrmann's movie music in 1958 at age nine when I saw "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" on the big screen. I was in awe of the great Ray Harry hausen special effects and the movie music, also, added great excitement to the scenes. At age fourteen I saw another Ray Harryhausen movie with a music score by Bernard Herrmann. Again, Herrmann's music added excitement to the scenes in the movie. Herrmann's music touches me emotionally. That's what I want. I want to feel the music. I didn't see Taxi Driver in 1976 when I was twenty-seven years old. After the publicity of the assassination attempt of President Reagan, the newspapers reported the assassin was inspired by watching the movie "Taxi Driver." I rented the video in 1981 or 1982. The movie is a disturbing account of a New York City cab driver slowly entering into madness. Again, Bernard Herrmann's music added the ingredients that capture Robert DeNiro's character moving into the world of madness. I am a music composer myself using my computer to write original music and Bernard Herrmann is one of the major movie music composers who is a major influence for me. I rented the DVD Collector's Edition of "Taxi Driver" and I enjoyed the "Making of Documentary of Taxi Driver" which was made in 1999. I can write without a doubt that I am glad that director Martin Scorsese seeked Bernard Herrmann and that the late Bernard Herrmann accepted writing the music score after reading the script to "Taxi Driver."

Martin Scorsese's classic film "Taxi Driver" is not only one of the greatest films of all time but it also managed to produce one of the best musical scores of all time as well. Bernard Hermann (Psycho, Vertigo) composed the nightmarish score heard in the movie. He died hours after finishing it and it was arguably his best score ever. Hermann's themes can be really light and lush jazz music at times yet can also be very psychotic which is the feeling Travis Bickle had in the movie. It is one of those scores that paints a wonderful portrait of what the film was all about and one doesn't see that too often anymore. It is a truly wonderful score. There are 30 minutes of additional material. One is Diary of a Taxi Driver which is when the listener gets to hear what went on in the mind of Travis Bickle. Then there is a bunch of strange smooth jazz arrangements of the score which are nice but don't have the feel of Hermann's score at all. The bottom line is you have to get this if you appreciate movie scores. Even if the movie didn't do much for you it is still a score that belongs in every music lover's collection.

Bernard Herrmann has been considered by many as the most influential composer working in film during the 20th century. His superb, sophisticated compositions for many films, starting with "Citizen Kane", through others such as "The Day The Earth Stood Still", and of course, "Taxi Driver", are worthy of comparison to great film scores composed by "serious" composers such as Copeland, Prokofiev, and Walton. Indeed, much of the great film music of today, composed by recently departed Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith, and of course, John Williams, owes much of its roots to the classic scores composed by Herrmann and his colleagues Newman and Korngold, among others. Without question, "Taxi Driver", recorded days before his death in 1975, remains one of his finest achievements. It is replete with marvellous repetitions and variations on two themes; a dissonant, angry theme which emphasizes the harshness of urban existence, and the soothing, jazzy saxophone theme evoking the pleasures of sex enjoyed at some of New York City's sleazy bars and prostitution dens. It still holds up remarkably well as the perfect musical background to the scenes featuring the lunatic loner cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) and the waifish, but by no means innocent, child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster).

To those who disparaged the "smooth jazz" versions of the music on this CD; and to those who don't like the film dialaogue:

Between the 1950s and 1970s, it was VERY common for "soundtrack" albums to include radically rearranged music, to make the listening experience more cohesive and/or more accessible.

It was also very common to include some dialogue from the films for the same reason.

Regardless of your opinions on these practices philosophically or aesthetically, these releases helped to create the very market for soundtracks that we all enjoy today.

"Taxi Driver" was initially released on LP. One side included the interpretations by David Blume; the other side included Herrmann's music, with dialog overdubbed onto one track (Diary of a Taxi Driver).

The CD release discussed here is sixty minutes in length, and presents the music from the film along with the LP content, to bring us a complete release of the music. The underscore of the "Diary" track is all here elsewhere, without DeNiro's monologue. And the David Blume versions are at the end of the CD, and easily skipped over if desired.

The producers of this disc did a good job in presenting both the music from the film while including the original "soundtrack" LP content. They could have gone one way or the other. I give them credit for producing a full release.

Make no mistake, I love Bernard Herrmann's music and I love the music from Taxi Driver. There's something about his music that hits you in strange places. Like the more haunting parts of the Twilight Zone, or Vertigo, or North By Northwest, or so many other pieces. There's something unconcious about his music. Like a dream. Herrmann suffered from depression most of his life and I think you can hear it in this music. Anyway, this score has a bunch of pieces of that the film composer (not Herrmann) rescored that are just hilarious. In particular the last track, the Reprise, is pure gold. It's such a cheesy rendition of such a powerful piece of music. Awesome.

I love all of Hermann's scores but this is the one I chose to "review." It's all been said already so there's nothing left to say. Hermann was a man who actually thought about his work, who didn't just jump into the studio and start slinging musical hash like so many other film composers (such as a certain J.W., who's name shall go unspoken). What I find most interesting about Hermann's work as I listen to soundtrack after soundtrack is how complex they are, how they deepen the films they exist in, how they actually extend and collaborate with the director's vision and the work of the other artists responsible for each film. One thing I am particularly drawn to is his technique of choosing an instrument or set of instruments that embodies the nature of each film or scene. In 7th Voyage of Sinbad he uses castanettes (sp?) for the skeleton duel, in Day the earth Stood Still he used the theremin (unique for it's time though cliche today), in Journey to the Center of the Earth he uses the harp, and in Taxi Driver he uses the sax. In contrast, most other film composers just use the same darn orchestra over and over and each score is interchangeable with any other. With Hermann, it's no mistaking which score goes with which film. Beyond master, Hermann is THE Maestro of film music, all others must bow before him.

No cigarette puffing-espresso slurping romantic's life is complete without this edition of Herrmann's final score to Scorcese's best film. The lush, sad main title rendered on sax commands still after 23 years of listening to it over and over, and the newly restored dark crime jazz cues here almost atone for the sappy Neely Plumb pop covers tacked onto the end of the CD (they aren't awful, really; kind of kitschy maybe in a late 70s sheen-funk way. It's just that they have absolutely zilch to do with the film in tone or placement. This gesture was a product, by the way, of Julia and Michael Phillips reportedly snorting too much nosecandy in the 70s when producing this flick and its score. Why a contract soundtrack plumber was hired to "re-invent" Herrmann's brooding, psychotic/romantic themes is an answer a certain blow monkey must one day confront!) Ahhh, Betsy, Betsy, Betsy... Cybill was never ladled with such good music.

I have read several movie reviews on this movie that never mentioned the soundtrack. I first saw this movie at age 12. The film without the music would not have reached such heights.

I do this soundtrack alone, or in the company of one guest who shares my appreciation of this score and how it facilitates my occassional need for profound isolation.

It's truly deep.