It is a very haunting piece, yet again creating an unlikely delicate setting for the brutal conflict that will soon follow. The disc opens with Alan Silvestri’s arrangement of the traditional Irish song ‘Prince’s Day’ which reappears towards the end as well (thus, bookending the film nicely). An interesting thematic whirlpool to mirror film’s obsessive personal conflict.Īnother key ingredient of this score is pre-existing music and source pieces. All those elements recur almost constantly throughout the work, often in dizzying counterpoint to each other. There is another theme, associated with his uncle, even more lugubrious in tone, that gets the most pronounced statement in ‘Saint Max’ cue with the help of wordless mixed chorus. Jeff Bridges’ introverted and downbeat theme is more of a simple motif, but gets quite a workout throughout the score, especially during its more boisterous statements in final sequences. It definitely recalls Bernard Herrmann’s pioneering work for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The flowing woodwind figures, mentioned in the previous paragraph, seem to represent the instability and obsession of Jones’ psychopathic character. The thematic base is very intriguing, if somewhat elusive. And even then, he shows an incredible restraint. Only towards the end, when the story reaches its climax, does the composer burst into his trademark action extravaganza (as heard in ‘Final Fight’ and ‘Brakeless in Boston’). All of which makes it a very interesting subject of analysis but can also feel difficult to digest on this lengthy 74-minute album. The writing is much more sensitive, suspenseful and atypically introverted. For the most part, Blown Away feels quite far removed from the typical testosterone-pumping Silvestri. Alan Silvestri is not exactly known for his artistic experimentation or unconventional approach to film music but this work certainly offers a certain deviation from this trend.įirst of all, for a film that deals with terrorism and bombings, the score is dominated by mysterious woodwind flutters and harps, which seem to be much closer to what Alexandre Desplat would write for this type of picture (as he did in his excellent Hostage). It is a long album but nevertheless holding a few surprises. Thus, this release has been greatly anticipated by many fans. The score was not available in other form beforehand, apart from its heavily edited film version.
Intrada Records label has released this complete work as their final title of 2013. The second thing was Alan Silvestri’s unorthodox genre score. John Williams himself gets a fleeting cameo as the orchestra’s conductor on the streets of Boston. Yet, for film music enthusiasts this regrettable film is notable for two things. The bombastic action thriller, involving Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones squaring off against each other, got literally smashed upon its release and twenty years later nobody seems to even remember it ever existed. Critics weren’t exactly “blown away” back in 1994.
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