Original Soundtrack
Rocky (EMI/Manhattan 46081)

A comfortable meeting place for disco, doo-wop, Philly soul, and good old-fashioned movie music, the soundtrack to the original Rocky is an album I derive much more pleasure out of than I could ever explain. I know in my heart the music is probably lowbrow crap, but I've loved it ever since the age of the 8-track and will love it well into the age of the Sony Spinal Music-Vibration Implant™, when I will have it injected into my spine on a fortnightly basis and allow it to pump me up, mellow me out, and take me on a rags-to-riches journey reminiscent of Rocky Balboa's. From my bed, with virtual reality goggles welded to my steel face, I shall jog up and down the steps to the Liberty Bell and step into the ring with the fearsome Apollo Creed. Like most people, I am excited for the future but fortunately I can spend the meantime with the current CD version.

Bill Conti's score, lowbrow crap though it may be, is perfect for the film and actually stands alone as an album quite well. From the brassy pomp of "Gonna Fly Now" (like "Chariots of Fire," one of the most parodied movie themes ever) through the street-corner harmony of "Take You Back," on through the celebratory disco pizzazz of "The Final Bell," the score hits all the right buttons.

Unlike many soundtracks, pretty much every track on Rocky is catchy; even though these are essentially film cues, the themes are all well-composed and stick in your brain. The majority of the album is actually quite downbeat, with lots of ghosty piano tracks that reflect the self-doubt of Rocky on his underdog rise to the top. The album is easily as dated as the movie is, but similarly, it's quite a bit better than most people give it credit for.

The film is so much a part of the language of pop culture that I think people forget about how good a movie it really is. The soundtrack is a strong reminder of that and always makes me want to go out and rent it, but I always seem to be sidetracked by masturbation.

There are three or four main melodic motifs that run through the album, some of them very craftily woven in, as in the "Gonna Fly Now" melody that finds its way into the "quiet storm" bedroom song "You Take My Heart Away," not immediately recognizable especially if you're getting' it on with yo honey.

What I like about the album is that it's one of the few scores that features a diverse array of styles; Conti has created an original score with songs as well as background music, so it's diverse and not samey like, say, Braveheart. "Fanfare for Rocky" (based on the trumpet line from "Gonna Fly Now") is about as zippy and inspiring a track as you could want, and I can't tell you the number of times I used to do a wild choreographed disco skit in my bedroom to "The Final Bell." That one starts really sad and slow on piano and then erupts into bongo madness, and always makes me smile (mostly out of derision but nevertheless, that's still enjoyment).

The whole album is good and one of the few soundtracks I'd say is thoroughly worth owning. I'm usually bored by movie music, but Rocky is very original and accessible (you can always tell a unique thing by how many copies it's inspired).

It's an album I get in the mood for with surprising frequency, although surprisingly I've never thought of it as good exercise music. But what would I know about exercise, I'm 1,400 pounds and "still growing."

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Ned Atomic-Dustbin