This is another entry in my Complete Score Breakdown Series, focusing on the complete scores to films that have had abbreviated previous releases or have gone unreleased.
Today we are looking at Freejack (1992) by Trevor Jones.
Freejack is a film I enjoyed when I was a younger guy. I knew then, as I know now, that it’s silly fluff, but I liked Emilio Estevez back then and I appreciated the sci-fi action at the time. The film doesn’t hold up now, but it’s got a comically charming performance by Mick Jagger and some 90’s appeal. The film’s composer, Trevor Jones, is an artist I know mostly for his action/thrillers, my favorites of his being Cliffhanger, Last of the Mohicans (co-composed), Sea of Love, Kiss of Death, and Dark City. I remember owning the audiocassette of the soundtrack to Freejack which had two score selections: one was the main title, which was a propulsive piece with occasional saxophone (which I was willing to forgive) and the other was the less interesting (to me) “Alex and Julie’s Love Theme” piece. The two score tracks totaled 4 and ½ minutes of music.
As I started to do these Complete Score Breakdowns, I thought Freejack would be an interesting choice and Trevor Jones would be an interesting composer to include in the roster of ones I’ve included so far. After watching the film, which I haven’t seen in probably twenty years and was now unforgiveably bad, I learned there was 55min 10sec of score, resulting in 50 and ½ minutes of unreleased material.
Most of the score is an array of militaristic industrial-sounding percussion blended with synths and orchestra. A lot of passages are synth orchestra, but during some muscular chase sequences the live orchestra takes over – this is my impression, perhaps someone can confirm if my ears are mistaken and the live orchestra is in fact synthetic? There is a lot of suspense material, a lot of ambient sci-fi material, and some really exciting action music. Overall, it’s not the most thrilling score I’ve ever heard, and not particularly one I would push for a release, but if it were to be released I would definitely give it a look.
CURRENT CD RELEASE RUNTIME: 4min 35sec COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME: 55min 10sec
UNRELEASED SCORE RUNTIME: 50min 35sec
Complete Score Cue Titles and Cue Times (unreleased cues named by me for the sake of identification):
1. Main Title (2:38) 2. Unsecured Sector (0:20) 3. Delirious (1:10) 4. We Got Him (1:18) 5. Alex Escapes (3:54) 6. Into the Slums (0:45) 7. New York 2009 (1:22) 8. 36 Hours (0:32) 9. Suspicious Sister (0:20) 10. Old Friend (1:18) 11. Diner Escape (2:29) 12. Alex Finds Julie (1:43) 13. Vacendak Chase (4:55) 14. Memories (0:36) 15. Julie Finds Alex (3:18) 16. You’re Beautiful (1:40) 17. Parting Ways (2:30) 18. Gunfight (1:58) 19. Boone’s Death (1:27) 20. Cat and Mouse (0:55) 21. Stunners Only (1:00) 22. Vacendak Searches (1:38) 23. The Truth (2:00) 24. Five Minute Head Start (0:48) 25. Gates of Hell (2:08) 26. Playback (0:50) 27. McCandless (0:42) 28. Kill Them Both (2:06) 29. Sky High (1:13) 30. McCandless’ Deal (4:00) 31. Mind Transfer (2:05) 32. Numbers (0:33) 33. The Real Alex Furlong (1:05)
Current CD Release Track Titles and Track Times:
1. Freejack Main Title (2:30) 2. Alex and Julie’s Love Theme (2:07)
This is another entry in my Complete Score Breakdown Series, focusing on the complete scores to films that have had abbreviated previous releases or have gone unreleased.
Today we are looking at Freejack (1992) by Trevor Jones.
Freejack is a film I enjoyed when I was a younger guy. I knew then, as I know now, that it’s silly fluff, but I liked Emilio Estevez back then and I appreciated the sci-fi action at the time. The film doesn’t hold up now, but it’s got a comically charming performance by Mick Jagger and some 90’s appeal. The film’s composer, Trevor Jones, is an artist I know mostly for his action/thrillers, my favorites of his being Cliffhanger, Last of the Mohicans (co-composed), Sea of Love, Kiss of Death, and Dark City. I remember owning the audiocassette of the soundtrack to Freejack which had two score selections: one was the main title, which was a propulsive piece with occasional saxophone (which I was willing to forgive) and the other was the less interesting (to me) “Alex and Julie’s Love Theme” piece. The two score tracks totaled 4 and ½ minutes of music.
As I started to do these Complete Score Breakdowns, I thought Freejack would be an interesting choice and Trevor Jones would be an interesting composer to include in the roster of ones I’ve included so far. After watching the film, which I haven’t seen in probably twenty years and was now unforgiveably bad, I learned there was 55min 10sec of score, resulting in 50 and ½ minutes of unreleased material.
Most of the score is an array of militaristic industrial-sounding percussion blended with synths and orchestra. A lot of passages are synth orchestra, but during some muscular chase sequences the live orchestra takes over – this is my impression, perhaps someone can confirm if my ears are mistaken and the live orchestra is in fact synthetic? There is a lot of suspense material, a lot of ambient sci-fi material, and some really exciting action music. Overall, it’s not the most thrilling score I’ve ever heard, and not particularly one I would push for a release, but if it were to be released I would definitely give it a look.
CURRENT CD RELEASE RUNTIME: 4min 35sec COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME: 55min 10sec
UNRELEASED SCORE RUNTIME: 50min 35sec
Complete Score Cue Titles and Cue Times (unreleased cues named by me for the sake of identification):
1. Main Title (2:38) 2. Unsecured Sector (0:20) 3. Delirious (1:10) 4. We Got Him (1:18) 5. Alex Escapes (3:54) 6. Into the Slums (0:45) 7. New York 2009 (1:22) 8. 36 Hours (0:32) 9. Suspicious Sister (0:20) 10. Old Friend (1:18) 11. Diner Escape (2:29) 12. Alex Finds Julie (1:43) 13. Vacendak Chase (4:55) 14. Memories (0:36) 15. Julie Finds Alex (3:18) 16. You’re Beautiful (1:40) 17. Parting Ways (2:30) 18. Gunfight (1:58) 19. Boone’s Death (1:27) 20. Cat and Mouse (0:55) 21. Stunners Only (1:00) 22. Vacendak Searches (1:38) 23. The Truth (2:00) 24. Five Minute Head Start (0:48) 25. Gates of Hell (2:08) 26. Playback (0:50) 27. McCandless (0:42) 28. Kill Them Both (2:06) 29. Sky High (1:13) 30. McCandless’ Deal (4:00) 31. Mind Transfer (2:05) 32. Numbers (0:33) 33. The Real Alex Furlong (1:05)
Current CD Release Track Titles and Track Times:
1. Freejack Main Title (2:30) 2. Alex and Julie’s Love Theme (2:07)
Thanks for reading, see you next time!
Deputy Riley
Sometimes when reading your posts I feel like I could have written them myself. Used to love this film when I was a kid (was 11 when it came out) and was also a fan of Estevez at the time (must've seen Man at Work quite a few times back then)
Anyway, haven't seen the film in more than 20 years and owned the soundtrack on CD (bought it for 2 euro's or something). Love Trevor Jones, so I would be interested in a complete score release. Jones' Hideaway would be higher on my wish list though
I bought this CD very cheap many years ago. Didn't particularly like the two industrial-sounding tracks by Jones (sounding a bit like Christopher Franke's less listenable things), so I sold it.
It didn't hold up then, either. You're much better off reading Immortality, Inc., the Robert Scheckley book that inspired the movie (and which bears almost no resemblance to said movie - if they'd just filmed that we'd all be better off, including Morgan Creek).
I was a fan when this came out and was also about 13 at the time. I had a mini tape recorder that I used to sneak into the theatre to record as much of the movie as I could. Haven't seen it in ages although I get a chuckle seeing it briefly in True Romance.
Thanks Deputy for making this score breakdown. :-) This is as Close as we'll ever get to see a release of Trevor's score as Intrada informed a couple of years ago that they were looking into the idea of releasing this score. Intrada secured the rights thru Morgan Creek to release this puppy but could'nt find the masters in the production companys vault. It was later found out that Trevor Jones has copys of the master in his personal possession but was'nt interested in helping out Intrada as he's no fan of the score himself. :-/
Thanks Deputy for making this score breakdown. :-) This is as Close as we'll ever get to see a release of Trevor's score as Intrada informed a couple of years ago that they were looking into the idea of releasing this score. Intrada secured the rights thru Morgan Creek to release this puppy but could'nt find the masters in the production companys vault. It was later found out that Trevor Jones has copys of the master in his personal possession but was'nt interested in helping out Intrada as he's no fan of the score himself. :-/
No problem Freejack! Back then I had an abundance of time on my hands and a compulsion for doing these laborious but rewarding breakdowns. Now that I've had distance from doing them I don't think I'll ever return unfortunately.
A real shame about this score's outlook. Would've loved to see a release. Thanks for the info.
