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 Beverly Hills Cop (1984) by Harold Faltermeyer.
Well obviously there is a complete lack of released material from Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic score to the original 1984 Beverly Hills Cop, which is a tremendous shame, because it is a terrifically fun 80’s synth score filled with catchy rhythmic pop score. Everyone knows the main theme for the film and the main character, Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, and if you like that theme you pretty much would like the rest of the score. There is a fair amount of variety to be had, some rhythmic variations and melodies despite the lack of depth or significant amount of individual electronic sounds, but they are enjoyable enough to be sufficient. Plain and simple, it’s got some great toe-tapping beats and memorable tunes. It’s not a great score, though – that description is reserved for the sequel’s score.
I was familiar with most of this unreleased material already, mostly because it’s substantially reprised in the film’s sequel, a movie I’ve somehow seen countless times. There is one cue in this first film, though, that I was completely unfamiliar with that was totally badass – a short cue I call “Coffee and Coke” where Jenny and Axel discover cocaine buried beneath coffee grounds in a crate in a warehouse. This and many other cues I would love to see released one day on CD.
The only score cue that has been released so far on the soundtrack song album is called “Axel F” and runs 3:04. (edit: there is also an extended version of this song in single form that runs 7:10, but it's difficult to determine how much is unreleased material and how much is just remixed "Axel F"). In viewing the film, I learned that there are over 25 minutes of complete film score, and it is very good stuff.
COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME: 25min 35sec
EDIT: Thanks to user Peter Atterberg who has brought to my attention the existence of an extended single version of the Axel F single, there is apparently more original Beverly Hills Cop score available than I originally thought. Hard to tell how much unreleased material is incorporated or whether a lot of it is remixed "Axel F". My impression is that it's the original 3:04 "Axel F" kind of looped and remixed without much variation and not much new...
Also, user afn has mentioned the following score tracks as part of single song releases that I was not aware of when first posting this thread:
Man these two scores and the Fletch scores are at the top of this 80s soundtrack fan's list. Heard Faltermeyer wants them released but there is so much red tape involved that he is actually rerecording some cues for a new album. It's been awhile so not sure of the progress.
