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 Volcano (1997) by Alan Silvestri.
Okay, you may not be that familiar with Alan Silvestri’s score to 1997’s Volcano, and that’s ok. That must change, however. It is a fantastic action score by a fantastic action composer, and from the era of his 90’s action scores, it easily trumps Long Kiss Goodnight, Judgment Night, Blown Away and I think it’s better than Judge Dredd and as good as Eraser. One might dismiss Volcano based on it’s brief 29 minute Varese Sarabande CD, although that would be silly to begin with, but there really is so much more to this gem of a score than Varese has previously shown us…
Take the CD track “March of the Lava” and listen to it, for it perfectly captures the spirit, heroism, and excitement that Volcano can achieve. The CD featured a quick flurry of action pieces with a few bits of obligatory drama score but not much else, no room to breathe, no variety in color and tone. In recently viewing the film and hearing the complete score, the entire work has tremendous variety not represented on the existing CD: action, suspense, tragedy, heroism, drama, terror, all wrapped up in a classic Silvestri bow. Full-on mighty orchestra in all its glory, very little electronics to speak of, however synclavier and auricle programming are credited. The existing CD is very one-dimensional, but the complete score has multiple dimensions and as I’ve said before, it is one of Silvestri’s strongest gifts as a composer to make an exceedingly long complete score consistently varied, interesting, and colorful from beginning to end.
So without further ado…the complete score runs 73min 25sec, resulting in nearly 44 minutes of unreleased score! I throw up my hands and plead to whoever will listen that this wonderful and exciting score gets an expansion. It’s got it all, and more, and for fans of the best 90’s Silvestri action/thriller has to offer, this one is for you.
Highlights from the unreleased material include the insanely intense cue I call “Tunnel Heat” where Anne Heche’s character and her scientist sidekick investigate an underground tunnel on the precipice of a volcanic trench. There is a heroic and heartbreaking unreleased cue for the moment when John Carroll Lynch’s character sacrifices himself to save a subway worker. Of course there is a ton of unreleased and excellent action material, like the rescue of trapped subway passengers, the work to build a dam, and the final detonation sequence to blow up the building creating the dam.
CURRENT CD RELEASE RUNTIME: 29min 20sec COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME: 73min 25sec UNRELEASED SCORE RUNTIME: 44min 05sec
Complete Score Cue Titles and Cue Times (unreleased cues named by me for the sake of identification):
+ – previously unreleased (or includes previously unreleased material)
1. Main Title (2:30) 2. Stanley Avenue (1:12) + 3. Amy Barnes (1:10) + 4. MacArthur Park (1:48) + 5. Tunnel Heat (5:38) + 6. Beverly Heights (0:20) + 7. Necessary Certainty (1:00) + 8. Boiling Water (0:24) + 9. Morning Rumble (3:45) + 10. Miracle Mile (4:00) 11. The #4 Train (1:43) + 12. Calder Drives (1:14) + 13. Triage (2:03) + 14. Tarnation (5:40) 15. Lost Homes (0:57) + 16. Lava Flow (0:30) + 17. Teamwork (2:37) 18. Ladder Lift (1:38) + 19. Red Line Tunnel (0:32) + 20. Improvisation / Olber’s Charge (3:14) + 21. Flow’s Gonna Turn (1:18) + 22. Olber’s Sacrifice (1:58) + 23. Build a Wall (5:00) 24. Lava Source (0:55) + 25. March of the Lava (3:34) 26. Tenuous Victory (2:28) + 27. Calder Struggles (0:32) + 28. Lava Tube / New Threat (3:44) + 29. Build a Dam / Find My Daughter (4:34) + 30. Detonation Sequence (1:28) + 31. Roark’s Missing (3:01) 32. Cleansing Rain (2:30)
Current CD Release Track Titles and Track Times:
1. Main Title (2:47) 2. Miracle Mile (4:00) 3. Tarnation (5:55) 4. Teamwork (2:41) 5. Build a Wall (5:03) 6. March of the Lava (3:43) 7. Roark’s Missing (2:46) 8. Cleansing Rain (2:31)
Love this score, and have a soft spot for the movie too.
Yes, me too. I mean, 44 minutes of unreleased 90's Silvestri action/adventure music? 44 minutes?! Mind-boggling. It is so...frickin'...good too. I'm sure you know this, since you enjoy the movie so much. This is probably my most wanted Silvestri expansion, along with Tomb Raider 2.
When I think of this score, I immediately think of that snarling brass in "March of the Lava", and how no one but Silvestri could have pulled that off in quite the same way.
When I think of this score, I immediately think of that snarling brass in "March of the Lava", and how no one but Silvestri could have pulled that off in quite the same way.
Love that part. 'Snarling' is the perfect word for it. It's almost like an effect, he pulled it off brilliantly.
Thank you, DeputyRiley, I too love that score. I'd grab an expanded and remastered release in a heartbeat (I find the existing album a bit lacking on the sound quality department).
Count me in for this one. I've only seen the movie once and listened to the score a handful of times but I'll take a Silvestri expansion any day of the week. And I agree, March of the Lava is quite a cue.
Brilliant work! YES, this score has been one of my favorite Silvestri albums even with the understandable but paltry running time. There's some great furious action stuff here, and I'd be all over an expanded edition.
One of my favorites from Silvestri. Would be nice if Varèse released a complete version. A lot of material was left out and wouldn't be surprised if there's unused material.
Anybody remember who the original composer reported to score it was? I can't recall his name (I've got it written down somewhere, but I've got tons of things written down everywhere). All I remember is trying to find out what happened but people not wanting to really talk about it (must have been a bad exerpience). I want to say Nathan Wang, but I'm not sure that's correct.
The cue runs more than 3 minutes and the end credits aren't included in your list as well, so the complete score runs 84 minutes.
Hi, thanks for posting this. Just wanting to be sure, but you're certain that this was an unused cue?
And are you sure that the End Credits is original composed music or an assembled suite of music from the score by the composer himself? Do you know the runtime of these End Credits? I no longer have the film to consult for this information...
Hi, thanks for posting this. Just wanting to be sure, but you're certain that this was an unused cue? And are you sure that the End Credits is original composed music or an assembled suite of music from the score by the composer himself? Do you know the runtime of these End Credits? I no longer have the film to consult for this information...
The cue wasn't featured on my German DVD (both German and English audio), but maybe someone can confirm this with a US copy.
I asked about the same question regarding the end credits and JoAnn Kane, the music service, answered (you can find it under their December 3rd 2014 post on Facebook):
My initial question: Since you are the guys who should know best: Are the End Credits just an edit of "March of the Lava" or did Silvestri actually write music for it? Their reply: There is actual separate music for "End Credits"!
That doesn't necessarily mean what we hear at the credits is what Silvestri wrote, but it probably is.
