I think this score might just be my ALL TIME favourite by Cliff Eidelman. Although there's only about 12 minutes (edit..15 mins) of actual score music in the film, what a 15 minutes they are! There's hardly any music in the first hour of the film and even during the second half, it's sparsely used. But in that time, we get a gentle love theme (for the Winger and Neeson characters) and a truly gorgeous, religious piece of music that makes your spirit soar (for the miracle sequences). I remember quite liking the film, too. A pleasant Capra-esque fable about faith and belief and cynicism. After seeing the film at the cinema, back in '92, I wrote Cliff Eidelman a letter about how much the score in the film moved me, in addition to a love of his film music in general.
He was kind enough to send me a copy of the score in return
There are also two tracks of the score (the Love Theme and Miracle Finale) on an agency promo CD for the composer, which has a slightly different version to the Finale cue that I received. Any other fans of this (film or score) out there?
You can hear the glorious miracle theme in this clip... WARNING!! SPOILERS within the film clip (Finale Sequence).
There are also two tracks of the score (the Love Theme and Miracle Finale) on an agency promo CD for the composer, which has a slightly different version to the Finale cue that I received. Any other fans of this (film or score) out there?
I've never seen the film either but the two LOF tracks are the reason why the Eidelman promo is such a treasured gem in my collection. I'm actually bummed to hear there's only about 12 minutes of score in the movie because I was hoping this score might get a full release someday. Sounds like a fuller release wouldn't be possible if there basically isn't anything to release.
It was the five cues heard within the film, Yavar. A short, one minute cue, quite ambient in sound/design (but using the opening motif of the miracle scenes). Two cues which featured the Love theme and two cues for both Miracle sequences. They total around 12 minutes (possibly 14, I'd have to check). I checked, it's just under 16 mins. It makes me think he only wrote that much and it wasn't a case of loads of score being unused. The film relies heavily on Gospel songs and source-like cues for the most part anyway. It makes Cliff Eidelman's contributions all the more powerful, when he unleashes them, I feel.
Cool. I wonder if it could be paired with something else for an album release... I fear the poor sales of Delirious may have permanently discouraged labels from doing other Eidelman premieres.
A friend of mine worked at Rysher Entertainment (which produced this) at the time, and she was smitten with the score (and Cliff Eidelman!) and gave me a raw cassette tape of the music. I have no idea where it is now, but I used to listen to it a lot. It had some choir pieces for which Eidelman composed overlays, and they were awkward listens on the tape because the choir (pre-recorded, presumably) would start abruptly mid-song, ten or so seconds before Eidelman's overlay.
Sounds like you got one of those messy unedited sessions tapes, Schiffy. I have loads of them in the garage, from the old Goldsmith Society/MFTM days. They're impossible to listen to sometimes, with takes and retakes and fluffs etc. Fortunately, good old Cliff sent me a nice edited version containing just the completed film cues.
Well, three cheers for left field!! I love Cliff Eidelman's score. He hit a grand slam with the Miracle of Rain cue at the end and was right to include it on both of his promo CDs in the past. Very uplifting music. Play that cue when your mood could use a lift. He has an 8:31 cue ("Redemption" into "Rain") on his website. The link is below. Just click on the Leap of Faith image/play button on the lower right side. The "Redemption" is when the charlatan actually undergoes a redemption and pulls off a real miracle ("Rain").
I recall that in his interview with Yavar he expressed his opinion that LEAP OF FAITH was the one film score of his that he MOST WANTED to see get released.
Yeah, he also listed some TV movies he scored for HBO, but those seem less likely candidates for release since HBO doesn't seem to be cooperative with the specialty labels for catalogue title licensing (and this was even before Warner Bros. became difficult).
I gave the score a listen online. One nitpicking item I have is they start off with the film climax first. The first cue is actually "Rain" (with the choir) as in the film. The last cue is also "Rain" (but without the choir), a bonus cue.
