Review Summary: This is the soundtrack to the greatest animated film ever made.
For everyone there is a movie, television show or song that will remind them of their childhood, I have a few, for instance I remember getting up early in the morning and religiously watching The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons, I remember listening to my Dad play Born In The USA by Springsteen & Back In Black by AC/DC but the one memory I have of my childhood years that still sticks with me is watching the original Transformers animated movie.
I was always a huge fan of the show as a kid, so when the opportunity to win a VHS copy of the movie by entering a colouring competition in the local newspaper came up, I jumped at it, I’m not sure whether I was the only kid to enter the comp or if everyone else just couldn’t colour inside the lines but I won & came out with that VHS, and a life long love affair begun.
As anyone who has ever seen the Transformers will know, it’s basically a battle between the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime and the evil Decepticons, led by Megatron and in the case of the movie a giant transforming planet known as the Unicron who is out to devour everything in it’s path…far fetched, yes, but it has everything that a kid with a wild imagination needs.
The movie might as well have been labelled a musical as it has a killer prog/rock soundtrack that is cranked at every possible occasion. It has everything from cringe worthy 80’s pop by Stan Bush, some dirty rock’n’roll in Spectre General, Lion & NRG, a bit of comedy relief from Weird Al Yankovic and the prog rock/electronic sounds of keyboard master Vince DiCola.
The soundtrack ties in perfectly with the movie, with the track selection complimenting the action sequences, for example when Optimus Prime fights Megatron at Autobot HQ you get a real sense of importance of the scene and of Prime’s heroism when “The Touch” fire’s up, it is a scene where I cant help but feel inspired, even now, 20 years after seeing it for the first time.
The Transformers theme is covered fantastically well and turned into a dirty piece of 80’s rock by the largely unknown band Lion, they add in a few cheesy lyrics but it works so well you cant help but love it. Stan Bush contributes two tracks the first being the aforementioned “The Touch” (covered on the credits of Boogie Nights by Dirk Diggler) and the second being “Dare”, both songs when listened to now by someone who hadn’t heard them before would simply be dismissed as cheesy 80’s disposable pop, but I protest, they are far better than that. Both tracks feature some sharp synth bass & keyboard parts, electronic drum work and big guitar sounds and both tracks have hopelessly optimistic & positive lyrics, which works brilliantly when they make the appearance in the movie.
Another unknown band, Spectre General, makes their soundtrack debut with two tracks. The youthful & rebellious rock anthem’s “Hunger” & “Nothing’s Gonna Stand In Our Way” again suit the film down to the ground, again they are used at precisely the right time, this time when young Autobot, Hot Rod, shows us his youthful & brash personality and heroic nature. N.R.G. add one track in “Instruments Of Destruction”, a four on the floor straight up piece of no-brains, all-balls rock. It has some really terrible lyrics but musically it compliments the movie well.
Vince DiCola is the true star of this soundtrack with his prog influenced keyboard score ( DiCola has worked on many other scores including Rocky IV, Staying Alive & Sci-Fighter), the track “Death Of Optimus Prime” is an unbelievably sad & moving solo keyboard song which, I’m sure, has brought many Transformers fans to tears. “The Escape” is another keyboard track smothered in funky synth bass lines and huge sounding electronic drums, like all 3 of his offerings on the disc it is an instrumental track, but like all good instrumental pieces the story is told through the music with no need for lyrics. “Autobot – Decepticon Battle” is another epic piece, with a number of tempo changes and numerous bass solo’s and massive drum parts and like all everything else on the soundtrack, it suites the film perfectly.
That brings us to Weird Al Yankovic’s contribution, a zany little number called “Dare To Be Stupid”, this track is the weakest point, musically, on the soundtrack by a long way, but still it suites the movie very well and it excels in the scene that it is used in.
All in all this is a great soundtrack to a great movie, with the release of the new Transformers live action movie only a week or so away Iam hoping that it will generate a bit of interest back into the original movie.
If the new movie & soundtrack are even half as good as this then I will be one very happy camper.
Thanks for reading.
