The Thunder Road has landed in the UK! Well, actually I was lucky enough to receive the disc on Thursday, but have been taking some time to listen to it and reflect a little before posting.
This was my grail. Oh sure, there are plenty of scores I would love to see out for the first time or given the deluxe expanded treatment, but for me this was the one I most dearly wanted. As I'm sure is often the case, it is a childhood nostalgia thing. As a child of the eighties, I had a selection of films I would return to often as favoured Sunday night viewing. Sunday night: that last refuge before having to face the tribulations of school once more. Looking back as an adult, it's not hard to spot the common thread between the titles - The NeverEnding Story, Return to Oz, The Last Starfighter and Explorers, among others. All featured kids escaping their humdrum existences to disappear into some fantastical land or outer space. Usually not the most popular kids either! It doesn't take a genius to figure out why they resonated then, or why they continue to do so.
Explorers was my favourite for many reasons. Something about Dante's oddball approach appealed to me much more than the comparatively conventional output of Spielberg. Critics have never been able to reconcile the two halves of the film (or, more accurately, the third act with the preceeding two). I think the dichotomy is well expressed by the write-ups in two of my well-thumbed reference books: Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide and Phil Hardy's Aurum Encyclopedia on Science Fiction films. Maltin writes that the film "Opens beautifully, takes its time developing story - then makes disastrous wrong turn in space that transforms film into shaggy-dog joke!" Hardy, by contrast, suggests that "If the first half ... is slow, the movie comes into its own once the teenage heroes meet Wak and Neek". I too shared Ben Crandall's disillusionment with what the explorers found in space, but was always able to accept the film as a coherent whole. Unconsciously, perhaps I recognised the thread of dreams unfulfilled that Dante mentions and Jeff Bond discusses so eloquently in his excellent liner notes for the CD.
Jerry Goldsmith's music undoubtedly plays a huge part in my enjoyment of the film. 'The Construction' still makes me beam from ear to ear whenever I hear it. As Jeff wrote in VideoHounds Soundtracks years ago, it is "perfect, surging with boyish optimism". For this listener, no one has quite captured "the thrill of staying up past your bedtime" as well as Goldsmith does here. The new CD is a joy - even the familiar cues are given new life, and finally being able to hear that Dick Miller-related theme apart from the movie is a wonderful thing. There's even little revelations like the 'Time for Bed' cue (written for a scene dropped from the final film, and never heard before now). Few scores play at their best in complete and chronological form, and although it was hard to imagine an 'Explorers' album that didn't open with the barnstorming cue 'The Construction', this album really works. It's a complete journey now, and one of Goldsmith's best ... at least for me.
So I'd like to give my heartfelt thanks to the Intrada team for making this particular dream come true - to Doug for the assured production, Roger for "pressing through the issues" (oh, how I clung to those words with hope for two years or so!), Jeff for the insightful liner notes, Joe for another great piece of tasteful design work (and his 500th CD to boot - congratulations!) and all the hamsters for their great work.
Apologies if this seems like gushing, but I felt I could be permitted this one outburst on what for me was a landmark release.
As for my reaction when I first listened to the 'Dick Miller' theme - well, there must have been something in my eye.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it ...
Regards
Conrad
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