The Golden Child (1986)
Music Composed And Conducted By John Barry
(The Unused Score)
Music Composed And Conducted By Michel Colombier
Performed By The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra
Reissue Executive Producers: Lukas Kendall and Neil S.Bulk
LaLaLand Records LLLCD1180
Limited Edition of 5000 Copies
Disc One: 25 Tracks/Running Time:77:18
Disc Two: 23 Tracks/Running Time:58:07
Disc Three: 9 Tracks/Running Time: 30:17
Released On July 14, 2011
Heading into 1986, Eddie Murphy was on a meteoric rise in Hollywood thanks to his breakout hits 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop. As you can imagine he was offered just about everything and when The Golden Child came to be, Murphy was on board this seemingly unusual project for him and a project that was basically kept under wraps by Paramount. Speculation arose about it, that there might have been problems on the set or behind the scenes. None of which were true and the production went very smoothly until....post-production (more on that in a bit). The story is rather a simple good vs.evil battle as a sacred child dubbed as "The Golden Child" is abducted by evil forces led by the dark and mysterious Saado Numspaa (Charles Dance) from his Tibetian sancturary and brought to Los Angeles. Enter Chandler Jarrell (Murphy), a streetwise detective/missing children's advocate who's case of a missing girl is suddenly intertwined with the abduction of the Golden Child. Aided by the ravishing Kee Nang (Charlotte Lewis), who can handle herself aids the now dubbed "Chosen One" to go to Tibet to retreve a sacred knife that would destory Numspaa and rescue the child back in Los Angeles. The film was directed by the late Michael Ritchie, who made some of cinema's most memorable films in The Candidate and Bad News Bears to name a few.
Now...the dreaded post-production process. With the film in it's post production stage, Alan Silvestri was heavily discussed as coming on board the film and a big coup was scored for the production when Academy Award winner John Barry was signed to score the film in August. Barry had just scored the memorable music for Out of Africa and the disasterous 1986 film Howard The Duck, seemed like the perfect choice for the film. His score which emphisized the dangers, romance and adventure of the story is one of Hollywood's most talked about scores. Barry had scored a lengthier version of the film and when it tested poorly in those dreaded test screenings, two things happend. One, the film was cut down by half an hour from it's original length and Barry's marvellous score did not work well with the audience as they felt didn't push the story along as it should've. Barry was asked by the studio to rescore the picture and he politely declined moving onto other projects.
Now enter Michel Colombier. A French composer who started to make some noise in Hollywood writing music for Prince's Purple Rain, White Knights, the Jeff Bridges drama Against All Odds and at that point, the Steven Spielberg produced comedy, The Money Pit starring Tom Hanks. Colombier, interesting enough was the first composer considered for the film, but didn't hear anything until late 1986. So now with Colombier on board and the film trimmed down to a tight and lean 93 minutes, With the studio insisting that they retain some of Barry's music, Colombier write a completely new score in two weeks time. He wrote a rather hip and exciting score in the vein of Harold Faltermeyer's brilliant score for Beverly Hills Cop, that made this newly edited version of the film faster paced all that much better. Not that Barry's score didn't work either because his score was also used alongside Colombier's in the final cut as well a song that Barry co-wrote "The Best Man In The World" performed by Ann Wilson. Colombier also co-wrote a song for the film performed by Ashford & Simpson titled "Love Goes On (Love Theme From The Golden Child) which was also featured in the film along side Barry's.
An soundtrack album was released by Capitol Records in conjunction with the film, which was a huge success. The album featured the Ann Wilson song as well the Ashford & Simpson's along with one of Barry's memorable tracks from his original score which stayed in the film "Wisdom Of The Ages" as well as three tracks of Colombier's score. The album went out-of-print on CD and then became a highly sought after collectable during the 90's and mainly for John Barry's music. LaLaLand Records has been having a stellar year with some really special releases and The Golden Child has to be my personal favorite out of all of them for a number of reasons. First, we have John Barry's complete original score to the film that has been talked about since the film's release 25 years ago. Second, Michel Colombier's score which I've always loved in it's full state like Barrys. Lastly, the film is one I'm personally rather fond of in all aspects because Eddie Murphy gets to play well a superhero of sorts not just with him running his mouth, but you also do care about his character and are actually rooting for him, like Beverly Hills Cop only in an even more perlious suituation.
Barry's score is very adventerous and romantic at times. It would've fit the film to a tee in it's original version, but with the way the film was reedited, it would've probably been less effective. The score is similar to what Barry had done with his James Bond scores at the time and even Howard The Duck to some extent. The music on it's own is fun listen and you pretty much get an idea of how epic and grand Barry was trying to make the movie. The love theme itself is simply stunning and he easily could've turned it into a concert staple had he decided to adapt it in that format. So it definitely works on it's own merits. Colombier's is more modern and in the style of most scores during the 80's with drum machines and hip rhythms. The score is a perfect fit for the theatrical cut of the film and really does move the film along at a rather frantic pace at times which is what the test audience really wanted. You can't really argue with either score because they're both excellent scores in their own right and they both deserve an equal release.
LaLaLand Records with the help of Lukas Kendall of Film Score Monthly gives us a set not only that is worthy for fans of the film, but fans of Barry especially and it's sort of a tribute to him since he passed away earlier this year. Michel Colombier's score shouldn't be put in the back burner either since it is as important as Barry's as a vital contribution to the film's success. This three disc set gives you all of Barry's 87 min score as well as Colombier's 54 minutes along with the songs they both contributed to the film as well as songs from the original Capitol Records album. The set comes with a wonderful color booklet with terrific and informative liner notes by Jon Burlingame about the film's production and breakdown on each score and song.
It's hard to believe that 25 years has flown by and yet, The Golden Child has with stood the test of time. The movie is still popular and the music is still memorable. It's an anniversary set that gives you everything that fans of film would've ever hoped to have seen. Especially John Barry's seemingly lost score. The album like the film's protagonist is Golden in everyway. Another winner by LaLaLand Records.
This set is available to order from LaLaLand Records (www.lalalandrecords.com), Intrada Records (www.intrada.com) and Movie Music (www.moviemusic.com)
DISC 1
Music Composed and Conducted by John Barry
1. 1M1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 (The Child Is Taken) 5:55
2. The Best Man in the World (Barry–Wilson–Wilson–Ennis)
Performed by Ann Wilson
Produced by Ron Nevison 3:21
3. 2M1 1:45
4. 2M2 2:11
5. 3M1/2/3/4 3:36
6. 3M5/6A (Tin Can Man) (Includes “Puttin’ on the Ritz” composed by Irving Berlin) :53
7. 3M7/4M0 (Follow That Bird) 2:54
8. 4M1 (Best Man) 2:03
9. 4M2 :58
10. 5M2 1:12
11. 5M3 1:51
12. 5M4/6M0 2:34
13. 6M1 (Chandler’s Dream) 6:18
14. 7M1 :50
15. 7M2 (Love Theme) 2:21
16. 7M3AR/C :35
17. 7M4/8M0/1 6:13
18. 8M2 2:32
19. 9M1 (Bottomless Pit) 4:51
20. 9M2R (Wisdom of the Ages) 3:50
21. 10M2/3 2:19
22. 10M4 (Kee Nang Gets the Arrow) 2:58
23. 11M1 3:04
24. 11M2/A/B/C/D/E/F (The Final Act) 10:23
25. 12M1 1:04
Disc 1 Time: 77:14
DISC 2
Music Score by Michel Colombier
1. Sardo and the Child 5:27
2. Blood in Oatmeal 1:47
3. Child in Warehouse 1:21
4. Astral Projection 1:57
5. The Bikers :43
6. We Sold Her 4:16
7. Demons 1:58
8. Kee’s Tied Up :34
9. Dream Sequence—Last Part 1:19
10. Kee Nang Offers Herself :47
11. Child in Truck/Chandler Follows Bird 2:09
12. Take It :24
13. The Mountain 1:17
14. The Corridor 2:14
15. The Knife Retrieval 3:35
16. Golden Love 3:47
17. Malibu/Battle at Malibu House 4:47
18. Looking for Sardo 3:07
19. Confrontation 5:31
20. Sardo Is Back 1:01
21. Kee Nang Lives :49
22. The Chosen One (Michel Colombier)
Performed by Robbie Buchanan 3:55
23. Love Goes On (Love Theme From The Golden Child) (Colombier–Ashford–Simpson)
Performed by Ashford & Simpson 4:52
Disc 2 Time: 58:07 DISC 3
Additional Music Composed and Conducted by John Barry
1. The Best Man in the World (Instrumental) (4M1R/2M2R) 3:39
2. 2M1R 1:21
3. 12M1R 1:04
4. 2M4 (Source) 1:53
5. Dance a Little Closer (Barry–DeShannon–Edelman)
Performed by Randy Edelman 4:19
Additional Songs From the 1986 Soundtrack Album 6. Deeper Love (Diane Warren)
Performed by Meli’sa Morgan 4:25
7. Shame on You (M. Price–D. Chang)
Performed by Martha Davis 4:14
8. Body Talk (Croucier–De Martini–Pearcy) Performed by Ratt 3:47
9. (Let Your Love Find) The Chosen One (M. Jackson–K. Wakefield) Performed by Marlon Jackson 5:02
Disc 3 Time: 30:17
Total 3CD Time: 165:38
- Danny Gonzalez
Film Music Examiner New York-NYC
