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Review of Transformers: The Movie Score

Transformers: The Movie

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Original Motion Picture Score By: Vince DiCola

After 28 years since Transformers: The Movie was released, we finally have Vince DiCola’s score in one awesome package! Sure there were other releases, but this is ONLY the score! So TRANSFORM AND ROLLOUT, for TFG1Mike’s review of it! 

TFTM Soundtrack and Score

1986 was an awesome year, well for the most part it was. I think it wasn’t until 1987 from Family Home Entertainment that I actually saw Transformers: The Movie. This film changed my life forever. OK well it changed my young life forever. Because HOLY CRAP THEY KILLED OPTIMUS PRIME!!! I don’t care who you are, or what decade you grew up in. Chances are if you grew up with G1, you know what a HUGE deal it was that they killed off Optimus Prime. As a general lover of animation, and as someone who tries not to read too much into films. TF TM is one of the greatest western animated films of all time. It should at least be on a Top 50 list, if not somewhere in the Top 25 of animated films. As a Transformers fan I still love the film, because it took OTHERS to point out to me some of the film’s flaws. EVERYTHING HAS A FLAW IN IT somewhere. The general plot of the film is I think very straightforward… The Cons want to rule the universe, they have already captured Cybertron again, and the Autobots must stop them no matter the cost. AND sure years after it’s release I get it Hasbro was making room for new toys, but I have NEVER nor will I ever judge a animated film good or bad solely because of that.

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Since the films release in 1986 there have been THREE Soundtrack releases for Transformers The Movie. The Original 10 song soundtrack done by Volcano Entertainment III, released in 1997 there was the 2 CD set Til All Are One. This release had songs from Stan Bush’s album Call To Action, and the second disc was a 31 track score from the film. There were some tracks that weren’t used in the film, and Legacy DiCola’s audition piece. Then in 2007 there was the re release with the original 10 tracks from the previous Volcano III release, as well as 4 additional tracks from the score. Fast forward nearly 30 years after the films original release, and Vince DiCola has given us Transformers: The Movie Original Motion Picture Score!

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This NEW release of the score has 24 tracks from the film, and the 25th track is Vince’s audition piece Legacy. Don’t get me wrong I love the 2007 soundtrack, but this is what I’ve been waiting for since 1986! A Full chronological score, that starts at the beginning of the film, and goes all the way to the end. Listening to the presentation of the score on this disc, I’ve heard things I never noticed about the music before, and hearing those notes meant that I HAD to go back and watch the film. To see if I could catch them there………

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So I DID find the 2007 DVD on Amazon for just over twenty bucks with 2 day shipping. I then watched the film, and while I LOVE Transformers The Movie, it’s clear to me the brass wanted the actual Soundtrack to play through more than Vince’s score. SURE several tracks are self evident, like the Death of Optimus Prime, Autobot/Decepticon Battle, and The Unicron Theme. However the film focuses on the the licensed music more. As you can see the track listing above they are different names than previous releases, I’d say only Autobot/Decepticon Battle and Escape are titled the same. BUT I found myself reciting scenes as I was listening to the music. The score is mastered so well, that you can envision each scene in your head. I even found myself quoting lines from the film as I listened. Vince makes excellent use of the keyboards, some piano, and great guitar riffs.

Here’s BLASTER BLASTIN’ ATTCHA!

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The tracks I love on this are mostly ones you only heard a snippet of or NEVER heard at all in the film. Track 3: Space Attack, this is where N.R.G. had their Instruments of Destruction played. I love the tones Vince puts in this, and the dark feeling and emotion it has behind it. After all a lot of Autobots did die that day. Another of my favorites is Track 10: The Coronation, this is well when Starscream attempts to be crowned KING of the Decepticons. There are several GREAT things about this track. In the scene the Constructicons are depicted as playing the horns… that section of music starts Track 10 off… after that it is just AWESOME how jovial it begins, and then when Galvatron arrives the darker tones are there. Track 13: Closing In is BY FAR one of my most favorite tracks from this disc. Simply because in the film the voices and sound effects are more audible than the music, but when listening to it here I can envision the exact scene, and hear the movie in my head. All while just hearing the music! At 1:01 I can hear in my head from the film the robot that Hot-Rod is Jedi training with say time out time out! Then Galvatron and the NEW Decepticons attack.

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DiCola’s way of making the film come alive is impeccable, his use of the synthesizers and regular instruments combining to make this score what it is…. is just amazing. Hearing this music makes me enjoy the film even more. I have to give this a five outta five stars, NOT just because I’m a Transformers fan, and NOT just because I can envision every scene of the film while listening to this, but because it is such great music!

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You can get your VERY OWN Copy from Intrada’s website, for $19.99 plus $3.75 shipping. Click HERE to buy the CD! “This is the END OF THE ROAD” until you immerse yourself in this awesome music!

RATINGS - 5.0 STAR

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TFG1Mike

TFG1Mike is a geek with many interests. He has been podcasting for over a decade, and sees no stopping point in sight. From Transformers, He-Man, Batman, Comics, movies, video games, cartoons, and so much more, Mike has a zeal for the things he loves, and he will bring the hammer down on the things that he has a disdain for. He's generally a postive person, but negativity can creep in there. Mike is all about the innuendos and innuendon'ts too. You'll hear him on many of The GCRN podcasts!

2 Comments

  1. I remember buying the soundtrack on LP when I was a kid (still own it actually) and listened to it profusely (one of my friends “upgraded” me to the CD release a few years later) even though I didn’t see the movie again until Rhino reissued the movie in 2000 (14 years after I saw it in the theater). Seeing the movie pushed me to attempt to locate one of the mega-rare Bot-Con albums, which I finally did a year or two ago and settled for the 2007 soundtrack re-release that had a few more score tracks in the meantime. I probably didn’t need to but I felt compelled to buy this release for the remastered sound and to support the artist. This is one of the best film scores out there and I can’t believe that Vince DiCola didn’t get tapped to do many more film scores, not even the new Transformers movies (I’m not sure that would have been a blessing or curse though I heard both he and Stan Bush submitted music for consideration).

    1. yeah I have the 2007 soundtrack for the sung songs, but I never got the Til All Are One rare botcon thing. I was super stoked, as you can tell from this review… when this was released. Yes Vince and Stan both submitted music for the live action films, but Bay does whatever he wants. Thanks for commenting glad ya liked the review.

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