KIMBERLY

BASIL POLEDOURIS

Rating:

Original Review: The sea has always proved to be a rich and fertile source of inspiration for Basil Poledouris; his affinity with all things oceanic has manifest itself in several landmark scores, notably The Blue Lagoon, Wind, and the Free Willy series. After a sabbatical which has seen him produce just two scores in two years, Poledouris is back with Kimberly, a cable TV movie about romance and rowing, directed by Frederic Golchan, starring Gabrielle Anwar, Sean Astin and Molly Ringwald.

The theme from Kimberly is arguably one of the loveliest of Poledouris' entire career, a simple, nostalgic melody that It appears in the first cue, 'Main Title', presented in a no-nonsense fully orchestral, but goes through several permutations during the rest of the score, the most notable among these being 'Guy Montage', a delicious acoustic guitar solo that slowly transforms into a sublime saxophone performance.

The best moments occur during the latter half of the score, especially the sensational 'The Race', in which a massive performance of Poledouris's main theme by, alternately, the horn section and a solo trumpet, bolstered by undulating strings and thrusting percussion to give the moment a sense of gravitas, importance and excitement. Poledouris quite obviously has salt water running through his veins. Only a man with this kind of love for the nautical life would be able to invest so much energy and emotion into people rowing up a river. The seven-minute finale of 'Proposal/Finale' and 'Kimberly End Credits' sum up the score superbly, recapitulating every major theme and finishing on a spine-tingling full orchestra flourish.

As well as the power and glory of the rowing, it's also plain to hear that Poledouris was having a great deal of fun writing this score, and that director Golchan gave him the freedom to let his hair down a little. The fast-paced comedic jazz in 'Wake Up' and 'Rush to the Hospital' are two of the most light-hearted cues I have ever heard him create, and are not so much a throwbacks to Carl Stalling, but a merging of his own Serial Mom style with that of the cartoon maestro. Similarly, 'Dating and Training' emerges out of a lovely orchestral melody into a percussive, contemporary montage sequence with a soft rock groove not too dissimilar to the style adopted by Thomas Newman in American Beauty and others, while 'Kimberly Confesses' is a somewhat comical piece for lively woodwinds and pizzicato strings. There's even a touch of Basil jazz in 'Hanging Attempt', with saxes, snares, basses and wa-wa guitar combining to create a sultry, slightly dangerous mood.

It's to Basil Poledouris's credit that, having secured his reputation and enough money to genuinely never have to work again, he now only scores films which he personally finds to be of high enough quality. Considering the dross movies he has written for in the past, this can only be a good thing, but it also means that his scores are less frequent than they once were. Conversely, it also means that he has more time to invest in their creation, and the quality of the music goes up. It's a compromise I'm willing to accept; I look forward to every Poledouris score, be it for a big budget action movie or a TV flick about rowing. Kimberly, despite being the latter, is one to savour.

Track Listing: Running Time: 31 minutes 58 seconds

Varése Sarabande VSD-6080 (2000)

Music composed by Basil Poledouris. Conducted by Eric Colvin. Orchestrations by Eric Colvin and Steven Scott Smalley. Recorded and mixed by Tim Boyle. Edited by Curtis Roush. Mastered by Todd Haberman. Album produced by Basil Poledouris, Eric Colvin and Mi Kyoung Chaing.

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