Jerry Goldsmith - Hoosiers: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a cassette, later replaced by a CD.

This is one of my all-time favorite original movie scores. Goldsmith, who scored hundreds of films and televisions shows during his lifetime, probably churned this out in a week or two, but it really struck a chord with me (pun not intended). A perfect mix of synth and orchestra, pop and classical, ballad and uptempo, 7/8 and 4/4 - this has a little something for everybody.  Whether you like the movie or not (I do), this soundtrack is recommended listening.

Billboard, January 24, 1987, p. 68
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, BB.

This score was nominated for an Academy Award, losing to Herbie Hancock's efforts for Round Midnight. Another nominee that year was Ennio Morricone's gorgeous score for The Mission. A tough choice between those three, but I'd go for Hoosiers.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:  The score is based on two main themes: the driving main theme (track 1) and the slower title ballad, usually scored for solo trumpet (track 2).  The score uses these as leitmotif throughout so it's basically variations on 2 themes, but so beautifully done that you either don't notice or mind the repetition. Also good is the Coplandesque track The Pivot and the closing track, the 15 minute suite The Finals.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I bought the album immediately after seeing the movie at the theater with my mother, who confirmed the film's authenticity in representing the early '50s era milieu. (Yes, I went to the movies with my mother when I was 20, what of it?). Unfortunately, that album was a victim of a household purge. Years later, found a copy of the soundtrack on cassette and immediately burned it to a CD.

Cassette J-card

Finally, this expanded soundtrack was released in the Intrada series in 2012. Never thought this one would be released digitally, hence the cassette purchase, but I was happily proven wrong yet again. The original soundtrack album ran about 40 minutes, this expanded edition clocks in at an hour. My favorite way to listen to this soundtrack is loudly in a car on the open road, preferably on an overcast fall day.

Today's useless trivia: the film was released in Europe under the title Best Shot (because the term Hoosier would be foreign to those audiences - pun intended this time).