"It's Been Educational." - The Music of Back To The Future

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a very early Sunday morning during the late ’80s, and I, not knowing any better, was actually awake and looking for some cartoons to watch. But of course, what kind of good cartoons were on Sunday mornings in those days? None. Instead, I found a rented VHS from the night before. I popped Back To The Future in the player and the logos rolled on.

For two hours I sat, totally absorbed. Everything from the story, characters, effects just bolted me to the floor. But in the end, it wasn’t any of those that got to me the way Alan Silvestri’s score did. It’s been about 23 years, and here I sit, writing this. And for me, it’s kind of awesome to finally be writing about the score that got me into this whole film score world in the first place and I know I’m not alone on this one.

It’s been no secret that we film score enthusiasts have wanted Silvestri’s masterpiece ever since the film came out and, even today, it’s a mystery why no score album was released given the popularity of the film and its $380 million worldwide gross (that was a big deal back then). The MCA soundtrack which features various songs from the film and two cues by Silvestri is still a decent seller today. But now, 24 years from it’s theatricalrun (and many bootlegs later), the team at Intrada Records has delivered what I’d imagine is the most requested title in recent history. Period.

BTTF is a classic film score in every tradition possible. It’s a massive orchestral powerhouse, around 98 players (one of the biggest orchestras assembled at the time) and listening to it, sounds so rich, full and big when compared to scores today. The complete score is surprisingly short compared to the other two films. “Future” clocks in around 50 minutes long (including the two source cues), yet listening to it and seeing it with the film, you’d swear it was longer. That’s the beauty of something this good, it doesn’t need to be insanely long to get the musical ideas across to the viewer/listener or to have the appropriate impact. (“Wall-to-Wall” scores that try too hard, I’m lookin’ at you.) The score as a whole is all built around a very small amount of material that is orchestrated in different ways, various tempo changes, and a series of very complex orchestra writing techniques that make for the perfect combination of notes and motifs that are able to be expanded to fill the soundscape of the Hill Valley night at the end of the film, or the tiniest orchestral “blink” of an eye as heard when Doc blinks his eye after he’s been shot. While none of this is new in crafting a film score by any stretch of the imagination, Silvestri is a master at using it to the effect that we hear in this film. Pure and simple, Silvestri’s totally in his element with this score.

You don’t even hear a note till about 20 minutes into the film, during the “DeLorean Reveal” scene. The “Main Theme” that everyone associates with the film doesn’t actually appear all that much in its full blooded form, but it does make plenty of little appearances throughout the score. The first time we hear it is when Marty goes back to 1955. It’s large, big, brassy and makes great use of the orchestra, not something you generally hear these days. But before we hear it, Silvestri lays some ground work. The score uses the first few cues to build the orchestral language that will make up the rest of the film, themes included for Doc and Marty. These early cues are giving the listener some hints before totally unleashing the orchestral onslaught at the end of “’85 Twin Pines Mall” that basically kicks the score out of the gate. The big performances are, of course, saved for the film’s bigger moments, including “Skateboard Chase” and the finale of the film. With “It’s Been Educational – Clocktower,” Silvestri brings his theme to new heights with tons of extra and large brass and string writing to compliment its expansion. (I’m not kidding, crank the cue up on a good sound system so you can hear what the orchestra is actually doing. There’s tons of stuff going on, it’s awesome!) All of these elements create the makeup for one great final cue. Fans that have seen the film, know this sequence well, and the various bootlegs have done what they could to preserve it, but hearing it now in this properly mastered state is just great. You can feel the weight of the orchestra as they play and it’s a constant ride till the end of the almost 11 minute cue. Crank it and let the neighbors hear it!

The softer, more intimate theme is first heard in “Lorraine’s Bedroom.” Silvestri brings this theme up when Marty or a reference to his family are mentioned. It’s very tender, and very much an off shoot of the “Main Theme.” It’s performed with some light woodwind, chimes and strings, or alternately, some light brass as in “Marty’s Letter,” and finality quality, in “4×4.” This same “theme logic” can be applied to Doc. In “Einstein Disintegrated,” Silvestri uses offshoots of the “Main Theme” to create a series of frenetic brass and string writing to symbolize Doc’s character.

Some of the darker brooding brass and string elements that come into play throughout the score echo what Silvestri would later develop into his darker score for BTTF 2 and Predator. We first hear these elements in the first half of “Peabody Barn.” These string and brass elements signify a “danger” type of sound with the orchestra. It’s not really a common theme per say, but it happens later in the score with a different motif and orchestration. Cues like “George To The Rescue Pt. 1” and elements of it are integrated into the “Clocktower” portion of the finale cue. Lots of strings, playing a mile a minute.

Speaking of the darker aspects of the score, another treat with this release is on the second disc. Here we are given early alternate versions of cues and it paints a very different picture of what this score was going to be when scoring began in early May of ’85. Some of the cues are similar, while others are very different from the final film editions. Some examples, the film version of “Peabody Farm” uses less of the dark brooding music in favor of some light theme usage and some light piano work before jumping to the theme towards the middle of the cue where Marty drives off the farm. In the alternate version, Silvestri uses more orchestral brass clashes mixed with some brooding string music. The “Main Theme” makes a quick appearance, then is ditched for more brass clashes. In the original “Skateboard Chase,” the cue does a slight build of thematic material, then right into the “Main Theme” (and variances) for the vast majority of the cue at a somewhat fast tempo, also completing the cue in that manner. With its alternate, it begins with more brass clashes and some orchestral dissonance at the beginning before going into the theme, yet the theme is slightly slower in its performance. That slowness is a slight distraction when compared to the other performances of the theme. The end of the cue also goes off into more brass hits without ending on the triumphant moment. The alternate reminds me of the much slower cue on Varese’s “Trilogy” CD. (In fact, these alternates might explain that CD as a whole.) “George To The Rescue” is a totally different cue between the two discs. The film version finds it much shorter with a source cue separating it, while the alternate is much longer and uses huge brass performances then the final version, not to mention tossing in some elements from the “Clocktower” cue. I don’t want to give all the surprises away, “Clocktower” included, but needless to say the second disc is a treat all it’s own. It really shows the growth of this score and how the tone of a film can change by moving some notes around, changing the tempo, or using brass dissonance versus hits of the main theme notes. A lot of the darker aspects found with these early sessions made their way to “BTTF 2” for which they are totally appropriate. I wonder, if the score had gone this way, would it be the hallmark score we know and love today? I doubt it, and we have Steven Spielberg to thank for it. According to Intrada’s liners (by Michael Matessino) during the early May sessions, Spielberg was reported to love the main theme so much, he felt there should be more of it in the final film. As such, more scoring days were scheduled, giving us the score we have today.

I think in the end, Back To The Future really does take us back in time. The ‘80s were a decade of some amazing score writing that influenced much of the work that was done over the past 24 years. Bottom line, buy this CD. It’s the biggest no brainer of the year, maybe even the decade. If you don’t, well, you might be paid a visit from Darth Vader from the Planet Vulcan! In that case, do what he says. Your future might depend on it!

A big thanks to Doug, Roger, Michael, Jeff, George, Mark, and Joe at Intrada for their fine work on this, and every project they do.

Rating: 5/5
Favorite Track 19