Outside of the main hymn, the remaining thematic material in The Hunt for Red October exists in mostly simple motifs of harmoniously elegant chord progressions. One of the better developed motifs exists in the form of a graceful choral movement for the title submarine itself, used repeatedly during underwater shots of the ship's movements. The crescendo heard in "Course Two-Five-Zero" is a teaser for the ballet-like sways of "Red Route I," during which the ease with which the massive sub navigates treacherous depths is given an almost effortless poise and flow. While the choral majesty of "Course Two-Five-Zero" and "Red Route I," as well as the curious variant of the hymn for a more pensive choir in "Ancestral Aid," have the most dramatic impact on the film's visual beauty, Poledouris' action material has a far more technologically cold side to its precision. As in many of the composer's works, rhythm is key to Red October, launching cues like "Nuclear Scam" and "Kaboom!!!" with unabashed vigor and attitude. Many of the same sound effects that Poledouris would use in Free Willy and his other intelligent synthetic/orchestral combo scores were utilized in full for Red October. The early cue, "Putin's Demise," offers the methodical rhythmic incorporation of the upper ranges of these keyboarded effects, while the brilliantly paced evacuation sequence in "Nuclear Scam" shifts this application to a lengthy, nearly solo portion in the lower ranges of the same effect. Many of Poledouris' other effects utilized sounds manipulated for underwater imitation or pressurized air release. For instance, the most obvious sound effect used by Poledouris in Red October is an echoing synth orchestra hit that bounces between the left and right front speakers, dissipating like an underwater signal bouncing through the ship and mirroring the ping-like variant used as a sound effect in the film. An interesting, but barely noticeable sound effect in the score is the use of a "release of air" sound heard at the end of "Putin's Demise," though it's not as clearly audible in subsequent cues. Some of the action sequences in Red October feature a more traditional set of synthetic aides, including the use of somewhat tired drum pads in "Chopper" and "Kaboom!!!." The latter track is evidence that Poledouris was forced to abandon the orchestra in the later action sequences due to disappearing recording funds; for the final battle involving the Red October and two other submarines, Poledouris approaches the cue from an almost completely synthetic approach, recording nearly all of these cues by himself at his home studio.

While effective in the context of the action of The Hunt for Red October, the synthetic choral substitute in "Kaboom!!!" is legitimate reason for dismay. The emergency surfacing of the American submarine in this scene is given the best majesty that Poledouris can muster given the tools at hand, but the cue, despite some good low-range rhythmic pulsing later in the recording, is cheapened by the embellished drum pads and fake orchestra hits. The lingering elements of minor dissatisfaction involving the score for Red October don't stop there, either. Some of the work was removed from the film and several other cues were arranged and inserted repeatedly where Poledouris probably didn't intend them to be. As many as ten major cues were either removed completely, such as the opening moments of the film that featured silence instead, or cut short, including some of the score's major action pieces. The dual-purpose scene depicting a discussion between Sean Connery and Sam Neill about their personal lives, interspersing shots of submarine navigation, replaced Poledouris' original cue ("Two Wives") with one from the composer's No Man's Land, a McTiernan favorite. Some of the lesser conversational cues utilized the limited orchestral time in the score rather than leaving that session money for the important scenes at the end of the film. Even the end credits features music consisted of a highly rearranged version of "Nuclear Scam," the budget for Poledouris' more unique "New World" cue for that conclusion not available. Listeners looking for answers to questions about the Red October score on its initial, woefully short commercial album were not greeted kindly. The 30-minute album was nothing short of a disgrace, partly due to the music not included in its length, but mostly because of a truly terrible quality of sound that fluctuates wildly from track to track. For a film with such glorious surround mixes, including a superior presentation of the score's recording in the movie, Red October teases you with musical creativity on screen that you were not destined to hear with the same vibrancy on album. On that MCA product, Poledouris' recording is muffled and dry, with poor balance between synthetic and orchestral, orchestral and choral. That disservice is exactly what this finely tuned score does not need, and if you read criticisms of Red October's score from other reviewers who don't appreciate all the hoopla about this score, then rest assured that those writers probably haven't done the necessary research into this massive difference in quality between the film and album presentations.

Through the years, soundtrack collectors turned to a bootleg with over an hour of music from The Hunt for Red October that began to surface a decade after the MCA product's debut. This bootleg never solved many of the sound quality issues, however, which is why an official 2013 Intrada Records expansion of the score on album was so highly anticipated. This CD does offer the complete score with some alternates (though not everything included on the bootlegs, interestingly), and the highlights of the newly released material gravitate towards the early, orchestral portions ("Tupolov"). The illuminated late action and suspense cues reveal secondary rhythmic devices that Poledouris relied upon to supply depth to the final cat and mouse chasing game in the story, though these pulses are not as satisfying apart from the film as other sequences. The late torpedo cue, for instance, is rather sparse in its rendering. By contrast, the earlier character-building scenes feature equally minimal but much more interesting orchestral tones similar to what Michael Kamen provided to the director's original Die Hard. The 2013 album has a pair of brutal flaws, however, that make it only a marginally recommended product. First is the lack of improvement in sound quality. The score still sounds muffled in much of its length, a result of the decision by the album's producers not to attempt a full remastering of the score. Apparently, Poledouris tweaked the complicated merging of orchestra, synthesizer, and chorus so many times in his mixes that a recreation of them from the separate elements was deemed too daunting. This choice, while perhaps practical, dooms Red October to mediocrity in its album sound quality. The other flaw of the album is the poor attempt to reassemble the end credits arrangement of the film for this product. For many years, fans have taken this rearrangement of the title hymn and "Nuclear Scam" from the DVD directly, and when you compare the DVD's distilled stereo sound with that of the Intrada album, you'll be astonished by the difference. Even the 2013 album's assembly of the "End Credits" suite is inferior to what comes off the DVD in the finesse of the fades between cues. Overall, having a muted mix of this score on album completely defeats the purpose of the synthesizers' intentional movements across the sonic spectrum, leaving Poledouris enthusiasts with hearing the stylistic leftovers on the better presented Free Willy album from 1993. Still, historically, Red October stands alongside Ice Station Zebra and Crimson Tide as a thoroughly enjoyable submarine score of immense popular appeal to its generation. But until the lingering sound quality issues are finally addressed, don't expect any album presentation to end years of frustration for fans of the film.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download