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The attractive, main marimba theme of Zimmer's score for True Romance, "You're So Cool," is actually a loose but easy-to-recognize adaptation of Carl Orff's spirited Schulwerk Volume 1: Musica Poetica. The idea to insert that music here was based upon the original piece's notable use in Terrence Malick's 1973 movie Badlands and, whether entirely deserved or not, Zimmer's version of the piece is now better known. His take is quite a bit smoother than Orff's original arrangement, and its more pleasantly romantic progressions, a trademark of his distinctive career at the time, catapulted it into countless commercials for automobiles, beer, and a host of other products later in the decade. That main theme is a simple, catchy, repetitive motif for the marimba trio, drums, and metallic percussion, the underlying chords performed by one marimba player and the melody and counterpoint supplied by the other two. (Those who attend Zimmer's live concerts will sometimes see the theme in action.) It is performed in its full form during "You're So Cool" and "I Think I Love You," the former occupying the mix alone during the cityscape shots under the main credits. The idea is slowed to only the basic melody in "To the Club," with a hint of synth of suspense in bass, and its progressions are altered slightly for the same chords in the friendly but electronic "Not My Clothes." The theme returns to full suite form in "Father Goodbyes" with synthetic wind effects at the end. Zimmer adapts it into a new, slower progression on marimba in "Start Over," a more dramatic incarnation with synth layers that bring the original melody back at the end. A straight reprise of the marimba only precedes electronic dissonance in "Needed Gun," and the buoyant "Father Goodbyes" is largely reprised in "End Scene." The composer recorded a variety of alternate takes on the main title theme; the drums are diminished in the middle of "You're So Cool/Main Title (Alternate I)," synth string pulses substitute for percussion in "You're So Cool/Main Title (Alternate II)," and slightly more aggressive percussion contributes in the middle of "You're So Cool/Main Title (Remix)." For the original album release, "You're So Cool (Extended Single Version)" adds the score's secondary theme at the end of the final version of "You're So Cool," though the merging offers a poor transition.

While True Romance is absolutely dominated by Zimmer's main marimba theme, he does provide a secondary father and son theme. This separate melody is formed out of the same general movements of the main theme and starts with a cheery, rambling repetition on the opening note. It builds on marimba and steel drum throughout "I'm Your Son" with trumpet emulation at end and is tacked onto "You're So Cool (Extended Single Version)" for album consumption. A variant is also conveyed in first minute of "Amid the Chaos of the Day (Extended Single Version)." In some ways, the main theme is so overplayed that this secondary idea is increasingly appealing, exuding more of Zimmer's own personality in its demeanor. Outside of these thematic moments, the only other lighter cue in True Romance is the melancholy, ambient, tonal light drama for marimba and synths in "Alabama Hit." Otherwise, the score dwells in Zimmer's far less palatable shootout material, led by the hard rock action with wildly wailing guitars in "Stars at Dawn." The terrible, industrial action in "Elevator Tension" is adorned with ridiculous synth effects fading in and out, and similar material extends into "Police Comes In" with thunderous, piano-like banging. The over-the-top drum kit coolness in "Shootout" yields a new motif on keyboards and evolves into typical Zimmer chopping string effects, eventually providing its new theme on delicate keyboarding really nicely in the second half. On the album edits, "Stars at Dawn (Extended Single Version)" combines "To the Club" and "Stars at Dawn" while the "Shootout" material is re-edited in the partly unique "Amid the Chaos of the Day (Extended Single Version)." For casual listeners, everything needed from the score is in the two-theme summary of "You're So Cool (Extended Single Version)," though it's poorly cut off at the end of the track compared to "I'm Your Son." Those three "single version" tracks comprised the 10 minutes of Zimmer music long available on the 1993 song album, but Morgan Creek released a score-only album in 2017 (endless vinyl variants) and 2018 (digitally) that appended those three prior album edits after the main score presentation and Zimmer's alternates of "You're So Cool." The song album will suffice unless you seek the countless alternate renditions of the main theme and full breadth of Zimmer's abrasive action music. Still, "You're So Cool" remains one of the composer's most likeable career recordings, even if not entirely original.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85 (in 128 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96 (in 299,193 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 44:41