For a listener who has been born and raised somewhere inland, it may be impossible to describe the intangible aspects of Poledouris' atmosphere for the ocean in a way that will make much sense, but those who can place the score in context will appreciate the composer's ability to rhythmically and synthetically emulate the flow of both wind and waves. In many regards, Wind is a smaller-scale, less outwardly enthusiastic version of Free Willy, with almost identical palettes of synthesized effects to accompany the solo piano and orchestra. Poledouris' electronic sounds are very unique to the composer, following him from Cherry 2000 in the late 1980's through most of the 1990's, and for fans who missed that vibrant array of sounds in his final decade of production, the largely undiscovered Wind score is an obvious place to journey back to. Defined by its light, rambling keyboarding and ambient sound effects, the score's greatest asset is its free-flowing style, playing much like a new age album in parts, simple and harmonious. The scenes of interpersonal romance on land, such as "Love in the Sewers," cause plentiful soothing interludes. An almost religious tribute to the wind and water is heard in the "Irolita" theme, rolling to an elegant boil in "Prologue" (otherwise known as "Wind Song"), during which Poledouris not only makes use of breathy, whispering synthetic woodwinds, but employs a swaying sound effect in the background that is almost reminiscent of the sound of wind through a sail. For enthusiasts of Poledouris' larger, more robust and famous scores, the four primary orchestral cues will remind strongly of Free Willy, with ambitious rhythms set to synthesizers pulsating under brassy fanfares for the races themselves. The orchestra goes solo for much of "Dead Air," providing one of the most melodically thunderous cues of Poledouris' career. The victory theme in that cue is resurrected into near fanfare mode in "Winning," drawing together all of the composer's elements into a resounding expression of joy that in some regards emulates the equivalent cue in Jerry Goldsmith's classic sports score for Hoosiers. Despite the significant contrast between the orchestral and solo keyboarded cues, Wind functions cohesively because of Poledouris' ability to continue weaving the synthetic elements into nearly every orchestral moment. That said, one of the few low points in the score is the more dissonant, deep synthetic choir and beefier drum banging in "To Australia." Otherwise, the only frustrations regarding Wind have related to limited availability on album since its initial release.

The history of Wind on album began with a 1993 Japanese product from the "For Life" label. The album was reportedly withdrawn and consequently sold for upwards of $100 on the secondary market in the late 1990's. Among distinguishing aspects of that Japanese offering was the "Born on the Wind" vocal song (a decent match to Poledouris' score), as well as packaging with a majority of its notes in Japanese. In 2003, Wind received a considerable DVD remastering from Columbia Tri-Star, translating the sounds of the water and Poledouris' score during the racing sequences into a far more convincing Dolby Digital soundtrack. Just prior to that DVD's debut, the largely inactive Citadel Records label re-released the score on a 1500-copy, hand-numbered pressing and revised the packaging to include notation in English by Poledouris. The composer had a hand in this CD production, and new master sources, a cleaning of the mix, and rearrangement of cues were all new features. As for the sound quality, Wind never exhibited dull or muted fidelity on the Japanese release, though with the sharp clarity of Poledouris' usual tingling synthetics, the Citadel album does do some slightly better justice to that element of the performances. Advertisements of "greatly improved sound" at the time were exaggerated, however. Aside from the absence of the song, the most startling aspect of the Citadel album was its rearrangement of the cues so that they are out of film order. Presumably by Poledouris' choice, an elegant solo piano cue is followed immediately by the majority of large-scale orchestral recordings. Some awkward edits between cues result, and regular listeners of the original album may be unnerved by some of the changes; especially in a storytelling-formatted score like Wind, such rearrangements take some getting accustomed to. This issue was nullified when BSX Records returned to the original arrangements of the 1993 album but retained the remastered sound for a 2009 release of 1,000 copies for Wind. This product, also missing the song, did append 26 minutes of music from Poledouris' score for the 1981 television film, A Whale for the Killing. The older score exhibits only ghosts of the composer's grace for the ocean, in part because of its folksy foundations but also because of the immense tragedy of that production's plot. It has redeeming moments of quaint beauty but is clearly less of an attraction than Wind. For any listener impressed by Poledouris' creative merging of synthesizers and orchestra, not to mention the sailors among you, the 2009 album will allow you to best appreciate the 1992 score's smooth and effortless appeal.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download