Splash

Well, it took only 15 years, but there finally is a score release (albeit a promo) to Splash, the classic Ron Howard romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. Until now, the only available music from this film was available on "Passions and Achievements", the Ron Howard compilation album. Holdridge seems to have a wonderful knack for coming up with a great theme, such as he did in Heidi (also recently released as a promo), and the same holds true for Splash.

In "Main Title", we are introduced to the love theme, which literally saturates the score - appearing in some form in almost every track. Holdridge takes full advantage of the orchestra, and the only thing missing at times is a choir (which might have been just a bit over the top). For the most part, this score tends to be calm and romantic, and it was hard not to let it loop a few times while relaxing after work. "Watching TV" is a rather nice guitar solo, yet feels a bit out of place from the rest of the album. One of the sadder cues, "Rainy Night" is full of emotion and stands out as one of the best cues on the album.

One of the "big" action cues is when Madison (Hannah) goes shopping at Bloomingdales. "Madison At Bloomingdales", and it actually does feel inspirational enough to go shopping to this music. Additionally, "All Wet" is a rather tense cue, and "Raid On A Museum" is a rather apropos military-style cue, complete with snare drums and trumpet fanfares. "Escape And Chase" lends itself to plenty of tense action, as does the following cue, "The Leap For Freedom".

An enjoyable addition to this album is the song from the film, "Love Came For Me" which was performed by Rita Coolidge, with music by Holdridge and lyric by Will Jennings. It comes from, of course, the love theme that permeated this album - so by now we're so used to the tune that the song feels like a natural evolutionary step for it. After all, it's a great theme! There are also a few bonus tracks on this album, including the film versions of two cues, and an alternate version of "Rainy Night". Solo Sax and Solo Guitar versions of "Love Came For Me" are also included.

This album was, as I mentioned above, released only as a promotional album, so it won't be found in stores. It can, however, be found at Super Collector, S.T.A.R., and Screen Archives Entertainment. At a solid 55 minutes, it's definitely worth picking up if you enjoyed Splash, or are a Lee Holdridge fan (which I am becoming more and more).