Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Comment: This one's an old favorite. The Voyage Home soundtrack is a good, but unfortunately short and hard to find star trek soundtrack. Rosenman is my second favorite star trek composer because the music so upbeat and different from the other star trek movie scores. (Horner is my favorite composer btw) I like all of the tracks except for Market Street, which sounds dated and sticks out like a sore thumb when compared to the other tracks. It has like a funky, computerized or synth quality to it. (Sorry I dont know the specific terms, play the sample to see what I mean) I have an old secondhand cassette tape of it but I recently bought the CD so I could play it anywhere I wanted and after about 20 odd years of existence and use, I was afraid my cassette might wear out some day. Some of the best tracks are Checkov's Run, Hospital Chase and the End Title. I also like the whale's theme which is beautiful. The track Ballad of the Whale sticks out too with a more synthesized sound to it. Its an extra featuring only the "whale theme"- the particular track wasnt actually in the movie. Too bad they couldnt have recorded that track with the traditional instruments instead of electronic ones. But I can forgive that because it was a particularly pretty theme anyway. I would recommend this soundtrack but considering the price you have to pay ($30 and up), I would recommend that you listen to the music in the movie first so you can determine whether you like it enough to be willing to pay that much for a soundtrack that is rather short and has a track or two that doesn't fit in with the rest of the music.

Comment: Okay, aside from the other comments and complaints made here, Im gonna go totally fan-boy and ask- Where's 'I Hate You' by Edge of Etiquette? You know, that song with the ridiculously amusing lyrics that the obnoxious punk guy on the bus is listening to? That's the best song in the movie, on more levels than one.

Comment: Being the proud owner of all ten Star Trek soundtrack CD albums, I have to say that the contrast between all the other albums and this one is rather uplifting. The music on the album is generally cheery and delightfully energetic - very different than the often dark and ominous tones conveyed in many of the other motion picture scores. Leonard Rosenman did a nice job bringing Star Trek IV to life with this score. The majority of the music on the CD is fun to listen to, and some of the tracks even come off sounding comical. However, while the score does make the film all the more memorable, only a select few tracks on this album truly stand out. I also found that the Yellowjackets' co-produced songs clashed with the orchestral pieces on the CD, and I usually skip them whenever I listen to the album. You'll find the best parts of this CD in the title and chase themes (tracks 1, 7, 9 and 11).
The first thing I noticed when I played this CD was how short the music on the CD ended up being. At just over 36 minutes long, it's my shortest album. Seven of the eleven tracks are under three minutes in length, with four of those being under ninety seconds long. After I finished listening to the album, I felt as if I had just left the grocery store after I was shortchanged - I was just left hanging there feeling like I missed something.
As I was listening to the first track, the Main Title, I also noticed the first of several poor mastering artifacts in the audio. Instead of crossfading two audio segments together to make the transition between two cuts of music sound less apparent to the ears, there is simply a pair of cuts butt up next to each other. This happens often in the music. While generally not distracting from the overall enjoyability of the score, I did find that it would take my mind away from the music to the recording itself - thinking about the cuts of music used to patch the songs together. I also noticed that the end of each track fades out prematurely, not allowing the natural reverberation of the recording environment to ring in the air and fade away. The cover art and album insert are also fairly plain and boring, even for an early issue CD. With simply a few movie photos and a credits and track listing contained on the insert, I found that the liner notes lacked a bit of 'user friendly' material, like scoring information or movie notes.
Before you decide to spend the money for this CD, listen to the track samples and see if the CD holds enough material that you'd enjoy listening to. While not as big as the Goldsmith or Horner scores, this album's highlights are worth adding to any collection.

Comment: I love this soundtrack. Ok, I don't have it, but I have the DVD and I love the music in it. I'm surprised that reviewers here didn't like it. Hey, that's OK. If you want to ditch your copy... if you don't want to sully your music collection with such a dismal excuse for a Star Trek soundtrack... Please allow me to help you be rid of it forever by giving it to me! That's right! You'll not only be free of one thing you dislike the most, but you'll also be helping a fella out! I'd really appreciate it. I've been looking for it for a long time. Thanks in advance!

Comment: There are a few good pieces worth owning, but overall the soundtrack is just flat and unmemorable in every aspect. Many have argued that the music works for the film--and they may be right. But sadly, the music cannot stand alone, it falls apart quickly as uninspired and boring. I can't even sit through most of the album anymore, it just doesn't go anywhere or capture my imagination. As much as it pains me to say it about a Star Trek movie--this is one that may not have warranted a soundtrack release. It's filed in my collection for the sake of completion. I pulled this disc out earlier this evening, realizing I hadn't listened to it in ten years. It only took me two minutes to remember why that was, and it will be going back in the vault until I've forgotten why I don't listen to it again.