| Beat Records has also reissued their 20-track soundtrack to Francesco De Masi’s Thunder 3 (1985, CD released in 1989), combining it with the music to the original Thunder (1983, aka Thunder Warrior) – Thunder II having been scored by Walter Rizatti). The story is kind of a First Blood/Rambo tale with Mark Gregory as a native American (instead of a Viet Nam vet) who returns home only to find that his ancestral cemetery is being destroyed by construction workers. Both scores are drawn from the same cloth, with perhaps the third film having a somewhat more developed musical design. The scores are, with a clear nod to the style of Goldsmith in Rambo, a mixture of poignant melodies (lots of horns and harmonics (the gifted Franco De Gemini) and lots of highly action-oriented material. Vestiges of De Masi’s Italian Western style even emerge in a few tracks (use of reverbed electric guitar, harmonica, windy panpipes or ocarina, certain rhythmic figures, etc). A stalwart theme for the main character invests Thunder with honor and heroism, while a wide variety of suspense, action, and adventure motifs carry the shows forward. “Arizona Mountain” opens the score with a gentle homespun harmonica melody, and “Thunder Vengeance” exemplifies the titular character’s powerful trumpet theme over a cadence of percussion (the massed tom toms suggesting Thunder’s Indian heritage). Both of these themes will recur with regularity; an especially poignant interpretation in the first film occurs in “Wanted Thunder;” a variation of this motif invests the second track with a tense dynamic through strident electric guitar soloing. “Thunder Gymckana” features a spritely electric guitar solo over rhythmic orchestra for one of Thunder’s fighting styles. One of the nicest cues on the album is “Indians and Fire” from Thunder 3, an especially expressive cue that resonates with feeling and melancholy for a tragedy that occurs to members of Thunder’s family. The cue is very interestingly arranged for orchestra over a low twangs of electric guitar and a synthetic rhythm that sounds not unlike the ubiquitous locusts heard in so many Italian Western films. The sound creates a neat organic sensibility to the scene, while melodically portraying the tragedy of the visualization. “The Store Destruction” is a rhythmic action cue that lays down a cool vibe of electric bass and keyboard amid chirps of winds over a rumble of Indian-style drumming. “Looking for Thunder” is a pleasant rhythm cue for strings over cello and mixed percussion and almost Morricone-like intersperses of harpsichord; the cue generates a neat cadence and progresses into a persuasive motif of insistency and import. The album includes liner notes in Italian and English by the composer’s son, Filippo de Masi.
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