Jerry Goldsmith – Total Recall

Everyone has their favorites but for me, Total Rekall is still the best OST ever. Jerry Goldsmith totally (get it?) blows all the others out the water. I've never again heard something with this weird double-feeling of nostalgia and isolationism - and considering the film's theme of being lost in one's own memory, it's incredible he's been able to capture that abstract a feeling within music so convincingly. I can listen to this on its own without the film, and still feel the paranoia of distantly hazy half-truth reminiscences together with the paranoia of being hunted by invisible hitmen.

Even with the previously unreleased tracks, the score of "Total Recall" by Jerry Goldsmith was intended to illustrate a lot of action scenes, and so, the music reflects it by being very loud, very demonstrative. To hear the music of a movie outside the movie can be a problem sometimes, and I believe we have a case here. There are several good suites however, like "First Meeting", "The Mutant", "A New Life" and even the theme itself ("The Dream"), but otherwise be prepared for a noisy adventure: a reminiscing of some ballet by Stravinsky.
One funny addition is "For The Memory Of A Lifetime", a cheap synth pop commercial spot heard in the movie. It sounds like the intro of some mid-afternoon talk show. A funny note to end the soundtrack.