Jerry Goldsmith's FIRST BLOOD (1982) - NEW! 2025 Intrada 2-CD edition

[crumbs 15,507]

22 minutes ago, Meredith McKay said:

Crumbs. Dude.

 

Oopsy! Fixed

 

36 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Pretty awesome Intrada enlisted Neil Bulk and Mike Matessino on this new edition. A worthy revisit 15 years after the last one.

 

Yavar

 

Definitely! I'd love to see Alien upgraded at some point as well. 

 

These older expansions would benefit tremendously from modern technology, even if better elements haven't been discovered.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,856]

18 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Definitely! I'd love to see Alien upgraded at some point as well. 

 

What's wrong with 2007 one? Just print more copies of that one. Problem solved.

[Director of Poltergeist 8,097]

Sounds great to me. A definitive release.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,856]

With a little more EQ, we can make those serpents and didgeridoos a bit brighter and louder, I guess.

[Jay 42,389]

Here's the full info

 

 

 

FIRST BLOOD (2CD - REMASTERED)
Jerry Goldsmith
Label: Intrada INT 7185
Film Date: 1982
Album Date: 2025
Time: 91:56
Tracks: 40
Price: $22.99

All-new edition of one of Intrada founder Doug Fake's personal favorite soundtracks!

 

In honor of its 40th Anniversary, Intrada presents an all-new edition of one of founder Doug Fake's personal favorite soundtracks. The score is not only an important part of Jerry Goldsmith's large body of work, but also Intrada's formative years. First Blood initially appeared as the inaugural release of the Film Music Treasury series, an early version of the Special Collection. In assembling that release, Goldsmith and engineer Len Engel re-sequenced the original Regency album and located one extra track not previously released, using the ¼″ two-track mixes made in 1982 for the LP. However, the ¼″ masters were plagued with an interesting anomaly: though identified with the widely-used professional Dolby A encoding process, they did not possess unique tones identifying the Dolby encoding that allows for calibration of playback machines. In lieu of those critical tones, the original engineers addressed by reducing the inherent background hiss using equalization techniques, and attempts to rectify these anomalies were less than satisfactory.

 

In 2010, Intrada located the multi-track session masters—complete and intact—every channel, every reel, every take. For the first time, all those interesting little bars that Goldsmith deleted to create his initial record could be restored within the full-length cues just as they were originally written and recorded. A brand-new presentation was created, uncut and intact, with newly mixed and re-mastered sound. However, in spite of Intrada's best efforts at the time, there still resulted an interesting anomaly—the tape speed was off and the music played a bit faster than intended. Additionally, some assemblies still eliminated a few of those aforementioned bars. For this new edition, Neil S. Bulk used Fake's stereo mixes and rebuilt the score and original soundtrack album from the ground up, addressing the speed issues and including a few unassembled extras so one can now truly hear everything. Some track titles have been adjusted to reflect their official cue sheet names. GRAMMY-nominee Mike Matessino mastered the album featuring new cover art by Stéphane Coëdel.

 

With 2025 being Intrada's 40th year releasing soundtracks, the Intrada team felt a truly definitive First Blood would be an important way to mark not only the occasion but present another opportunity to celebrate Doug Fake.

 

Track List

 

CD 1 SCORE PRESENTATION
01. Theme From First Blood (Pop Orchestra Version) (4:12)
02. Homecoming (Film Version) (2:25)
03. Last Summer (1:02)
04. Back To Town (0:48)
05. The Razor (Film Version) (3:10)
06. No Warmth (1:07)
07. Hanging On (Film Version) (2:09)
08. Over The Cliff (Film Version) (1:29)
09. A Stitch In Time (1:01)
10. Mountain Hunt (Film Version) (5:01)
11. First Meal (0:43)
12. First Blood (Film Version) (5:14)
13. The Tunnel (Film Version) (3:31)
14. Escape Route (Film Version) (2:42)
15. Over The Top (1:02)
16. My Town (Film Version) (1:00)
17. No Power/Fireworks (2:54)
18. It’s A Long Road (3:28)
19. It’s A Long Road (Theme From First Blood – Vocal) (3:24)

 

DISCRETE VERSIONS
20. No Power (1:01)
21. Fireworks (1:56)
22. Mission’s Over (0:49)

TOTAL CD 1 TIME: 50:54   

 

CD 2 ORIGINAL 1982 SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
01. It’s A Long Road (Theme From First Blood – Vocal) (3:24)
02. Escape Route (2:42)
03. First Blood (4:39)
04. The Tunnel (4:04)
05. Hanging On (3:32)
06. Homecoming (2:25)
07. Mountain Hunt (6:11)
08. My Town (1:57)
09. The Razor (3:14)
10. Over The Cliff (2:08)
11. It’s A Long Road (Instrumental) (2:56)

TOTAL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM TIME: 37:33

 

THE EXTRA
12. It’s A Long Road (Recording Session Piano/Vocal Demo) (3:25)

TOTAL CD 2 TIME: 41:02

 

[Trope 1,188]

Samples sound excellent, and the album artwork is really nice - very striking and I like the darker hues. I don't own any previous version of this score. I may pick this one up in the future.

[filmmusic 2,620]

I wanted to buy this, but I see it's missing 2 tracks from the previous edition:

Carolco Logo (00:19)

Rambo (Special Summer 1984 Trailer) (01:15)

 

I wonder why.

I don't agree then with the description that it's "a truly definitive First Blood".

[Jay 42,389]

Because those had nothing to do with First Blood, and have instead been where they belong, on Intrada's Rambo: First Blood Part II expansion, since 2016

 

https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.10541/.f

 

 

[filmmusic 2,620]

5 minutes ago, Jay said:

Because those had nothing to do with First Blood, and have instead been where they belong, on Intrada's Rambo: First Blood Part II expansion, since 2016

 

https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.10541/.f

 

 

Oh, the summer trailer was for the second movie?

Do you know what track is it?

track 29 or 30 in the 2nd cd?

 

edit: Oh, I've listened to them. It's neither! Then that track is exclusive to the first Intrada edition of First Blood?

[Jay 42,389]

First Blood came out in 1982.  This music Jerry wrote 2 years later doesn't belong on a release of music for First Blood.  It belongs on Rambo: First Blood Part II's expansion.

 

The Carolco Logo music is used on that film, and didn't exist yet when First Blood was made.

 

And yes, it's a trailer for the second film, not for the first film

 

 

[filmmusic 2,620]

Just now, Jay said:

First Blood came out in 1982.  This music Jerry wrote 2 years later doesn't belong on a release of music for First Blood.  It belongs on Rambo: First Blood Part II's expansion.

 

The Carolco Logo music is used on that film, and didn't exist yet when First Blood was made.

OK, but did you read my edit? The summer trailer music is not in the second movie soundtrack either, if I'm not mistaken.

[Jay 42,389]

Sure it is

 

 

[filmmusic 2,620]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

Sure it is

 

 

OK, maybe it matches the 1984 summer trailer music (I didn't follow it all), it just misses then a high strings intro that that track had.. haha.

Anyway, no big deal I guess.

[Jay 42,389]

The finished trailer might have used a mixture of the Original and Revised, I haven't bothered to analyze

 

Regardless, none of this music belongs on a First Blood release, and has been available on Intrada's Rambo: First Blood Part II release since 2016.

[Jfallon 49]

Curious about a couple things… what does discrete versions mean? Just separated from each other? And are First Meal and Missions Over unreleased?

[Jay 42,389]

It means they are presented as complete cues in their own track with a clean opening and ending.

 

In the main program "No Power" and "Fireworks" are combined together to form the track "No Power / Fireworks".  In the bonus tracks, you can hear each cue from start to finish all by themselves.

 

"Mission's Over" is the first part of "It's a Long Road" in the main program.  In the bonus track you can hear the full recorded ending of "Mission's Over", while the clean opening of "It's A Long Road" is in the album program (as "It's A Long Road (Instrumental)").

 

All 3 of these discrete cues were released that way on the 2022 Quartet vinyl box set, so now that box set had nothing unique (content-wise) that is not included here.  Of course, the vinyl box set had Chris Malone mastering, while this has Mike Matessino mastering.

[Jfallon 49]

Thanks for answering Jay… surprised how excited I am to buy this for a 4th time lol. But feel like it’s going to be a revelation.

[Jay 42,389]

I will be buying it and selling off my 2010 edition.

[Jay 42,389]

Wow.  Neil has written a truly wonderful blogpost about this release, explaining the pitch issues on the prior edition, the work he did for the 2022 vinyl, and how he did everything anew for this edition.  I was also very touched by his words about Doug Fake.  A great read

 

https://the-sounding-bored.blogspot.com/2025/05/second-blood.html

[OneBuckFilms 449]

I'm also upgrading. I think this score deserves the corrections and tweaks, and this sounds like a truly definitive version of the score.

 

The previous release will be passed on to others so they can discover the score for themselves.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,856]

Maybe they can redo Rambo III next so it sounds more like the earlier releases. That 2018 release is hot on the VU meter.

[Meredith McKay 7,859]

1 minute ago, Lady Dimitrescu said:

Maybe they can redo Rambo III next so it sounds more like the earlier releases. That 2018 release is hot on the VU meter.

Voovoo land.

[Yavar Moradi 3,585]

I would happily rebuy Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III on CD *again*... if Neil Bulk is doing his painstaking work, and either Mike Matessino or Chris Malone is working on the sound.

Yavar

[Marian Schedenig 10,139]

16 hours ago, crumbs said:

Samples are up!

 

So are cattle mutilations.

 

16 hours ago, crumbs said:

I'd liken this remaster to the difference between FSM's Wrath of Khan and LLL's newer version.

 

I was so surprised by this, I was about to complain that nobody told me the new version has better sound, because if I'd known that, I wouldn't have skipped it. Then I checked my collection and saw that I do have it. I didn't remember I owned three versions of the score…

[Steve H 38]

I'm hoping the brass sustain in Hanging On (when Rambo realises he is stuck between the cliff and the dogs) has been extended out to match the film. It's only a minor issue and a few more fleeting seconds but it flows way more naturally than the abrupt edit in all previous versions.

[Slitherjump 44]

17 minutes ago, Steve H said:

I'm hoping the brass sustain in Hanging On (when Rambo realises he is stuck between the cliff and the dogs) has been extended out to match the film. It's only a minor issue and a few more fleeting seconds but it flows way more naturally than the abrupt edit in all previous versions.

Comparing the track you mentioned in both titles and there’s a 7 second difference. Hopefully they fixed the issue you mentioned 

[Jurassic Shark 14,975]

On 06/05/2025 at 4:38 AM, Lady Dimitrescu said:

I'll stick with my LP.

 

How do you get it into the CD player?

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,856]

34 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

How do you get it into the CD player?

 

 

 

[ThePenitentMan1 1,298]

13 hours ago, Steve H said:

I'm hoping the brass sustain in Hanging On (when Rambo realises he is stuck between the cliff and the dogs) has been extended out to match the film. It's only a minor issue and a few more fleeting seconds but it flows way more naturally than the abrupt edit in all previous versions.

 

I'm hoping they add the tracked ending from the Freud Main Title- wait, wrong Hanging On...

[Schilkeman 1,457]

On 29/4/2025 at 4:25 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

It's probably digitally denoised to death.

 

@Schilkeman is gonna love it! 

I would never spend that much money on an expansion these days, but if you’re wondering if I’ve restarted my classical collection for a third time to focus primarily on Telarc releases, yes, yes I have.

[OneBuckFilms 449]

My copy arrived, and I'm currently enjoying the listen.

 

Great sound quality, especially compared to prior releases.

 

Kudos to all involved.

[Trope 1,188]

Heck yes! Digital release. Sounds excellent.

[Slitherjump 44]

On 06/05/2025 at 6:47 AM, filmmusic said:

OK, maybe it matches the 1984 summer trailer music (I didn't follow it all), it just misses then a high strings intro that that track had.. haha.

Anyway, no big deal I guess.

I see what you're referring to. I looked at the fsm thread about this and the reason it wasn't added in Rambo 2 is cuz that was a sound effect not made by Jerry Goldsmith. Also looking at the trailer on youtube, it doesn't appear for all the trailer showings

 

 

 

[Director of Poltergeist 8,097]

They drew first blood 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,916]

Ordered!

[crocodile 9,181]

Managed to listen this morning. It definitely sounds better than the previous edition. It is my favourite of the three as it really has big heart behind all the muscle. Good upgrade.

 

Karol

[Holko 11,382]

Jerry's jagged action rhythms usually don't do much for me and I wasn't too interested in this either based on the announcement video or the samples, but gave it a try when it was put up on streaming. Then another, then another, then another over days, then somehow it started clicking. Then eventually it clicked enough that I bought it physically.

I really like it now! The pop version is a nice establishing overture, especially with its unresolved ending, love how the opening focuses so much on the main theme before the action slowly enters (then suddenly takes over and escalates), and how it still pops up in varied statements. The credits is a wonderful way to end it, and even the song is alright as a bonus if I turn off lyric comprehension.

The discrete cues are a little weird to include, but can't complain, I used them all to recreate both combined tracks with transitions that felt more right. The OST is not garbage, all the track combinations work, but it loses any structure, escalation and de-escalation the score has so overall eh.

I love the cover, especially when compared with previous attempts or even the original poster itself! The colour and detail is gorgeous, it's cropped wide enough that nothing feels cramped, putting the big bold title down at the bottom to ground it instead of crowding the headspace emphasises Rambo's solitary figure, nice simple overall shape.

Was it overall worth the price for what ultimately ended up as a 47 minute edit? I try not to think about that too hard nowadays.  I got something I like, enriched future Goldsmith listening marathons, there's been a relative drought of new releases I'd love or care about in recent months or years anyway...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,916]

The Homecoming is one Goldsmith's best opening cues