1995 was one of the best years for James Horner and his fans. Not only did he turn out the Scottish score for Braveheart but also this stellar (excuse the pun) soundtrack for the space adventure Apollo 13. The score to Ron Howard's Apollo13, is available in three or four different formats. The gold "Dolby Surround Sound" special edition has more sound effects than the regular print. I highly recommend this CD over the original Apollo13 because the sound quality is superb and perfect to listen to such a good score.
The music can only be described as being vintage Horner. And like a fine wine, it is getting better with age. I still find myself enjoying it as much today as I did when I first got it back in 1995. The Main Title is very patriotic, starting off with a military style drum solo followed by a beautiful solo on trumpet. The simple melody is very fitting to the opening scenes in the movie regardless of what many critics think. The vocals by Annie Lennox are outstanding, especially in The Dark Side of the Moon and the End Titles. The Launch sequence is one of the most exciting pieces in the entire soundtrack and is sure to become a classic on future space movie soundtrack compilations. Overall, I recommend the Gold Version for those who like sound effects or have a surround sound system, otherwise I recommend searching for the music-only promo like me.
Total time: 72:45
1: Main Title (1:31)
2: One Small Step (:42) - Dialogue by Neil Armstrong and Walter Cronkite
3: Night Train (3:27) - James Brown
4: Groovin (2:26) - The
5: Somebody to Love (2:55) - Jefferson Starship
6: I Can See for Miles (4:09) - The Who
7: Purple Haze (2:48) - Jimi Hendrix
8: Launch Control (3:28) - Dialogue by Ed Harris and Mission Controllers
9: All Systems Go/The Launch (6:39)
10: Welcome to Apollo 13 (:38) - Dialogue by Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton
11: Spirit in the Sky (3:50) - The
12: House Cleaning/Houston, We Have a Problem (1:34) - Dialogue by Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Mission Control
13: Master Alarm (2:54)
14: What's Going On? (:34) - Dialogue by Ed Harris and Tom Hanks
15: Into the L.E.M. (3:43)
16: Out of Time/Shut Her Down (2:20) - Dialogue by Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton
17: The Darkside of the Moon (5:09)
18: Failure is Not an Option (1:18) - Dialogue by Ed Harris
19: Honky Tonkin (2:42) - Hank Williams
20: Blue Moon (4:09) - The Mavericks
21: Waiting for Disaster/A Privilege (:43) - Dialogue by Mission Control, Gary Sinese, and Tom Hanks
22: Re-Entry & Splashdown (9:05)
23: End Titles (5:34)