I bought the soundtrack to Star Trek IV when I bought the soundtracks to Star Trek III and Star Trek V and so I said to myself, why not just buy them all. My foolishness was proven in a heartbeat by this score. Is it bad? No, I wouldn't say that it was bad. But I wouldn't call it good either. While the main theme is rather patriotic, it doesn't seem to have any link to the Star Trek movies. Of course Star Trek IV wasn't like every other Trek film so there was that to take into consideration. But on the whole, it's just not a score I would listen to repeatedly. I'll listen to it, and then leave it for a while before listening to it again. The two songs on there by the Yellowjackets just make it worse. While they are both incidental pieces of music, they just seem to interupt the flow of Rosenman's score.
I'm sure some of you must be saying, "There must be something you liked about the score!" Well to satisfy you, I'll tell you what I think. The Main Title and Home Again: End Credits which is a derivation of the Main Title are rather enjoyable. And the two 'chase music' pieces, Chekov's Run and Hospital Chase live up to the 'chase music' sub-genre and so deserve kudos. Overall, I'd say get this score only if you're a die-hard trek fan or you're suffering from a momentary bout of foolishness like me.
Total time:
1: Main Title (2:39) *
2: The Whaler (2:00)
3: Market Street (4:39) **
4: Crash-Whale Fugue (8:15)
5: Ballad of the Whale (5:03) **
6: Gillian Seeks Kirk (2:42)
7: Chekov's Run (1:19)
8: Time Travel (1:29)
9: Hospital Chase (1:13)
10: The Probe (1:17)
11: Home Again: End Credits (5:40) *
* Contains TV theme by A. Courage
** Written and performed by the Yellowjackets