General Article name: Taxi Driver [Original Soundtrack]
Genre: Soundtrack / Filmmusik Product type: LP (Vinyl) Label: MUSIC ON VINYL Number of tracks: 10 Tracklist LP - 1 O.S.T. - THEME FROM TAXI DRIVER O.S.T. - I WORK THE WHOLE CITY O.S.T. - BETSY IN A WHITE DRESS O.S.T. - THE DAYS DO NOT END O.S.T. - REPRISE: THEME FROM TAXI DRIVER O.S.T. - DIARY OF A TAXI DRIVER - VOICE ROBBERT DE NIRO O.S.T. - THEME FROM TAXI DRIVER O.S.T. - THE .44 MAGNUM IS A MONSTER O.S.T. - SPORT AND IRIS O.S.T. - GOD'S LONELY MAN (END TITLE).   Description Description

The original 1976 record and initial CD versions contain half a magnificent film score, half jazz-lite cover versions of the same music. Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack, full of dark, brooding brass, menacing percussion and a bittersweet dash of jazz saxophone, greatly enhance this big city tale of obsession, paranoia and violence. Robert DeNiro's chilling narration of "Diary of a Taxi Driver" -- including the famous "You talking to me?" monologue -- served as one of the models for the anger and isolation inherent in much of punk music. For some strange reason, the entire first side of the album is devoted to bland covers of Herrmann's music by arranger Dave Blume. Thankfully, Blume's arrangements are unnoticeable in the film itself, but their inclusion here distracts from a powerful soundtrack. Blume's arrangements are firmly rooted in L.A. mid-'70s fuzak, while Herrmann's score is one for the ages. ~ Rick Watrous

Rick Watrous

Description

Bernard Herrmann's last soundtrack (completed just hours before he died in his sleep) is also one of his best -- which means one of the greatest scores ever put to film. This expanded 1998 reissue performs a public service by finally offering Herrmann's complete score for Taxi Driver in all of its harrowing grandeur. As director Martin Scorsese says in his insightful liner notes, "There was no one who could even come near him." Dave Blume's cover versions of Herrmann's melodies are again inexplicably included, proving that anything, even the epic themes of Bernard Herrmann, can be turned into Muzak.

Rick Watrous

Contributors Artist: Taxi Driver Artist: Bernard Herrmann Record Label: Music on Vinyl