The Bounty (1984) - Musical Score

The complete soundtrack by Vangelis has never been officially released.

Vangelis released an album called "Themes" in 1992, which contains the following music from the movie soundtrack:

Opening Titles from "The Bounty" (4:16)
Closing Titles from "The Bounty" (4:58)

A limited edition bootleg came out in 1994:

THE BOUNTY
Music By Vangelis
2 CD set: WD9405-2 and WD9405-2

VOLUME ONE (total disc time: 60:25):

  1. Opening Titles (4:15)
  2. Court Martial (2:20)
  3. Setting Sail (2:50)
  4. The Water is Wide (4:18)
  5. Leaving England (1:46)
  6. Bonny Kate (2:09)
  7. Becalmed (2:44)
  8. Attempting The Horn (5:46)
  9. Disappointment (1:12)
  10. Mr Friar Replaced (1:31)
  11. Valentine's Burial (0:38)
  12. Fair Sailing (2:34)
  13. Tahitian Welcome (1:38)
  14. Drowsy Maggie (1:39)
  15. Ceremony #1 (3:06)
  16. Ceremony #2 (3:04)
  17. The Turning Point (3:14)
  18. Sailors in Paradise (0:57)
  19. Bligh Haunted (10:59)
  20. It Will Not Be Long (3:36)
VOLUME TWO (total disc time: 56:01):
  1. Toiavine (0:50)
  2. Native Drums (1:07)
  3. Fletcher's Goodbye (2:14)
  4. Discipline (5:21)
  5. Breaking Point (7:07)
  6. Mutiny (4:11)
  7. Bligh Set Adrift (7:55)
  8. Reunited (0:40)
  9. Argument (0:33)
  10. Fletcher's Log (0:34)
  11. On The Run (0:44)
  12. Civilised Men (1:35)
  13. Two Journeys (2:00)
  14. Pitcairn Island, Burning the Bounty, Bligh Absolved (5:20)
  15. The Bounty (15:42)
In August 1995, OWM (who did the Bladerunner bootleg) released a bootleg to THE BOUNTY with different track listings to the WD release although the total time was the same.

VOLUME ONE:

  1. Main Title
  2. The Trial of Lt William Bligh
  3. 23rd December 1787
  4. The Water Is Wide
  5. First Day at Sea
  6. Bonny Kate
  7. Cape Horn
  8. Memories of Home
  9. Bligh's Fury
  10. Burial at Sea / Land Ho
  11. The Natives of Otahiti
  12. Long Boat Approach
  13. Drowsy Maggie
  14. Ritual
  15. Forbidden Love
  16. My Young Wife
  17. To Fletcher a Wife
  18. Deserters
  19. Native Dance
  20. A Last Night Together
VOLUME TWO:
  1. Alternate Titles
  2. Bligh's Madness
  3. Mutiny on the Bounty
  4. Cast Adrift
  5. Return to Otahiti
  6. Men Against the Sea
  7. Log Entries
  8. The Mutineers' Threats
  9. Civilized Men
  10. Limits of Endurance
  11. The Saga of H.M.S. Bounty
The WD release has more tracks, but the running order is much the same, so that the OWM release has joined some of the tracks together for their release, where they were distinct in the WD release. The only exception to this is track 15 "Forbidden Love" on the OWM release which contains a montage of tracks that were distinct on the WD release. In addition the WD release track 17 "The Turning Point" contains an additional 2.5 minutes of Vangelis score not found on the OWM release.

The OWM release has 2000 numbered copies, and 12 pages of liner notes with photos from behind the scenes.

Let's hope that as with Bladerunner, it will prompt an official release.

Reviews from rec.music.movies

While I agree that the sound quality of the One/Off/Old World Music "Bounty" release is not on the same level with their "Blade Runner" and "Excalibur" releases, I'm not sure I would agree with you in saying "don't bother."

If you're a fan of either Vangelis or the film, this is a must-buy (discussions on the ethics of bootlegs aside). Who knows, perhaps Vangelis will release a legit version of "The Bounty" now, so that his score can be heard in its best possible form. Doubtful, but you never know.

Merc

A legitimate release would be very welcome. I'd sure as heck wait for it, for a couple of reasons:

1) This score features none of the brillance found in Vangelis' work on Blade Runner or 1492. Sure, there is some stuff on 1492 that you might consider re-hashed Bounty material, but, in my opinion, the 1492 score is much more polished. To say the least, the 1492 score captures the spirit of Columbus' voyages much more than the Bounty score captures the relationship between Bligh and Christian. Don't let the OWM liner notes have you believe otherwise. Watch the movies and pass your own judgement.

2) The poor quality in the production of this boot is horrendous. There are some very good ideas going on in the sequencing of the music on the discs, but the bad sound quality is so overwhelming it brings anything that would have been good straight down to its knees. For instance, the last track on disc two, eloquently named "The Saga of H.M.S. Bounty," is a rather fine idea for a suite of music, rounding off what could have been the bootleg of 1995. However, within the first minute of the twenty minute suite, muffled sound and huge distortion (00:36) strip all of the eloquence this production had going for it. That's not the only instance on this Bounty set either. There are more....

If the bootleg was offered for 15 bucks or less, than maybe I'd go for it, but as it stands at this point in time, "The Bounty - Don't Bother."

Peter Kelly - pkelly@lmumail.lmu.edu