Platoon: Original Soundtrack > Reviews > The War was Hell, but the Music was Great

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money

Advantages:	Great sixties classics .
Disadvantages:	Too varied to play as an album .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Platoon Soundtrack (1987)

Track List:

1. Adagio for Strings “The Village”: The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
2. Tracks of my Tears: Smokey Robinson
3. Okie from Muskogee: Merle Haggard
4. Hello, I Love You: The Doors
5. White Rabbit: Jefferson Airplane
6. Barnes Shoots Elias: The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
7. Respect: Aretha Franklin
8. (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay: Otis Redding
9. When a Man Loves a Woman: Percy Sledge
10. Groovin’: The Rascals
11. Adagio for Strings: The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

The album opens with the now extremely famous Adagio for strings, a haunting and emotional classical piece. It has been used in adverts, TV shows (Spaced) and remixed and released on many popular ‘chill out’ and classical albums. Here it is heard as in the film with the faint sounds of warfare upon a village in the background. What follows is largely very classic songs from the late sixties, which need little or no introduction.
First up is Tracks of my Tears, a wonderfully mellow Motown song.
Okie from Muskogee is an unusual country song about not being a hippy. One of the weaker tracks for me.
Hello, I Love You is from The Doors album Waiting for the Sun. It’s a catchy but quite average song (for The Doors), predominantly using a synthesised organ.
White Rabbit, an absolute classic later immortalised in the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
Barnes shoots Elias is the only original composition from the film from Georges Delerue. It is a slow and quite eerie piece but not something that I would actively listen to. It is atmospheric rather than melodic.
Respect, Sittin on The Dock of the Bay and When a Man Loves a Woman are all soul/motown classics. This has the original and best Percy Sledge song (best to forget the Michael Bolton cover).
Groovin’ is a very relaxed motown tune with a nice harmonica melody throughout.
The album ends with the full length version of Adagio for strings including the Charlie Sheen narration from the film.

This is a good compilation of late 60s songs. I wish it were a little larger. It would also be nice to have an un-tampered version of Adagio for strings. This is probably best for putting on individual tracks when you’re in the mood as it a short and very varied album.

There are two other CDs released by the composer Georges Delerue called Platoon. One features the original score of Platoon (1987), the other his original scores of both Platoon and Salvador (1995), including some music that was written for but never used in the film. I have not heard these albums but will say that while watching the films the scores were noticeably very good.

Running time: 33:12 mins