Soundtrack Review: Cyborg: The Director's Cut (1989)

Cyborg: The Director's Cut Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Cyborg: Directors Cut by Tony Riparetti and Jim Saad.

"It has a high entertainment value as you play through the rock and synth parts."

I have to admit I was a big Jean Claude Van Damme fan in the 90s, specially after watching Bloodsport, his 1988 breakthrough performance. Of course it helped that I was in Karate class at the time and wanted to perfect my Van Damme roundhouse kick. I watched a lot of Van Damme films before finally watching Cyborg mainly because Van Damme was in it. The movie wasn't my favorite Van Damme film, but it was still cool. The music in it was composed by Kevin Bassinson, an unknown composer for me at the time. I bought the soundtrack later, but the music wasn't as good as I remembered. Now we can finally hear what could have been thanks to Howlin' Wolf Records: The rejected score from Tony Riparetti and Jim Saad.

Track List

Jean Claude Van Damme may be limiting in his acting performances but he sure kicked ass in the late 80s and early 90s. Furthermore, some great music was written for his films. Of course Paul Hertzog pulsating synth scores to Bloodsport and KickBoxer are my absolute favorites. Director Albert Pyun and Tony Riparetti has since made lots of films, they are even in business today. For Cyborg, he wanted a rock score and for that Riparetti and Saad provides in spades.

Synth and Guitar

'Main Titles' starts off with a synth sequence and around 1 minute in, the guitar sequence starts. In good 80s fashion, it has a very nice sound to it and fits perfectly with Van Damme and Cyborg. 'Beach Flashback' is a really great synth track with a catchy synth underscore. It might seem repetitive, but as a fan of the 80s, you have to dig it. 'Fender and Gibs Fight' made me laugh because it reminded me of Kickboxer by Paul Hertzog, also a Van Damme movie (and of which I am a great fan of the score and film). I am of course talking about the flute which is a dead giveaway. The track is 7 minutes and 43 minutes long and it is really a fantastic showpiece of synth, rock and a great tune. 'End Titles' is a bit of a recap of all the fun we had, specially in the 'Fender and Gibs Fight' cue.

Conclusion

I think any child of the 80s will enjoy this lost and forgotten gem. It has a high entertainment value as you play through the rock and synth parts. I certainly enjoyed if and although it has a few filler tracks, what I will remember are the fun ones like 'End Titles', 'Beach Flashback' and 'Fender and Gibs Fight'.

->Buy the album From Howlin' Wolf Records<-

Listen to Cyborg: The Director's Cut soundtrack by Tony Riparetti & Jim Saad below *Taken from the bootleg, not the official release: