St. Elmo's Fire Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

It's hard to imagine now, but this movie was sort of a biggish deal. Following The Breakfast Club a few months later St. Elmo's Fire hit the threatres. The cast was a hodgepodge of members of the so called Brat Pack, and both movies were produced by a guy named Ned Tanen who was behind some pretty impressive movies. The Breakfast Club is a coming of age classic now, whereas St. Elmo's Fire is mostly a forgotten misfire that was surprisingly popular when it was released. I'll admit that I took my girlfriend at the time to see it. It was a bit weird seeing many of the kids who a few months earlier were in detention playing a more age appropriate role. In many ways it was a foreshadowing of Friends, except this wasn't funny or all that good.

However, there was the soundtrack. David Foster was all over this, and it's a sort of mixed bag of horseshoes. I happen to like David Foster, but there are times his style of music, keyboard sound choices, and layers of syrupy gooey sweetness can be a little hard to take.

First the good, and boy howdy there was some good. "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" written by Foster and John Parr is an exceptional song. The song was inspired by and used by Rick Hansen as the theme for his Man in Motion Tour as he crossed the globe in his wheelchair raising money and awareness for spinal chord injuries. I've always liked John Parr, and this is the emotional centre of the entire album. The other big song here was the instrumental "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" which is pure Foster Frosting. The video featured Rob Lowe reprising his role by pretending to play saxophone. I still like the song.

From there it's a straight shot to the bottom. Which surprised me. When I first picked up the record I remember thinking, "Billy Squier!" Yeah, I'll admit I was stoked. Foster could rock when he wanted to, and "Shake Down" is Foster wearing his rock and roll hat but the song just clunks around and never really resolves into anything worthwhile. Which made me sad. I still want to like it after all these years.

The one song that really popped for me was the paint by numbers ballad "Young and Innocent" that was attributed to Elefante, which was John and Dino Elefante. John had spent a few years with Kansas and they were starting make a name for themselves as producers. I'm still a sucker for John's voice. When this came out I was convinced there must be an album out there by Elefante and I looked and looked ... of course there wasn't an album out there. Man, what should have been, never was.

I'll admit there's a certain charm to the Jon Anderson track, but sort of like the Billy Squier song it never really does much. Then there was "Saved My Life" by Fee Waybill, a track from his Read My Lips album and it's frankly one of the last songs I'd have picked from that album. It's an okay but meaningless track that puts in a good effort but was never really much to write about. Which is why I only wrote one sentence.

Aside from the instrumental love them that opens side two, this is a perfect example of what filler sounds like. Heck it goes from one from schlock filled song to another. Heck even the song by Airplay, Foster's short lived collaboration with guitarist Jay Graydon is meh. 

Now the album's closer is possibly a matter of taste. The non instrumental version of "Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire (Just for a Moment)" may actually work for some ... for me it was one of those "Holy shit, he saved the worst for last" experiences. It's the last thing I get to hear before this ends. Way to go out with a flush.

Now, you may be thinking, "Hey, tell us what you really think?" I'm trying to be nice. The kicker though is I still think of this as an enjoyable album. The moments that work, really work. This album contributed a few songs to a lot of mix tapes back in '85 through a lot of '86. Go figure. As an album experience it's a bit harder, but I often just pick up the needle after the first song ends on side two. Something I'd forgotten until I played the album for the first time in a few decades.

The things we did when we were young, that we do to ourselves when we're old and should know better.