Rocky II (1979) Expanded Soundtrack Score [CD]

Intrada announces an expanded edition of composer Bill Conti’s sequel score to the Oscar®-winning Rocky. With Rocky II, Conti takes his original material from the first film and expands its scope as Rocky’s world itself continues to expand. Though its themes were strikingly memorable and now legendary, Conti had scored Rocky sparsely, the film featuring just 30 minutes of score. For Rocky II, planned as a summer blockbuster, Conti wrote considerably more music, broadening its original themes and varying its melodies in a way that wasn’t immediately apparent, even as they echoed the original’s emotional heart.

As album producer Neil S. Bulk notes in his Tech Talk, “Releasing an expanded CD for Bill Conti’s score to Rocky II has been a unique challenge. Extensive searches for the score in the MGM vaults only turned up two ¼″ reels. Luckily, these tapes were in stereo and contained final print takes and final mixes.” While these tapes contained the most of the score, including cues not used in the final film, several cues are still missing (all of which are simply new recordings of cues from the original film). The album presents the expanded score presentation first, a nearly 42-minute program, followed by a bonus track and then the original LP program. The packaging is further adorned with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger.

This new edition of Rocky II comes just in time to celebrate Bill Conti’s 84th birthday!

This sequel continues the story of Rocky Balboa after his brutal fight with Apollo Creed. Although Rocky gains fame from going the distance, he struggles to adjust to a comfortable life and faces financial difficulties. Meanwhile, Apollo becomes obsessed with proving he can decisively beat Rocky and pushes for a rematch. A reluctant Rocky agrees, returning to intense training despite personal challenges, including his wife Adrian falling into a coma. After Adrian recovers and encourages him, Rocky regains his determination and ultimately defeats Apollo in a dramatic rematch, becoming the new heavyweight champion.

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