Review: Freeing The Waters, Paul Hertzog

Paul Hertzog, an 80's film composer, known for films such as Bloodsport and Kickboxer, has released a new album.  Never underestimate the power of a great film score or the music of a genius.  The score of a movie brings the film to life, an often crucially important element in cinema that is overlooked.  A great music soundtrack helps to tell the story in a cinematic picture.  Paul's music has influenced an entire genre of martial art film music.  I still listen to the brilliant film scores of both Kickboxer and Bloodsport.  They inspire me to do great things - GREAT THINGS!  Hertzog has released a collection of tracks he recorded back in the 80's never before heard by the public.  He was doing synth way back when it all began ... and when it was a lot more difficult than it is these days.  Syth composers got it made in this millennium, thanks to those who paved the road before them ... people like Paul Hertzog. 

If you are a die-hard film fan of Bloodsport or Kickboxer (featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme), Freeing The Waters is a must-have.  In fact, you may want to read this article later and run out and purchase a CD.  They are limited to 1000 so you will want to hurry.  The first 100 CDs will be autographed by the composer.  Visit Perseverance Records.

Freeing the Waters, a 10-track album, is a collection of previously unreleased tracks written during Paul Hertzog's years as a film composer.  The entire album is bubbling to the brim with mood and setting, immediately building atmosphere with layers of emotive sounds.  The work elicits such emotion, invoking a rich tapestry of life experiences, while managing to stay intense, meaningful and structured throughout.  Hertzog paints with sound.  His ability to captivate and add emotional resonance while relaying sensitivity and bounded restraint in fervent waves is amazing.  Freeing The Waters displays elaborate texture and vivid colors with a twist around every corner.  Some songs take you up, some take you down and some to places you never even knew you wanted to go ... until you are there and you can't help but play that track again and again.  

The album begins with twinkling, celestial sounds that transport the listener to another place and time, where there is magic, merit and starlight.  Track two, has a certain familiar quality about it, resembling some of the tracks from the Kickboxer score.  This song reminds me of the long road of life and how without courage and restriction, you may never make it through the gateway at the end of the Fool's Journey.  Track three is a little more mellow, yet deeply emotional, displaying many layers of the human heart and the suffering that occurs from the love that also gives us so much pleasure. 
 
Track 4 is one of my favorites, as it has a fun element yet pulls great strength and courage to the surface of my being ... making me question my motives and begging me to make the right choice.  It also has a quality about it that reminds me of some of the best role-playing (rpg) video games ... the kind that takes you on a spiritual quest.  The song itself is much like a journey, through the thick and thin of life and of the soul.  You have no choice but to stand up or stand down, because the invocation within this song demands it.  Mercy or Severity? - It is all up to you!  

Track 5 slows down the pace a little bit, with moments of magic dust that put you into a place of deep woods mediation.   Moving forward with track 6, the listener goes even deeper into an emotional trance, resonating with the waters of the great Sea while journeying into the depth of the watery and intuitive self.  Track 7 pulls the listener back out of the subconscious, into consciousness and ... well, ... dancing and bopping the head around.  Wow, this songs sexy!  Track 8 is a sparkly and magical, overflowing cup of love, laced with stardust from heaven.  The climatic and debut titled track, lucky number 9 is the opening of the damn ... where the waters finally find freedom, no longer stagnant, rather oceanic and filled with life.  I cannot express my love for this album enough. 

The inspirational music of Paul Hertzog is infused with the quality and characteristic of a musician who pains and obsesses over the details and design of the final product.  This album is completely remarkable and pleasurably intense.  I do hope some of these tracks find there way into a film score, as they would make an excellent musical film accompaniment.  The tracks on Freeing The Waters would compliment many great screenplays, easily crafting a film’s most memorable moments and helping to create a killer soundtrack. 

Highly recommend!!!

I hope to see more work from Paul in the future.  This guy is amazing.  For more information, or to order please visit Perseverance Records.

Freeing The Waters Track List

1.     The Violet Hour (2:46)
2.     April Fools' Day (5:48)
3.     Walk on Wide Water (5:01)
4.     A Wicked Plot (3:50)
5.     Kyoto Forest (5:49)
6.     Sue Across the Sea (5:29)
7.     Black Pearls (6:12)
8.     Love in a Labyrinth (6:34)
9.     Freeing the Waters (4:26)

Paul composed the music for the following films:

• 1991 - Breathing Fire
• 1989 - Kickboxer 
• 1988 - Dangerous Love
• 1988 - Bloodsport
• 1987 - Street Justice
• 1986 - Hollywood Zap
• 1986 - My Chauffeur