There's only one cue out of all the Rocky movies that I long for and I'm sure I'm not alone in this question: If Rocky 1, 2 and 3 are locked down by EMI, why not release Rocky 5? Wasn't that one out of the EMI trap?
If it wasn't for the Final Street Battle cue I would have been satisfied with the previously avalable stuff. Although an album for Rocky Balboa is much desired too.
Of course it is Conti's masterpiece! Few scores are so important to the movies they are written for as Rocky, Star Wars, Blade Runner and 2001: ASO (not written but selected, of course).
The score to the original ROCKY forever changed my perspective (at a very young age) of the POWER that film music can have in a film. Hum the Rocky theme to any Joe on the street and I guarantee they will know what movie it came from whether they’ve seen it or not. Henry, I agree, the score to Rocky is very inspired, it’s original, and it is very much a masterpiece! My complete love of film scores thru-out my life is due to this “little” movie and its music score.
While not a score I listen to very much in its entirety, the main theme is one of those staggeringly inspired pieces of music that has transcended its genre and, like Star Wars or Indy, has long become instantly identifiable to most non-filmscore fans. I think that's pretty cool. I also think it's a catchy, macho (in the best sense of the word) fanfare that works as well if not better with a screaming trumpet solo sailing over the top. That's also pretty cool. I remember reading the liner notes on the LP my grandparents had, with Stallone saying something along the lines of how leery he was that this slender, snake-faced man would do his movie justice, and how blown away he was by the result. HA!
I like a lot of the music but not the individual soundtracks as a whole. I made a little compilation of the first three scores. Great working out music!
Rocky 1:
Fanfare for Rocky Rocky's Reward Butkus Gonna Fly Now (Theme) First Date Going The Distance The Final Bell Alone In The Ring
Rocky 2:
Redemption (Theme From Rocky II) Vigil Gonna Fly Now All Of My Life Conquest Overture
But seriously, what do you guys think of Conti's masterpiece? 
