Deservedly bumped, I seem to recall "we" all loved this when it came out, on album back then. Meaning Kendall & Bond gave it a thumbs up and it appeared on one of Dursin's end of year lists. Score literally packs a wallop with punchy brass writing.
Another one where the playing & sonics, like the aforementioned El Pueblo De Sol by Holdridge, are worth admission....bonus those players and engineers had good stuff to play too.
Yea it really thunders, doesn't it? I recall the liner notes speaking extensively about the unorthodox recording and mixing decisions to yield the sound we hear - no reverb and all the rest. Others have already mentioned that elsewhere in this thread.
The main theme is just so great - at once titanically heroic and grand, but also replete with a sense of pathos speaking to the tragic and tumultuous nature of "risking it all" for personal glory. Holdridge has a unique ability with themes that evoke that feeling - TUSKEGEE AIRMEN's title theme hits that same emotional note.
It's hard to understate how great this man's music can be. Truly one of the "real deals".
I tried this a few years ago, when I did my episode on 'mountain film scores'. I did include a track from the score on that show, but I never kept the album. Overall, it just didn't do it for me. But I know it's a fan favourite to many.