I was just playing DEFENDING YOUR LIFE yesterday. "You're Going Back / Finale" is my favorite track. I used to rant about this magnificent score not even getting a nomination, but I've long since internalized the lesson that the Oscars are baloney, especially when it comes to film scores.
I discovered this music in a TV airing, after the CD had gone OOP. It must have been around 1999-2002, in that range. I had to order a used copy on eBay, but it was like-new so that was okay.
Albert Brooks directed, wrote and starred in DEFENDING YOUR LIFE and was fortunate to have Cinematographer Allen Daviau shoot the movie. Daviau previously shot Steven Spielberg's first movie AMBLIN on 16mm and would go on to shoot Spielberg's E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL, THE COLOR PURPLE and EMPIRE OF THE SUN. He was also Director of Photography for Spielberg's AMAZING STORIES Episode GHOST TRAIN and shot the Spielberg Segment and the John Lithgow Harrowing Jetliner Segment of TWILIGHT ZONE THE MOVIE. Some of his other Cinematographer credits are THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN, BUGSY and HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS.
"Yeah, I remember liking the score so much when I listened to the film, but then when I bought the soundtrack, it kinda lost some of its power. It became too "obvious", too repetitative and too "fluffy" (sorry about the poor use of adjectives here). By then, though, it had become somewhat of a rarity, so I took advantage of that in a trade. This must have been 8-10 years ago."