Body Heat (1998 Re-recording of 1981 Film)

In 1981 Lawrence Kasdan's erotic murder yarn won over many viewers with its mood of faux film noir. Much credit for that aura of sensuality and danger goes to John Barry's use of sultry jazz flavorings over a rich orchestra to convey that crucial, albeit clammy, sense of sophistication and doom. This near carbon copy of the original soundtrack may allow listeners to suspend disbelief at times, but one senses that dreary blurring of instruments usually associated with many live-concert-performance recordings. Instead of sultry smoke, listeners may be frustrated to find their cinema memories lost in a sonic fog that a horny saxophone cannot clear. --Joseph Lanza