VA - Vision Quest - OST (1985)

If you don't have eclectic taste in music, soundtracks can present a problem. Sometimes a soundtrack will focus on one style of music exclusively, but most of the time, a director will use any types of music he/she finds useful -- regardless of genre. The director's job isn't catering to those who limit themselves to one genre of music -- it's selecting any music that enables him/her to tell the story well. So if a director finds that everything from heavy metal to R&B to adult contemporary helps him/her tell a story, you could end up with a very diverse soundtrack. To fully appreciate the soundtrack for the 1985 film Vision Quest, you need to appreciate a variety of music. Fans of arena rock and pop/rock will appreciate Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" (which goes back to 1978, and is the LP's oldest offering), Sammy Hagar's "I'll Fall in Love Again," and Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe," while heavy metal lovers will get into Dio's "Hungry for Heaven." But listeners will need an appreciation of dance-pop and R&B if they're going to get into the Style Council's '70s-minded "Shout to the Top" and Madonna's "Gambler" (an ultra-infectious gem that, unfortunately, isn't on any of the Material Girl's CDs). "Gambler" is one of those songs that should have been a major hit but wasn't, whereas "Crazy for You" (the soundtrack's other Madonna recording) soared to the top of the pop charts. This LP isn't recommended to either pop/rock or R&B/dance snobs, but it's worth picking up if you have eclectic tastes.~Vision Quest [Original Soundtrack] Review by Alex Henderson