Heat

The score

The track "New Dawn Fades" is only a part of the original song, and which fades into the next track. The track "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" is slightly different from the version used in the film, the version on the score is from Moby's album Everything Is Wrong and the version in the film appears later on his 1997 album I Like to Score; Goldenthal composed and arranged the Kronos Quartet -performed pieces. The Einstürzende Neubauten track "Armenia" was taken from their 1983 album Zeichnungen des Patienten O. T. and was used by Michael Mann again in his 1999 film The Insider.

Goldenthal composed a cue called "Hand in Hand" originally meant to be played over the end scene, but it was replaced by Moby's "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters", so he used it, replacing guitars with bagpipes, instead for the end titles to Michael Collins. A clip of the track as it was meant to be heard in Heat can be heard below. There is also an "extended version" of the score in bootleg form, with several tracks (including "Hand in Hand") which can be heard in the film but are not on the score released, available on the internet.

Various tracks that were in some points of the film but did not make it to the soundtrack included pieces by William Orbit from his Strange Cargo albums, namely "The Last Lagoon," "Monkey King," and "The Mighty Limpopo."

Goldenthal explained his thinking behind the score:

In Heat, Michael Mann and I were going for an atmospheric situation. It was the first time I used what I like to call a "guitar orchestra" – where I use six or eight guitars, all playing with different tunings stacked up on top of each other in a musical way, and a mixed meter of percussion. It wasn't a type of score where you needed a big orchestral theme or you had to actually hit certain actions with music at specific times. It was much closer to the European mentality of film scoring.

The guitar orchestra, who play most significantly on two of the tracks below, is called "Deaf Elk" (an ensemble which includes Page Hamilton of the metal band Helmet) who also worked with Goldenthal for his scores, In Dreams and Titus.

The song "Always Forever Now" was written and performed by U2 and Brian Eno under the alias Passengers, and appears on Original Soundtracks 1. But the version featured on this soundtrack, and quite prominently in the film, is a longer mix with some minor variations.

Track listing

Tracks written and performed by Elliot Goldenthal except where noted.

Reception

...an artfully assembled montage of industrial rock, darkly romantic symphonics and moody jazz guitar, evokes a nightmarish Los Angeles of dashed hopes and soiled glamour...

Michael Mann films are notable for their high-quality soundtracks. HEAT is no exception...

Personnel

Orchestral music

Composer, Vocals, Orchestration – Elliot Goldenthal

Orchestration – Robert Elhai

Musical Score Producer – Matthias Gohl

Conductor – Steven Mercurio

Conductor – Jonathan Sheffer

"Deaf Elk" Guitars – Page Hamilton, Eric Hubel, Bobby Hambel, David Reid

Guitar – Michael Thompson

Guitar – Mark Stewart

Drums – Audun Kleive

Performer – The Kronos Quartet

Electronic Music Producer – Richard Martinez

Engineer, Mixing – Joel Iwataki

Music Editor – Christopher Brooks

Music Editor – Michael Connell

Music Editor, Mastering – Tom Baker

Mastering – Vladimir Meller

Assistant Engineer – Andrew Warwick

Score Mixer & Recordist – Stephen McLaughlin

Artists

"Always Forever Now"

Performer – Passengers

Engineer – Danton Supple

Assistant Engineer – Rob Kirwan

Sequencing – Des Broadbery

String Arrangements – Paul Barrett

Music Supervisor – Budd Carr

"Last Nite", "Mystery Man"

Guitar, Keyboards, Performer – Terje Rypdal

Performer – The Chasers

Bass – Bjorn Kjellemyr

Keyboards – Allan Dangerfield

Producer – Manfred Eicher

"Ultramarine"

Producer, Performer – Michael Brook

"Armenia"

Producer, Performer – Einstürzende Neubauten

"New Dawn Fades", "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters"

Producer, Performer, Writer – Moby

Writer "New Dawn Fades" – Joy Division

"Force Marker"

Producer, Performer – Brian Eno

"La Bas", "Gloradin"

Producer, Performer – Lisa Gerrard

Executive credit

Executive Producer – Michael Mann

Executive in Charge of Music – Gary LeMel

Assistant Music Supervisor – Amy Dunn

Orchestra Contractor – Debbie Datz-Pyle, Patty Zimmitti