1986’s Cobra re-teamed Sylvester Stallone with First Blood Part II director George P. Cosmatos. Its respectable, if unspectacular, box office performance proved lightning doesn’t always strike twice. Neither did its accompanying soundtrack. While similar in style to the soundtrack of Sly’s other hit from 1985 (Rocky IV), it didn’t take hold of the American public like its predecessor had.


‘Springsteen-lite’ John Cafferty provides the movie’s theme song, “Voice of America's Sons” and thematically, it has little to do with the film whatsoever. It’s a peppy, summer radio tune driven by a roller-rink organ, as pleasantly inoffensive as any of Cafferty’s contributions to the Eddie & The Cruisers soundtracks.

Righteous Brother Bill Medley turns in two undistinguished duets, neither of which are worthy of his muscular, soulful baritone. The Miami Sound Machine and Robert Tepper contribute a couple of blue-collar odes to “workin’ hard” and “tryin’ to make a livin’” - they’re nice, but Tepper’s “Angel of the City” doesn’t quite match the standard of his own “No Way Out” from the previous year.


There’s also a pair of ‘inspirational’ anthems here, the sort that were churned out by the hundreds for 1980s movie soundtracks. Impressively-mohawked Jean Beauvoir invites us to “Feel The Heat” and its sound and lyrical conceit have the feel of a Rocky IV track that just missed the cut. Same in the case of Gary Wright’s “Hold On To Your Vision” (Sample lyric: “You live to the wall / takin’ all ‘till you fall / but you always get back up again.”).

Sylvester Levay provides the original score and it’s a punchy mix of synthetic-gloss and guitar heroics - but it’s not something you’ll find yourself revisiting more than once.

Scotti Bros. reissued this in 1992, and it’s gone out of circulation since. Rocky IV, on the other hand, was re-released in 2006 as a remastered special edition with bonus tracks.

BONUS LINKS:
Jean Beauvoir - Feel The Heat (video)
John Cafferty - Voice of America's Sons (video)