Comparison between the revised English audio track (included on the American Blu-ray/4K editions from Kino Lorber) and the original English soundtrack (included on the German Blu-rays from NSM as well as worldwide DVDs and the HD VOD version from iTunes)
- 4 relevant changes
- No time difference
In 1994, Stephen Hopkins directed Blown Away with Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, Lloyd Bridges and Forest Whitaker. The soundtrack to the action thriller is quite striking: in addition to the catchy score, several pop songs are used almost in their entirety. The band U2 is represented with two tracks and even explicitly integrated into the plot, as Jones plays an Irishman and buys a U2 album at a flea market, including dialog referring to it.
Apparently, however, MGM did not make the same licensing agreements for all the tracks, as some viewers already noticed on the US Blu-ray of Kino Lorber released in 2015 that a few songs had been replaced by (admittedly relatively similar-sounding) cover versions. Probably more serious for many: Whitaker's character listens to two songs by Aretha Franklin through headphones and here “Aretha” was mentioned in the dialog - which was covered up for the revised soundtrack with a looped snippet of sound. This additional adjustment in the dialog was actually also the main reason for our report, because if we're “only” talking about replaced songs, this phenomenon is unfortunately found in many older films and this would probably go beyond the scope of our website.
HD streaming releases in recent years on e.g. iTunes had the original soundtrack. But on the worldwide 4K premiere of Kino Lorber, released in July 2024, the edited soundtrack is included again. This also allowed us to refute an apparent cut in the 2024 version that was suspected in some forums - which also led to our closer examination in the first place. Besides the iTunes streaming version and previous Blu-ray editions we compared it with the old German and American DVDs and various TV releases; in terms of editing, all releases are exactly identical. Last but not least, considering international physical media releases: the English original audio track (as well as the local dub) on the German Blu-ray released by NSM in 2018 is also the original one.
Running times are arranged according to the scheme Kino Lorber Blu-ray in 24fps / US DVD in NTSC
In the foreign language scenes at the beginning, the 4K/HD master has burned-in subtitles.
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2024
MGM DVD
Occasional subtitles highlighting the locations in a similar style are permanently burned into the image as well - which was already the case on the old DVD master.
Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2024
MGM DVD
From 39:28 / 39:27 you can hear the song “Here's Where the Story Ends” by The Sundays during the flea market scene. A cover version was used in the revised soundtrack. By the way, during the scene we also have the dialog in which Tommy Lee Jones is asked about U2 and buys a corresponding cassette.
Original English soundtrack
Revised soundtrack by Kino Lorber
From 64:29 / 64:29 Anthony plays “All Night Long” by Aretha Franklin on the stereo. In the revised soundtrack, you can hear a cover version here.
Original English audio
Revised soundtrack by Kino Lorber
66:51 / 66:51
Meanwhile, the next song by Aretha Franklin, “You'll Lose a Good Thing”, is playing. A comment made by Anthony during the defusing of the bomb has been slightly changed. He actually says, “Well, I guess if you're gonna check out, Aretha's not a bad way to go.”
In the revised soundtrack, you can hear “Well, I guess if you're gonna check out, I guess it's not a bad way to go.” instead.
Original English audio
Revised soundtrack by Kino Lorber
German dub
During the scene at the beach at 71:35 / 71:37 the original song is “Return to Me” by October Project.
Original English audio
Revised soundtrack by Kino Lorber
After the first song could still be heard identically in the end credits, “Darling Today” by The Jayhawks, which can be heard from 119:34 / 119:43, was replaced by an instrumental piece by Alan Silvestri. By the way: In the soundtrack credits that begin right here, the original performers of the replaced songs are still named in the 2024 version.
