Miami Vice II: New Music From The Television Series Miami Vice

Second Great Miami Vice Album

I first bought Miami Vice and Miami Vice II albums as cassettes when I was driving over the road and only later went to CDs. Like the first Miami Vice collection, this one is not perfect, and many quality songs are missing, like Foreigner's "I want to know what love is", and Ted Nugent's fabulous and still hard-to-get "Little Miss Dangerous". Still, this album provides a wide array of great and rarely heard performances: Steve Jones' haunting "Mercy", Gladys Knight's "Send it to me", Phil Collins' "Take me Home", Patti LaBelle with Bill Champlin singing their powerful duet, "The Last Unbroken Heart", Roxy Music's rare and soulful "Lover", Andy Taylor's equally infrequent but hard-driving "When The Rain Comes Down", and Jackson Browne's protest song over American involvement in Central America, "Lives in the Balance" (which I find wrong-headed, but a wonderful song nonetheless. Even Marx said one could not take the politics of artists seriously.). The range of sentiments covered in this album makes it perhaps better than the first Miami Vice album, but more offbeat. The best strategy in any case is to listen to the two one after the other. Other collections exist, but none have the concentration of standout performances that one finds in Miami Vice and Miami Vice II.
October 18, 2007

Great collection of tunes from the show, but...........

It's missing "Voices" by Russ Ballard and "Ship of Fools" by Robert Plant. The first album disappointed me by not including "Girls with Guns" by Tommy Shaw and "I've Got a New Girl Now" by Honeymoon Suite. August 4, 2006

Style is also great to listen to

NOTE: Though this may appear to be a long review, keep in mind it is designed for those who want to know nearly everything about this product. Thank you.


Miami Vice II: New Music From The Television series "Miami Vice" was the second of its kind. Rather confusingly, Miami Vice II covers songs from both the show's second and third season, not just the second, as the title seems to suggest. Rather, the "II" designates it as the second soundtrack. Complicating matters more is the fact that the VHS for the second season opener is also called "Miami Vice II", and this album would seem to be the accompanying soundtrack. It actually does include some songs from the two-hour second season premiere episode, but it goes beyond that as well.

Miami Vice II opens perfectly with the whispery, shadowy "Mercy" by former Sex Pistols(!) guitarist Steve Jones. Serious and moody, the song is the musical equivalent of the visual shift to darker colors in the show at the time of this album's release. It's a great opener for the album and a great song as well. It appeared in the third season episode "Stone's War".

The next track is "Send It To Me" by Gladys Knight and the Pips. Unlike "Mercy", which appeared on another additional album apart from Vice II (Jones's 1987 solo debut), "Send It To Me" is unique to this album. Interestingly, it is never heard in the series. "Send It To Me" is a bit brighter than the first song and eases you into the album more. But it is no less slick; the smooth, synth-laced pop-R&B trappings are also one of the song's strengths. A 12" single included an extended version, an acapella, and an instrumental of the song.

"Take Me Home" follows, and, honestly, no description can do justice to this song. Abstract, rhythmic, lulling, melodic, and hypnotic, it is Phil's pinnacle achievement. At the time, Phil Collins was on top of the world. Having used his all-time classic "In the Air Tonight" for the first soundtrack, it only seemed right to have another Collins song used in the series appear on the second soundtrack. "Take Me Home" was used for the ending of the second season two-hour premiere "The Prodigal Son" in a sequence fans will remember fondly.

"The Last Unbroken Heart" may make some cringe, but this emotional roller-coaster of a love-ballad duet should speak clear to anyone who has a heart. Two powerful voices - Patti Labelle and Bill Champlin's - take turns singing the verses, then join for the all-out chorus, which has Champlin screaming at ont point. Also unique to the album. From the memorable third season premiere episode "When Irish Eyes Are Crying". The episode featured a different, partially instrumental version.

"Crockett's Theme" by the brilliant Jan Hammer makes its debut here. Hammer scored the series and, in keeping with the tradition of the first soundtrack, again supplies some songs inspired by the music he composed for the series. I say "inspired" because Hammer, ever the professional, believes in crafting his sounds to a radio-ready format, so that each of his tracks feel polished and integrate into the album well. Therefore most of contributions to the soundtracks are not what you heard on television, rather, they are redone as singles. And they work astoundingly well. "Crockett's Theme" might be the most brilliant instrumental created for a character, surprassing Harold Faltermeyer's stiff and dated Axel F. It works so well without words. It's sexy. It might be the best track on the album; it's certainly the coolest. Perfectly fitting the character Sonny Crockett.

"When The Rain Comes Down" is another track unique to Miami Vice II. This uptempo, fast-paced rocker brings some needed energy into the album midway through. Done by Andy Taylor, who released his own solo effort apart from Duran Duran shortly after. This song was featured in the third season episode "Stone's War". A rare 45 includes an extended version (by a minute).

"Lover" must have pleased Roxy Music fans and non-fans alike; fans because it had never been released on compact disc until this album, as it is an extremely rare track and non-fans because it is a great song. Dreamy, mellow, and wandering, Bryan Ferry's fluttery vocals make it all the more sweet and memorable. Though not unique to Miami Vice II anymore (it also appears on Roxy's Thrill Of It All), it did not appear anywhere in the series. It's also the oldest song here: copyright 1982.

Another 70s punk-turned-slick 80s AOR act, The Damned, turn in "In Dulce Decorum", which blends a great riff, big harmonies, sparse, soaring vocals and a complex, layered sound. It's quite different from the other selections, but it's a great song and works well nevertheless. Interestingly, the song featured in the third season episode "Walk Alone" is a vocalized version, which would make this here an instrumental version.

Jackson Browne's "Lives In The Balance" accomplishes quite a feat: it serves both a melodically haunting sound and a powerful political statement. Browne questions America's involvement in foreign wars, wars that are decided by people far removed from those who fight it. Browne's story-telling lyrics and impassioned vocals bring the material to life. It could easily apply to today's world. The only political song here, it doesn't feel awkward thanks to the Jan Hammer-like pan flutes and overall tense, mysterious feel. Appeared in the third season episode "Stone's War".

The last two tracks are additional instrumentals by show composer Jan Hammer. "Miami Vice: New York Theme" is a chaotic, energetic dance-like theme to hail the arrival of Crockett and Tubbs in New York City from the episode "The Prodigal Son". There's a lot of stuff going on, but it's Hammer and it's another great, fun track. Listen for the abrupt shift at the end. That final part is part of a longer, unreleased theme from that episode. It's a nice touch to include it. The second Hammer track and final track on the soundtrack is the original, 60 second Miami Vice Theme used for the opening credits of the tv show. This is probably the greatest TV theme ever. It is certainly the most brilliant.

Miami Vice II is filled with lush, sleek, polished, mainstream 80s pop-rock. What makes it such a terrific listen time and again are the selections and the order of the selections: all of them to flow in unison to some hidden, undercurrent of cool, yet they are all strong and unique enough to stand on their own. And that is the making of a great soundtrack album.

In comparison with the first soundtrack, this one is more interesting and enjoyable. The first soundtrack was more gritty and slightly tacky. This one is all class, first-class all the way. The soundtrack producers succeeded: it's cooler. And that's hard to top in the world of "Miami Vice".

To be honest, serious fans of the show may be disappointed; especially when looking back, it feels as if something more could have been included, considering how many other fine songs were featured in Miami Vice that were never released on the soundtracks (or never released at all) but could have been here. Especially frustrating are the Jan Hammer selections. Two of the three of them were released on other albums around the same time. Considering the myriad of gorgeous mini-themes Hammer created for exclusively for the show, it's a little bit of a let-down several additional new tracks were not included.

That said, fans of 80s pop-rock in general who are not necessarily into the show will find a lot to enjoy here, and they will find themselves coming back to Miami Vice II over and over. It may not be for everyone, but it is certainly the finest of its genre and perhaps of its era too.

Note there are three different versions of this CD. Two are North American releases with differing cover poses, and the third is a German release with a different rear insert design. All have the same song content. August 2, 2006

Nice

I thought this CD was only Jan Hammer themes but find out there are more musics of other people, I would be more happy if this CD were only Jan Hammer musics. March 3, 2006

A CD That Outlasted The T.V. Series

Seeing Miami Vice in re-runs really made me wonder what I saw in the T.V. show in the first place. The music from the T.V. show is a different story. I originally bought this sound track for Andy Taylor's "When The Rain Comes Down". After hearing the entire CD I was quite surprised that it transcended my expectations. A nice merge of divergent music styles. August 18, 2004

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