The rare sequel that improves upon its predecessor, Rocky II expands on the uplifting approach exemplified by Bill Conti's immortal "Gonna Fly Now" to create a score that's both more cohesive and more emotional. Writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone affords Conti a wider emotional berth this time around, allowing for poignant, melancholy themes like "Vigil" alongside fist-pumping anthems like the climactic "Overture" – as before, Conti employs little more than solo piano, a small string ensemble, and a potent brass section, and it's to the composer's enormous credit that he can forge such larger-than-life music from relatively few instrumental elements. "Gonna Fly Now" even reappears, this time with a children's choir in tow, and sounds better than ever. Not even Frank Stallone's "Two Kinds of Love" can torpedo this one.

Composer Bill Conti's iconic score for Sylvester Stallone's tale of over-the-hill Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa ranks as one of the most memorable and instantly recognizable pieces of film music ever applied to celluloid. The first Rocky is still the best, with classic cues like "Going the Distance," "Fanfare for Rocky," the "Final Bell" and "Gonna Fly Now" – the latter was actually a hit single – eschewing the myriad of questionable AOR songs that would end up cluttering future installments.

The Rocky Story pools material primarily from the Rocky IV soundtrack (Survivor's “Burning Heart,” John Cafferty’s “Heart’s on Fire,” James Brown’s “Living in America,” and Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out”). Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” is also featured, along with new, re-recorded versions of “Gonna Fly Now” from the Bill Conti ‘70s originals.