Score Sample: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

So John Williams has composed music for films since the 1960s. His familiar sound really entered the public mind in the late 70s with Jaws, Close Encounters of a Third Kind, Superman and of course Star Wars. But if you listen to his material from before those milestones you can hear his distinctive voice in those scores too. Over the years Williams has evolved as a composer, adding more and more complexity to his music, but still managing to capture that Williams sound and the knack for crafting memorable themes.

All this to say that when someone asks me what my favorite John Williams score is, I get overwhelmed for a moment. So much music to pick from, and from so many decades and styles. With Jerry Goldsmith, I don't hesitate. But with Williams... And then I smile and say, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Now with it comes to the films, I'm in the "Raiders is the best one, don't even question me on this" camp. But Williams did the remarkable with his followup score. He took his main theme, because you had to have that, and then made sure to use it quite a bit. Compared to Last Crusade, which goes easy on using the main theme, Temple of Doom doesn't shy away.  It gives the whole score (and film) a more pulpy feel. I also love all the new themes introduced in the film. Sure Willie and Short Round are obnoxious characters, but they have some really great themes. Willie's theme is full of that old school Hollywood glamor. Williams uses both themes in counterpoint to Indy's theme on a number of occasions and to wonderful effect.

Then there are is the bold adventure theme used in the final third of the film, as Indy and his pals save the slave children. I love this theme, and it gets some great moments to shine in the score. Not to mention a myriad of minor motifs that pop up and play around in the score to add even more color. They are all distinct, they are all well stated (and restated so you recognize them) and they are all fun.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the John Williams score with everything I love about John Williams. It is in the middle of his late 70s to mid 80s style before he really started to add the layers and layers of complexity to his action music. I love it each time I listen to it, and you can't really go wrong with the End Credits which I'll present here. Enjoy!

Score Sample: Solo (2018)

So it is time to roll out another Star Wars track for the score sample. I have to say I was pretty excited to hear that John Powell was going to be providing the score for Solo, even though I wasn't too excited about the movie itself. Powell is one of those composers who knows how to create some orchestral bombast, and keep his themes colorful and engaging. His style is a bit different from John Williams, but his use of percussion in action music is impressive. His score for How to Train Your Dragon remains one of my favorite scores from the previous decade.

Then we got the news that John Williams was going to provide a theme for Han Solo, and Powell was going to utilize it in his score. That was music to this film score fan's ears. The result is one of the most entertaining and exciting Star Wars related scores we've ever got. Lots of great stuff on this album, but my favorite track has to be Reminiscence Therapy. Not only does Powell give us a great statement of the new Han Solo theme, but he works in classic musical moments from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back into the cue. He keeps it all flowing into one amazingly dynamic track, a real highlight of the album.

So enjoy Reminiscence Therapy from Solo composed by John Powell including themes by John Williams.

Movie Music Musings – Horrifying John Williams

Ask film music fans about horror film scores and you’ll hear a few composer names pop up almost immediately. Bernard Herrmann and his work with Hitchcock will leap to mind. Jerry Goldsmith crafted some amazing work for The Omen and Poltergeist. Christopher Young is the current master of horror music from the creepy music for The Grudge and the bombastic thrills of Drag Me to Hell. Even Hans Zimmer has taken on the genre with some really intense music for the Hollywood version of The Ring.

But one name you don’t hear too often related to horror scores is the maestro himself, John Williams. This has more to do with the type of films that Williams gets attached to and isn’t a commentary on his skills. Williams has provided some excellent scores to thrillers and individual cues in the Harry Potter films and Jurassic Park have some excellent moments of tension and fear. But these days, Williams works primarily in dramas and fantasies.

You have to journey back in his career, right when it was really taking off, to hear some of his most interesting horror music. The 1970s were fruitful time for a more experimental side to Williams work. He hadn’t been locked quite into the full Golden Age mode he achieved with Star Wars and Superman. But you can hear hints of those scores in some of this work. Instead, this is a Williams fresh from The Towering Inferno and the Poseidon Adventure.

1975 kicked it off with one of the most famous monster movies of the decade: Jaws. The movie isn’t wall-to-wall horror, in fact Williams provides the film with a wonderful nautical heroic theme for Chief Brody and his band. But everyone remembers the shark motif, something so simple and primal that it actually builds on images and makes them even more impressive. This motif gets quite a workout in the film, sneaking in and out of the music and building to terrifying levels. This rerecording for the Boston Pops conducted by Williams himself is a treat. Love how the audience chuckles as soon as they recognize it.

In 1977 Williams worked on Close Encounters of a Third Kind. Again his music played a big role in the finale of the film, with his communication theme become instantly memorable. But in the first half of the film, Williams scored the movie like it is a horror film. One of the most terrifying scenes in the movie, is the abduction of young Barry. Williams pulls out all the stops raising the tension to amazingly horrifying levels and making a wonderfully discordant and disturbing track. For real fun, play this back to back with Jerry Goldsmith’s Twisted Abduction track from Poltergeist for a nasty one-two punch.

The next year saw Williams score a sequel to Jaws but more interesting is his work on the Brian Depalma thriller The Fury. Williams creates a lovely main theme that starts off so quietly and then build and builds in power as it carries along. The end credits version is really something else. What is great about this whole score is that Williams takes lots of inspiration from Bernard Herrmann, almost giving The Fury a Hitchcockian feel when it comes the music. For my money this is easily one of Williams best scores of the decade. And yeah this decade includes some of his most impressive work.

In 1979 Williams got to write music for one of the most famous of all horror icons: Dracula. With Frank Langella as the bloodsucker and Lawrence Olivier as Van Helsing, well this was something else. The score has a gothic romantic sweep to it, but remains pure John Williams. In fact, you can hear ideas in this score that would be fleshed out further in The Empire Strikes Back during the Cloud City sequences. Sadly this score has never gotten a good release. The archival sound quality is pretty bad. Film score fans are hoping for some good quality recordings to be found, or to have a full rerecording supervised by the Maestro at some point in the future. That said, it is clear that Williams has the chops to craft excellent horror scores, you just have to know where to look.

Score Sample: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

John Williams = Star Wars. There really isn't any argument against it, so don't try it! Without his masterful score for The New Hope in 1977, I feel the film would not have been as memorable and powerful as it turned out to be. So when J.J. Abrams stepped up to take on a new Star Wars film in 2015 he had a choice to make. Stick with his talented friend Michael Giacchino, or ask John Williams to return. 

Really, there was no choice. Williams returned and Giacchino got to play s stormtrooper in the new film. So everyone wins!

I've seen a lot of negative responses to Williams new score for The Force Awakens. I'm a bit surprised by this. This score is really great in a lot of ways. But it is certainly not written in the style of the 1970s and 1980s Star Wars scores. John Williams has not written in that style in a long long time. HIs style is more complex, more detailed and in a lot of ways more dynamic than his older work. But this means that the simple clear themes he used to write are few and far between.

A perfect example of his new style of theme is this lovely one he created for the new character Rey. It actually has three different elements to it, and Williams uses each element in different ways throughout the score. Sometimes he uses a single element, like the rhythm that opens this track. Other times he uses two portions, or all three of them. This theme is also highly malleable, as he can make it sound mysterious, frightened, horrified and noble. This is a testament to Williams skill. But, there is no obvious "hook" in this theme. During the film you aren't really given a clear obvious single statement of the full theme. But he uses it in various guises the entire time. 

For me, this is a clear winner of a theme, and the more you listen to the score, the more you hear Williams genius at work. I'm really looking forward to hearing the next couple Star Wars scores to hear how this theme changes as the character and her story evolve.

So here is Rey's Theme from The Force Awakens, by John Williams

Nostalgia Nugget – My First Soundtrack

I have to say that 1987 was not a banner year for me. I was surviving the wilds of Junior High, doing my best to keep a low profile, but still managing to get book dumped at least once a week. My best friend moved to Mississippi later that year and I pretty much felt lost.

Somewhere along the way the joy of Transformers evaporated. I was into NES games, especially The Legend of Zelda, but I didn’t actually own an NES, and had to enjoy and play the game at a friend’s house (a friend who was a few years younger than me, and so I couldn’t hang out with at school and discuss the game).

This book contained tons of information
that went beyond the movies.

I was looking for something to fall back on, and that may be where I experienced my first bout of nostalgia. I rediscovered the Star Wars trilogy. Part of this came with a trip to Disneyland, and riding Star Tours for the first time. While I was there, my parents bought me the Star Wars Role Playing Game book by West End Games. It was filled with all kinds of story and character information I had never seen before.

I became (re)obsessed with the movies, watching all three again for the first time in years. I pulled out my old toys and started creating new adventures. And then I got an idea. What if I could take Star Wars with me wherever I went? I had a walkman cassette and headphones I had got for Christmas. There was a way… oh yes there was a way.

We had a radio with a built in microphone and you could record directly to cassette tape. I used that sucker to record the audio from Star Wars onto two tapes. It was a bit tricky getting the right timing so I wouldn’t cut off the movie in mid sentence to turn the tape over, but I got it done.

Ben Burtt obtaining new sound effects.

It was this experience that actually changed the way I appreciated film. First was the amazing sound effect design by Ben Burtt. At the time I didn’t really know anything about sound effects, but I still felt that Star Wars had its own unique world of sound. These sounds set it apart not just from our real world, but from other science fiction films I was familiar with like Star Trek and The Black Hole. Everything from the lightsabers, the blasters, the TIE fighters had its own sound. It wasn’t until hearing the movie divorced of the visuals that I understood that these sounds had to be created just for the movie.

The other element that really struck me was the music. Sure I grew up with the music to Star Wars cemented in my brain. But it was only the main themes that I really ever found myself humming. Listening to the film play out, I suddenly became aware of how little dialogue there is in the first third of the film and how much the music carries the feelings and power of the story. Hell, the music practically told the story. That was the moment where I realized how powerful a part music plays in film making. From that time forward most of my storytelling would be accompanied by some kind of score (either played while I write, or running along in the background of my imagination).

I listened to those tapes more than I’d like to admit. My parents must of have noticed because for Christmas they got me the actual score for Star Wars on cassette. My dad actually asked me to put it on our stereo and suddenly I could hear the music – without the dialogue and sound effects and it was like hearing it for the first time.

What amazed me was the music I never really noticed before. The music during the Tatooine scenes was very unusual, not at all what you think of when you think Star Wars. The variety included the percussive drumming for the Sand People, the loneliness of the Dune Sea and the playfulness of the Jawa music. There was even material not used in the film that was amazing to hear.

Once I knew that film music could be a wonderful listening experience outside of the film, I started to notice it more. Movies like Star Trek:The Motion Picture, Conan the Barbarian and Back to the Future all had memorable music, and I could now find it at record stores to listen to whenever I wanted. Part of the joy of collecting these was having a piece of the movie in your collection, a kind of souvenir. But there was also the amazing storytelling going on in the music itself that appealed to me.

When Star Wars finally made it to CD it was
in this awesome 4 CD set.

But the first quest was to complete the Star Wars trilogy. I found the Empire Strikes Back on cassette pretty easily, and wow was that a revelation.  Having the concert version of the Imperial March was a high point in my geek quest.  But for some reason Return of the Jedi was very difficult to obtain. It actually took me a couple years to actually find it. It was a big day for this film music nerd to play all three tapes back to back and indulge in the power of John Williams’ music.

I can blame Star Wars for my current hobby of collecting film scores. But it also opened up the idea of film being more than just visuals and story. The audio was a key element to movies, especially genre films. Star Wars changed a lot of things about movie making, but one of the things it brought back was the concept of a large-scale Golden Age style film score to support and accent the action. While that approach won’t work for all movies, and will wax and wane in popularity, it was what got me into enjoying film music in the first place.

Williams would continue to score the Star Wars films, and his sound helped define the world of the series. It is amazing how the music has become as much part of that cinematic universe as the visuals.

Top Ten – Favorite Film Scores of the 1980s

It is safe to say that my enjoyment of film scores started in the 1980s, when I picked up cassette tapes (remember those?) of the scores to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that a large part of my score collection contains music from this decade. I had a few readers ask me for top ten lists involving scores, and I was always at a lose on how to proceed. A top ten list of favorite scores vs. a top ten list of historically important scores vs top ten list of best scores by a composer… you see the problem.

For this one I just stuck with personal favorites of mine from films made in the 1980s. These are not my favorite films of the decade. But they are the top ten most listened to film scores. I did rank them, but this ranking is due to change at any moment, because – dammit they are all so good.

And yes, I love adventures scores, so you may notice a bias toward those types of albums. Fans of romantic comedies, sports films and dramas may be disappointed.

10. Kiki’s Delivery Service composed by Joe Hisaishi

So I start off the one score that isn’t an adventure score. But this happens to be one of my favorite animated films by the Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki. Because of that, this score is one I can listen to at almost any time. It is light, bubbly and filled with a kind of European flair that you don’t hear in much of Hisaishi’s work. It has lots of fun little moments that are captured musically. It also features music symbolizing the joy of flying (a soaring waltz-like style that Hisaishi would use in the later film Howl’s Moving Castle), as well as moments of quiet contemplation. It’s just a well-rounded CD presentation, and perfect listening for a lazy Sunday or just to take you back to the world of the film.

9. Tron composed by Wendy Carlos

From sweet and soothing to harsh and electronic. The score to Tron fits the film like a glowing power glove, and is certainly not something that everyone will enjoy. Carlos took actual arcade style music fused it with dissonant orchestral techniques and created something very new and unique for the film. It has themes and motifs, and some of them are excellent. The early 80s digital synth effects just create a whole new audio world, one rooted in Atari and arcades. Whenever I mention this is one of my favorite scores of the decade, I get odd looks, but I stick by it. Nothing like Tron has been created since, and it is still a lot of fun to listen to.

8. Batman composed by Danny Elfman

These days people think superhero music, and they think Hans Zimmer thanks to his work on the Dark Knight trilogy and Man of Steel. But before that, people thought of Danny Elfman. His score for Batman is one of the most iconic superheroes scores around, and one that influenced countless imitators. Gothic, powerful and a little quirky, the score captures the nature of the caped crusader and Tim Burton’s vision of that hero in every detail. Batman’s theme swoops, dives and enshrouds the listener. The action music can be frantic, but crates an elegant chaos that is always overwhelmed by Batman’s theme. I still think this work tops Zimmers in nearly every way (from a stand along listen), and every time I return to it, I’m surprised by how dynamic it is.

7. Transformers the Movie composed by Vince DiCola

Oh man, am I gonna get grief for this one. But I can’t help it, I grew up with the Transformers, and this score is part of my childhood. It also the embodiment of the rockin’ 80s soundtracks. You know the stuff: full of synths and wailing electric guitars. Dicola takes those elements and actually creates a score with themes that battle each other, moments of dread and even a touching electronic piece for the death of Optimus Prime. His action set pieces are great stand-alone cues that could come off an electronic artists CD. But he even manages to work in ideas from the supporting songs on the soundtrack like Weird Al’s Dare to Be Stupid and Stan Bush’s Dare. It’s either genius or a marketing tool, but it is all awesome in a purely 80s sense.

6. Young Sherlock Holmes composed by Bruce Broughton

One of the huge influences on the decade in film music was John Williams. Bruce Broughton’s score for Young Sherlock Holmes takes the Williams template for adventure and fantasy scoring and simply nails it. Broughton keeps a lot of his own stylistic touch in the score, specifically the action queues which are very busy and frantic.  This score has everything you want in a top-notch adventure score. It’s got a great two-part theme for the heroes, a wonderful love theme, a sinister choral chant for the evil cult and a myriad of supporting themes. The action music is energetic, the horror moments are suspenseful and the end credits suite is one of my favorite from this decade.

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan composed by James Horner

It was tough to pick just one score from Mr. Horner from the 1980s. He created so many wonderful albums in that decade. It ended up being between this score and his work on Krull. But I think as a complete listen, his score for Wrath of Khan is the best. He creates a wonderful nautical theme for the Enterprise and her crew. For a lot of folks, that theme is one of the best of the entire franchise. Horner also wrote a unique sound for Spock, one that inspired future composers Eidelman and Giacchino for their takes on Vulcan themes. Then there is Khan’s motif that brazenly explodes whenever the villain unleashes. Like all of Horner’s scores, it is filled with powerful emotions and big sound. The final tracks are some of the best of the entire franchise.

4. Explorers composed by Jerry Goldsmith

It was very difficult to pick a favorite Goldsmith score too. He created so many scores in all kinds of films, that picking just one was nearly impossible. But it all boiled down to the score that I listened to the most. That has to be his work on Dante’s family adventure film Explorers. There are about six different themes at work in this score, but the best is “the construction” theme, which serves as the heroic adventure theme for most of the score. I love how hints of the theme appear early in the work as the boys start thinking about the possibilities of space travel. Then you get a fully developed version as they build the machine, and then a wonderful exploration version of the theme (and the supporting “dreamer” theme) as they take it for a first flight. That is just one theme! The rest are all treated and manipulated in various ways, telling the story musically and with a lot of energy and warmth. It just makes me smile each time I listen to it, and it captures that feeling of adventure so well. A perfect fit for a score titled Explorers.

3. Conan the Barbarian composed by Basil Poledouris

This wonderful juggernaut of a score is one that I can always listen to from font to back and never once consider skipping a track. It is that good. Poledouris combines medieval rhythms and melodies to create a primeval feel to the score. Most films took a more classical or romantic approach and this allows the Conan score to stand alone, and yet sound so perfect for it’s film. The wonderful use of choir in tracks like Riders of Doom adds amazing power to those scenes. The love theme is sweeping and adds another layer to the propulsive music. It is one of the rare scores, like Tron, that creates a sonic representation of the visual world of the film. You hear this score and you are taken back to the age of Conan.

2. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom composed by John Williams

This one was nearly impossible, but I had to pick just one score from the Indiana Jones series, and in the end Temple of Doom won. I love Raiders of the Lost Ark, but when it comes down to it, Temple of Doom is just a hair more fun to listen to. Williams takes the style and themes he created in the first film and builds on them. But he adds whole new thematic colors to the score and they are doozies. A new gal in Indy’s life gets a new love theme. The sidekick gets a theme. But the supporting themes are too many to count. You get some slick action music erupting in key tracks like Slave Children’s’ Crusade and The Mine Car Chase (which had to have killed some of the orchestra with the speed of those notes). The Temple of Doom chant is the dark blood red cherry on top, adding a huge dose of horror to the whole thing. It is a blast from start to finish, with the Raiders March wrapping the whole thing up. Only one score could possibly top it.

1. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back composed by John Williams

It was the 1980s and John Williams was king of the film score world. But this is certainly one of his masterpieces. His approach to the first Star Wars sequel is similar to his approach on the first Indiana Jones sequel: take the familiar themes and build on them. He ended up creating two amazing themes for this film: the Imperial March and Yoda’s Theme. Both of these themes are driving forces pushing the score into new story directions. The Imperial March is nearly omnipresent, opening and closing scenes, battering the rebels at each turn, and overwhelming Luke’s theme several times. Yoda’s theme works wonderfully during the scenes on Dagobah, often subtly guiding the film. Other times the theme steps forward and takes over: such as in the scene where Yoda raises the X-wing from the swamp. It is even turned into an amazing battle theme as Luke uses Yoda’s teachings to battle Vader. Han and Leia get a sweet love theme that is turned into a dirge when Han is frozen and then into a hopeful beacon as the film swoops into an amazing tour de force end credits suite. All that and again, Williams creates a myriad of lesser themes and motifs that drive the action, with one of his best chase pieces The Asteroid Field taking the cake. It is an amazing score, one of the few that actually tops its predecessor. If you had any doubt that John Williams was a Maestro of film scores, one listen to the complete version of The Empire Strikes Back should convince you to call him Master.

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Here is a set of other scores that made into consideration. I could write more about each of them, but this post is long enough. Here they are in alphabetical order. Expect to hear more about them in future blogs.

• Amadeus
• Back to the Future
• Bladerunner
• Castle in the Sky
• The Dark Crystal
• E.T.
• The Final Conflict: The Omen III
• Flash Gordon
• Ghostbusters
• Glory
• Gremlins
• Heavy Metal
• Hellbound: Hellraiser II
• Hellraiser
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Karate Kid II
• Krull
• The Living Daylights
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• Poltergeist
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Silverado
• Star Trek III
• Star Trek V
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
• Willow

Movie Music Musing – 2001: A Film Music Odyssey

Fellow blogger Richard Bellush over at Richard’s Pretension was blogging about music, and mentioned the score to 2001: A Space Odyssey. This got me thinking about film music for science fiction movies, and of course that lead to a blog. So you can all blame Richard for this one.

It is hard to find a film that impacted science fiction films more than 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick’s film inspired so many folks in so many fields of the film making industry. It also defined how science fiction films were going to look going forward. But Kubrick’s approach to the music in his film actually created an impact that isn’t too apparent at first.

During the production of 2001, Kubrick had a film composer attached to the movie. The composer was Alex North, a man who was known for his unique approach to film scoring. He was part of a new bread of film composers who were moving away from the symphonic sound of the golden age of film music. Composers like Korngold, Steiner and even Rozsa were considered to be too over the top and too old fashioned. Instead jazzy scores like the ones created by Bernstein for The Man with the Golden Arm or even John Barry’s scores to From Russia with Love and Goldfinger were taking film music in a new direction. North took modernistic approaches in current classical music and fused them into film scores. His work would often include atonal and dissonant music, filled with an emotional power that was a million miles from something like Steiner.

His approach gained more popularity he began to mentor younger composers like Jerry Goldsmith. North scored all kinds of films from human dramas like A Streetcar Named Desire to big budget historical epics like Cleopatra and The Agony and the Ecstasy. This was how he first came of Kubrick, who used North for his film Spartacus. The score to the Kirk Douglas film was immediately called one of North’s greatest achievements. It made sense for Kubrick to bring the composer on board for his grand space adventure.

North began work on 2001: A Space Odyssey focusing a brutal and atonal sound for the Dawn of Man sequence. The music is jagged, punishing and mysterious all in different ways.  In fact, you can hear how this style would influence the amazing score Jerry Goldsmith created for Planet of the Apes. The main titles the North created are very much based on Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, a piece that Kubrick was using as a temp track for the film.

When the action moves to the Heywood Floyd’s journey to the moon, North shifted gears to a more melodic, but still modern sounding style. Here, he emphasized the beauty and wonder of space travel, while allowing the mystery of the alien artifact to creep into the score. At this point North stopped scoring 2001. He never worked on any music for the final two sequences involving the Jupiter mission or Dave’s journey into the infinite.

At the time Kubrick said he was thinking of not using any music in those portions of the film and so North figured his job was done. It wasn’t until the premier that North realized that none of his music for the film was used. Instead Kubrick had gone with his temp tracks of classical music for the film. North was less than pleased, and never worked with Kubrick again. A few years later another composer came forward and said he was commissioned to work on music for 2001: A Space Odyssey that was based on pieces from Gustav Mahler. No pieces from that score have ever surfaced. However, North’s work has been recovered, and can be found in two forms. The original recordings were made available in a limited edition from Intrada records. Jerry Goldsmith found the composers score and recreated it with the National Philharmonic Orchestra for Varese Saraband. It even includes the opening titles from a documentary North scored called Africa.

While North’s score is intriguing to listen to, I really can’t imagine watching 2001: A Space Odyssey without the classical pieces Kubrick ended up with. The use of Ligeti’s haunting Requiem for the monolith, the wonderful Lux Aeterna for Heywoods journey to the dig site creates an uncanny feeling the scene. Also sprach Zarathustra is the perfect fit for the main titles and final triumphant moment, and it trumps North’s work (as good as it is). I even like the semi-comic use of Blue Danube by Strauss, such a familiar and yet perfectly synched moment. The use of Johan and Richard Strauss, along with Khachaturiam’s Gayane ballet suite give the viewer a classical grounding. It allows us to hear something familiar among the beautiful and amazing visual effects. And when the truly alien moments arrive, Ligeti’s more abstract and atonal music adds that touch. It really is an amazing selection of pieces that deliver a greater impact.

That concept of using a familiar classical sound for science fiction also made an impact on George Lucas. In the 1970’s film scores for science fiction films had trended back toward the modern sounding often using harsh electronics or groovy guitars. Scores to films like Logan’s Run were the norm, and something that Lucas wanted to get away from. His experimental film THX-1138 had used a very dissonant score by Lalo Schifran (the man behind the music to Mission Impossible and Enter the Dragon but who had an experimental side to his music).

But Star Wars needed something a bit different. Since Lucas film was steeped in the feel and concept of movie serials like Flash Gordon from the 1940’s why not use a film score that was familiar and old fashioned. That was the direction John Williams used when creating a score using elements of classical composers like Richard Wagner and Stravinsky. It also included the swash-bucking sounds created by Korngold for films like The Sea Hawk and a swooping love theme that could have come right from Max Steiner or Miklos Rozsa. The familiar style of the music helped ground the audience with the amazing visual effects and bizarre alien creatures. It was the same approach Kubrick used, but with Williams crafting his own themes and working with them in a unique and exciting way. Star Wars became the new template for the sound science fiction films were expected to have from 1977 into the 2000s before Hans Zimmer’s sound started taking over.

Meanwhile, Jerry Goldsmith had never forgotten the work his mentor Alex North had fashioned for 2001: A Space Odyssey. I mentioned that Goldsmith used an approach for Planet of the Apes (also 1968) that was very much influenced by North’s score for 2001’s scenes in the dawn of man sequence. But Goldsmith would not really return to the sound until he was brought on for Star Trek: The Motion Picture nearly a decade later.

The creation of that score was a tough one for Goldsmith. He was writing music for a film that wasn’t complete and missing huge sequences because the special effects were not done. Goldsmith started composing for the scenes that were wrapped and edited. One of these was the flyby of the Enterprise, a sequence lasting nearly six minutes. If you listen to his first approach to these scenes you can hear how North’s score influenced his approach. It’s a bit atonal, but with a melodic sweeping grandeur that North used for the Moon sequences of 2001. It’s beautiful work.

Director Robert Wise wasn’t happy with it. He met with Goldsmith and told him the score wasn’t working, but couldn’t put his finger on the problem. Goldsmith was already frustrated with the whole situation and was close to pulling out of the whole project when Wise finally said, “It has no theme.” John Williams Star Wars score was influencing Wise’s take on the film.

Goldsmith went back to the drawing board, taking a motif he created in his initial approach and fleshing it out. He went big and went bold, toning down the melodic moments, but keeping grandeur. The result was his most famous musical theme, and one that would become a staple in the Star Trek franchise music.  But with all that said, Goldsmith’s final score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture contains many moments that remind the listener of Alex North’s score to 2001: A Space Odyssey. With the La La Land release of the complete score to Star Trek: The Motion Picture the early work by Goldsmith is available to enjoy and explore.

So there you have it, a look at how music written for 2001: A Space Odyssey ended up influencing three of the most long lasting science fiction franchises. We don’t get such impact in film music very often. And this one was a doozy.

And if you haven't yet, check out John Kenneth Muir's excellent review of 2001: A Space Odyssey, give it a read. It is well worth it.

Score Sample - The Adventures of Tintin - John Williams

When it comes to John Williams most folks forget that he started out doing jazzy scores for movies in the 1960s. We know him for his orchestral sound, but Williams is quite at home with other musical styles. After all this man brought us the cantina band music in Star Wars as well as the wonderfully asian sounding Memoirs of a Geisha. While most of his score for The Adventures of Tintin remain in his familiar orchestral adventure mode, he has some fun with the opening titles. Enjoy the return of jazzy Williams with the title track The Adventures of Tintin.

Movie Music Musings: Favorite Composers - John Williams

Favorite Composer?

When I mention my hobby of collecting and enjoying movie scores, one of the first questions I hear is, “What are your favorite scores?” The answer to that is never easy, mostly because it seems to change on a weekly basis. I go through phases with music, enjoying one style over another. Some film scores I like for nostalgic reasons, others I enjoy because they inspire my writing, others take me back into the world of the movie.

So depending on when you ask me I may be in one of these periods where I explore the work of one composer and try to get a well-rounded idea of what their work is like. While I may shift my attention to one composer, it doesn’t mean stop listening to a previous favorite or don’t listen to anything else. But I’ll find myself revisiting a certain composer’s material over and over again.

Originally this was going to be one post about my favorite composers, but the further I got into this, the longer each entry became. I decided to just go ahead and make this a series.

So I’ll give some insight into the composers who I keep coming back to, why I enjoy their work and give you some samples of what I think is their most accessible stuff. As I’ve mentioned before, my musical vocabulary is limited. This is not going to be in depth analysis of styles, but a more general and yes, fan based, approach.

First up, is one of the most famous film composers out there …

John Williams

My love of film music started with my love of Star Wars and so that means John Williams was the first composer whose work I really explored. For a long time I really only had six soundtracks by him, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogy. And when you want to talk about the classic John Williams sound, these are the scores that always get mentioned. 

What is amazing about Williams and is really obvious in these scores, is his ability to create so many varied and memorable themes. These themes also perfectly fit the characters and situations they are matched to. This creates a real fusion between the visuals and the music. The result is that when you hear a track from Empire Strikes Back or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom you will most likely remember exactly what moment it is from.

While I love his material from the late ‘70s and into the ‘90s, the man has not lost any of skills. His work on the first three Harry Potter films is truly magical and his music for Memoirs of a Geisha is great stuff.

But Williams had a major style shift at the end of the ‘90s. It revolved mostly around his action music style (and doesn’t affect his dramatic work much). In his earlier work, Williams could create action music that would work as it’s own set piece telling a story in a clear musical way. Some of the best moments in this are the Asteroid Field from The Empire Strikes Back and the Desert Chase from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

His later action music drops the use of themes and ceases to create a story with the music. Instead it goes for a more rhythmic approach, supporting the action with a wall of sound. You can hear this in the Star Wars prequels. The music is still very much Williams but it is less appealing to me than his earlier more theme centric material.

When it comes to film music, I love the adventure scores. The combination of action, drama and usually a little romance is what I end up listening to the most. But Williams is very adept at scoring dramas too. Some of his most dramatic scores are for Spielberg’s films: Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun, War Horse and Saving Private Ryan. But for me, one of my favorites of his dramatic writing is the excellent score for Memoirs of a Geisha. He infuses a wonderful Asian sound with his typical style, great stuff.

Honestly I feel like I’m leaving out some of his best work. I haven’t mentioned Hook, Jaws, Close Encounters of a Third Kind, Superman, ET or JFK. But I’ve got to stop somewhere. The thing is, if you listen to some of Williams work and enjoy it, chances are you’ll find plenty more to dig into and enjoy.

What’s the best place to start with John Williams? It would probably be Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not only do you get the memorable main theme (The Raiders March), but you also get one of Williams’ best romantic themes with Marian’s Theme. His music for the power and majesty of the Ark is revealed in the awesome cue; Map Room: Dawn. There is also one of the best examples of Williams’ earlier style of action scoring in the track: Desert Chase.

Check out the end credits for the film below. It starts with Marian’s theme, goes into the Ark theme, then unleashes with the Raiders March, Marian’s Theme again and a wonderful reprise of the Raiders March. Adventure scores don’t come much better than this.

Next month we head to the far East with one of my favorite Japanese animation composers: Yoko Kanno.