JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network – JWFAN

TRACK LISTING Review by Jeff Commings Back in the 1970s the movie musical genre was on its last legs. MGM’s grand successes of the 50s and 60s were not holding out when 1970 came along, but one film made MGM think twice about closing up its musical shop. Fiddler on the Roof is one grand [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Jeff Commings Amidst the flurry and mayhem of Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July is the extremely subtle work of John Williams. Ever ready to take on a project that presents a musical challenge, Williams succeeded very well with a score that is sparse, but highly effective. Two [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Maurizio Caschetto This is the original recording Williams made for the movie. The original Jaws CD was a re-recording, suite-oriented album with some great arrangements made for a separate, coherent listening experience. Considering this fact, I can say that this new album is absolutely fantastic and enjoying as [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Frank Lehman How do I begin? The score to Far and Away never ceases to amaze me. Everytime I listen to it I feel like I’ve been transported to another world. John Williams seamlessly blends a masterful Irish texture with a sweeping sense of adventure and love. The music reflects [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Frank Lehman Marking the ninth movie that Steven Spielberg and John Williams collaborated on, Empire of the Sun is the second “not action” movie directed by Spielberg. His first serious movie was E.T., where he branched from his normal running from sharks and blowing up Nazis type movies to a more [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Jeff Commings Fans of John Williams know very well that 1977 was a banner year for the composer, as he wrote two very extraordinary scores to two “space films.” The more popular one was of course Star Wars, but the release of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind Collector’s Edition [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by ‘Mahler 3′ Sleepers is a fantastic score on many different levels. Williams captures the organic feel of Brooklyn using the electronic bass and percussion with piano exceptionally well. The computerised voice effects are used to tremendous effect during the Wilkinson Prison sequences, exemplifying the inner turmoil the boys [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Frank Lehman I got my first dosage of this score when I bought the Williams o­n Williams Spielberg Collaboration #2. And I was perfectly satisfied with the five awesome Concert Versions of some of the themes and scenes. A long time passed between when I got that CD [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Nicolai P. Zwar Yesterday I came home with a couple of new CDs, among them Joel McNeely’s recording of John Williams score for Jaws. After one listening I have to say I am very impressed, and much of the criticism this recording has received here has not been fair [...]

TRACK LISTING Review by Frank Lehman Ah, Richard Millhouse Nixon, we hardly knew ye. That is, until we listen to the movie soundtrack bearing your name. If anything, the score to is an elaborate character portrait, in fact, the biggest and most comprehensive John Williams has ever written. Richard Nixon was a tragic and ominous [...]

TRACK LISTING & SOUND CLIPS Review by Frank Lehman I was some what reluctant to buy the CD at first. The reason was because when I watched the video, I heard some soft, yet sometimes much too loud that was mixed (in my opinion) poorly in comparison to…say, The Empire Strikes Back. Some of the music [...]