Which do you prefer: Jaws or Jurassic Park?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's the battle of the John Williams monster/thriller scores. Well? What say JWFan in the year 2016?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Jaws and it's not close.

[Jay 37,346]

JP AINEC

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Whats so great is that these are three amazingly unique scores.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Jaws of course!

[Wojo 2,453]

Jaws AITTMSASAMBTMASGED,BTJMO,YCTIOLI,D.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Wrong floor.

[Datameister 2,041]

Pretty tough choice, to say the least. All three are incredible. There's a part of my brain that leans toward Jurassic Park, but yikes...

[Quintus 5,399]

Y'all know me.

[ocelot 508]

Jurassic Park for me. It's a monster of orchestration, piccolo oboe and Eb clarinets not to mention pretty much every extension of woodwinds and thematically, it's incredible. Mind you I love all 3 pretty highly....

[Naïve Old Fart 9,514]

JAWS stamps all over the other two, but...if TLW is there, where is JAWS 2?

I guess it's a generational thing.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

4 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Whats so great is that these are three amazingly unique scores.

 

This.

 

I voted Jurassic Park. It's so much grander than Jaws. A real great Hollywood score. And it has everything that's good about John Williams as well. It's almost like a Greatest Hits.

[Thor 7,492]

No competition here either. JURASSIC PARK is my favourite Williams score, favourite alltime score in general and the one that truly got me interested in film music.

 

There's an interesting difference between them, in that JP is more of an 'experience'-oriented affair (both film and music), while JAWS relies on brilliant use of musical rhetorics. When I held classes on 'visual rhetorics', I didn't only talk about newspapers, ads and other journalistic genres -- I also played some clips from JAWS to underline how the music, and especially the use of the theme, is used to manipulate and undermine audience expectations.

 

As far as album is concerned, JP is also in a class of its own, but I would say that JAWS and THE LOST WORLD are more or less on the same level for me (neither are in my top 10 Williams).

[Melange 446]

2 hours ago, Quintus said:

Y'all know me.

 

I got that beat.........

 

 

[Jay 37,346]

4 hours ago, Richard said:

JAWS stamps all over the other two, but...if TLW is there, where is JAWS 2?

I guess it's a generational thing.

 

Indeed. When I saw the thread title, I assumed it was asking to compare Jaws to JP (so the first score to each franchise).  But if the poll includes the second JP score, why not the second Jaws score too? 

[A24 4,331]

Too easy! Jaws, of course.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Wow, I didn't expect it to be this close.

[Wojo 2,453]

Even though I still prefer Jaws, I was more excited about LLL's Jurassic Park release than Intrada's Jaws release last year, which I still have not listened to. I guess it's because I was satisfied by the last Jaws release in the early 2000s, while I knew the JP OST could use a lot of work. 

[Jay 37,346]

The sound quality difference between the Decca Jaws and Intrada Jaws is probably the biggest sound quality difference I've ever heard for a film music recording. 

[crocodile 8,000]

Jurassic Park is an iconic score of my childhood but it is no match against Jaws.

 

Karol

[Trent B 337]

The Lost World got my vote.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Jaws is probably the best on an "intellectual" level but I don't know shit about that so I'll have to go with Jurassic Park.  TLW is fun.  

[Jay 37,346]

There's a lot of members here who prefer the Jaws 2 score over the Jaws score.. Of course I dunno if they prefer either JP score over it, etc. 

[Josh500 1,615]

I'd have to say JP. 

 

It's the first blockbuster I actually saw in the theater.

 

I bought the OS album two days later, and that was my very first JW purchase.

[Thor 7,492]

36 minutes ago, Jay said:

There's a lot of members here who prefer the Jaws 2 score over the Jaws score.. Of course I dunno if they prefer either JP score over it, etc. 

 

As an album, I prefer JAWS 2 over JAWS. As a film score, it's the other way around.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

With the film Jaws one of the best ever. Without film I would listen JP more often. Never liked TLW that much, maybe that will change, when I can listen to the new JP album, hopefully before Christmas(2017😁)

[Brundlefly 2,385]

1 The Lost World (by far the most unusual score)

2 Jurassic Park

3 Jaws 2

4 Jaws (by far the simplest score)

[Thor 7,492]

1 hour ago, Brundlefly said:

4 Jaws (by far the simplest score)

 

Simple?!? It's actually VERY complex and sophisticated!

[Jay 37,346]

But he didn't say it was simple. He simply said it was more simple than the other three choices. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I would never dare calling a Williams-Score non-sophisticated or non-complex, but even Williams himself once said that Jaws is quite simple IN COMPARISON WITH Close Encounters of the Third Kind. (I cannot remember where I read that quote)

[Jay 37,346]

Exactly, no one said it was simple or not complex full stop, just as a comparison between different compositions

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Jaws is >>>> by far both as a film or score. And that's no slight to the wonder that is JP.

[Thor 7,492]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

But he didn't say it was simple. He simply said it was more simple than the other three choices. 

 

Yeah, but when you throw around a word like 'simple' in connection with JAWS, no matter what you compare it to, it doesn't really make sense. It's not simple in a 'sound' sense (lots of complex things going on in the music itself, especially in the more dissonant segments), and it is most definitely not simple in terms of application. In fact, an argument could be made that it's the most intellectual/complex score that Williams has done, next to IMAGES.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I agree. This is madness.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,514]

28 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Yeah, but when you throw around a word like 'simple' in connection with JAWS, no matter what you compare it to, it doesn't really make sense. It's not simple in a 'sound' sense (lots of complex things going on in the music itself, especially in the more dissonant segments), and it is most definitely not simple in terms of application. In fact, an argument could be made that it's the most intellectual/complex score that Williams has done, next to IMAGES.

 

I'd round-out that trilogy with CE3K.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I'm only refering to the compositional aspect. Naturally he developed a lot within 22, 18 and even 3 years. Jaws itself is has been an outstanding musical idea (of course not only consisting of three notes). Don't overestimate the might of the comparative.

[Jay 37,346]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

 

Yeah, but when you throw around a word like 'simple' in connection with JAWS, no matter what you compare it to, it doesn't really make sense. It's not simple in a 'sound' sense (lots of complex things going on in the music itself, especially in the more dissonant segments), and it is most definitely not simple in terms of application. In fact, an argument could be made that it's the most intellectual/complex score that Williams has done, next to IMAGES.

 

Wow, you still don't get it!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

 

Yeah, but when you throw around a word like 'simple' in connection with JAWS, no matter what you compare it to, it doesn't really make sense. It's not simple in a 'sound' sense (lots of complex things going on in the music itself, especially in the more dissonant segments), and it is most definitely not simple in terms of application. In fact, an argument could be made that it's the most intellectual/complex score that Williams has done, next to IMAGES.

 

Images isn't actually all that intellectual or complex.

[Jay 37,346]

My own personal preference of how much enjoyment I get out of listening

 

1 Lost World

2 Jurassic Park

3 Jaws

4 Jaws 2

 

As for how much each I think improves its film by being in it

1 Jurassic Park

2 Jaws

3 Lost World

(I've never seen Jaws 2)

[Josh500 1,615]

19 minutes ago, Jay said:

(I've never seen Jaws 2)

 

What in the...? 

 

Why not?

 

Jaws 2 is one of the best sequels to a Spielberg movie. Arguably even better than The Lost World, though not better than Temple of Doom. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

Are there many sequels to Spielberg movies (Indiana Jones 2-4, JP 2-4, Jaws 2-4)? Jaws 2 is definitely a weak film (except the music). Of course there are tons of worse sequels in general. You can compare it to JP III. But the Lost World is actually very creative concerning the different mood and has just a few flaws (the stockiness of the second half, neglecting the characters for example)

[Josh500 1,615]

3 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Jaws 2 is definitely a weak film (except the music). 

 

The music is the best part about it, yes, but the movie is great too. It's rather enjoyable, in some ways more so than the original. Maybe you don't like it, but it got generally good reviews and was a box office hit. The only thing is that it's always compared with the original, which is of course a classic, and therefore always in its shadow.

 

Jaws 3D and Jaws: Revenge. Now, these are atrocious movies.

[Jay 37,346]

29 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

What in the...? 

 

Why not?

 

 

No particular reason I guess, just never did.  Never heard much good things about it I guess, maybe it was never on cable at the right time, I wasn't gonna go buy some film I'd never seen, etc.  I certainly will see it eventually, as I plan to watch every film JW scored eventually

[Josh500 1,615]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

 

 

No particular reason I guess, just never did.  Never heard much good things about it I guess, maybe it was never on cable at the right time, I wasn't gonna go buy some film I'd never seen, etc.  I certainly will see it eventually, as I plan to watch every film JW scored eventually

If your expectation for this film is that low, then trust me. You'll be pleasantly surprised. 😉

[Thor 7,492]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Wow, you still don't get it!

 

I get it plenty, thank you very much. I still don't think an adjective like 'simple' has anything to do with a score like JAWS, whatever it refers to or compares to.

 

2 hours ago, Prerecorded Briefing said:

 

Images isn't actually all that intellectual or complex.

 

Wow, that is actually factually wrong. It is very much so (both in sound and application).

[Jay 37,346]

But it wasn't an adjective DESCRIBING the score, it was COMPARING it to other scores.

[Thor 7,492]

Just now, Jay said:

But it wasn't an adjective DESCRIBING the score, it was COMPARING it to other scores.

 

So what? It still doesn't make sense to describe it as 'simpler' than the others. In fact, it's very much the other way around.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

No, it's not factually wrong. It's a difficult score, with some novel colors, but it doesn't approach the complexity of some isolated moments from other scores, and there are other scores as a whole where he's being much more "intellectual." Images is just the usual popular choice for that sort of thing from his output, so I understand your commitment to the idea.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,514]

13 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

The music is the best part about it, yes, but the movie is great too. It's rather enjoyable, in some ways more so than the original. Maybe you don't like it, but it got generally good reviews and was a box office hit. The only thing is that it's always compared with the original, which is of course a classic, and therefore always in its shadow.

 

Jaws 3D and Jaws: Revenge. Now, these are atrocious movies.

 

JAWS 2's photography, by Michael Butler, is easily as good as Bill Butler's work. For the most part, Neal Travis' editing, is crisp, and effective, without being showy.

JTR has Karen Young flicking her knickers around a garage, and JAWS 3D has lots of young women dressed in nothing but Speedos, so it's not all bad 

[Thor 7,492]

9 hours ago, Prerecorded Briefing said:

No, it's not factually wrong. It's a difficult score, with some novel colors, but it doesn't approach the complexity of some isolated moments from other scores, and there are other scores as a whole where he's being much more "intellectual." Images is just the usual popular choice for that sort of thing from his output, so I understand your commitment to the idea.

 

'Sound' is one thing; just as important is how the score is used and conceptualized in terms of the story and theme. In both cases, Williams is at his more 'intellectual' and complex in this case. Have you seen the film?