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What happened with John Williams and Universal in 1976?


Jay

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Both of Williams/ 1975 scores were for Universal Pictures - The Eiger Sanction for Clint Eastwood and Jaws for Steven Spielberg. Both films and both scores were successful, particularly Jaws - the film basically created the summer blockbuster, and put both Spielberg and Williams on the map and in demand for the next 40 years and counting, while the LP was a huge success, selling millions of copies and winning Williams and Universal a Grammy for "Album of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special"

 

So you would think that the next several scores Williams did would all get LP releases, right? But they didn't!

 

In 1976, he scored two more pictures for Universal - Family Plot (for Alfred Hitchcock) and Midway (a big WW2 movie). Why wouldn't Universal have wanted to release LPs for these scores, especially since Jaws just won them a grammy?

 

(His third 1976 score was The Missouri Breaks for United Artists, and they happily gave that film's score a nice LP release at the time of the film's release.)

 

Luckily by 1977 all would be right in the world - Sure, Black Sunday didn't get an LP, but both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind did - and were as big or bigger successes than Jaws, and every single film Williams has scored since has had an OST release at the time of the film's release since (with the sole exception of HeartBeeps in 1982).

 

But what was Universal thinking by not giving Family Plot and Midway LP releases in 1976 after the smashing success of Jaws?

 

Does anybody here who is old enough to have already been into John Williams at the time remember what it was like to go out and see Family Plot and Midway and then not be able to buy their scores?

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Jay, you seems to think that every movie should have his score released on an album and at the same time, as if it was an obligation.

Back in 1976, that was not the case.

It would depend on the success of the film, its genre, the commercial potential of the score, etc.

MOVIE REVIEW

Midway (1976) On Film, the Battle of 'Midway' Is Lost

By VINCENT CANBY
Published: June 19, 1976

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B01E7DE143FE43BBC4152DFB066838D669EDE

MOVIE REVIEW

Family Plot (1976) Screen: Hitchcock's 'Family Plot' Bubbles Over

By VINCENT CANBY
Published: April 10, 1976
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Jay, you seems to think that every movie should have his score released on an album at the same time, as if it was an obligation.

Since 1983, that has been true!

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Yeah, I think part of this is looking at the situation with post Star Wars 20/20 vision. Back in 1976 we had Abba, Bohemian Rhapsody burning up the charts. I think Universal was trailing the trend rather than taking on a risk. Also some of these recordings were not well maintained nor archived so decades could go by where people don't know where the original recordings were. Also, note there was a practice of the studios destroying old scores whose films were out of circulation. This practice pretty much ended in the 1970's and might have explained why nothing happened with some of these OST's. Today they are classics but back then it was a marketing tool. It's purpose was to help promote and sell the film. We are looking at this as music fans rather than marketers.

I remember the 1970's and being a JW fan but didn't understand scores. I thought I had the star wars score because I had the Gerhardt recording only to realize years later that it was not the score.

I have a feeling we are in need of JWfan's resident historian, Miguel, to weigh in. Isn't there a bat phone or something to call him in to this thread?

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Besides all the disco hits, 1976 was the year of Jerry Goldsmith, for the score of The Omen.

Would John Williams have a chance?

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Guys - Universal's Jaws LP from 1975 was a massive seller, and won a grammy.

 

That is why I find it so curious they didn't give Family Plot and Midway an LP the following year.

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Guys - Universal's Jaws LP from 1975 was a massive seller, and won a grammy.

That is why I find it so curious they didn't give Family Plot and Midway an LP the following year.

Yes, but one data point doesn't make a trend. I think universal was late to the party. We, with post Star Wars vision, see Jaws as the start to the golden age of JW but I don't know if Universal would have thought that in 1975/6. That takes some very good insight, intuition and risk.

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That's true, I forgot about the 45rpm single. Maybe they were going to look at the sales figures for that before deciding if it warranted a full LP.

Still odd they wouldn't peg Family Plot as being worthy to me though....

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I just thought the combo of Williams and Hitchcock would be a good seller in the post-Jaws world.

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I have no clue about the whys and wherefores. All I know is that neither of those two scores are particularly good. Rather plodding affairs, with a track exception or two.

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Guys - Universal's Jaws LP from 1975 was a massive seller, and won a grammy.

That is why I find it so curious they didn't give Family Plot and Midway an LP the following year.

As it is curious why the complete filmography of the most successful film composer ever, isn't available on cd even today after all these years.

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Guys - Universal's Jaws LP from 1975 was a massive seller, and won a grammy.

That is why I find it so curious they didn't give Family Plot and Midway an LP the following year.

As it is curious why the complete filmography of the most successful film composer ever, isn't available on cd even today after all these years.

Well, not really, considering the archiving practices of the studio system in the 1950s-1960s.

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Family Plod?

LOL!

Great theme, though (especially the end credits version which was available long before the soundtrack came out).

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Jaws was a massive seller because of the film. The Eiger Sanction was probably also a successful release, so the LP would be likely to sell well too.

As someone pointed already, we are looking at this as fans, and while today there is a huge fan base for film scores, back then I don't believe that was the case. There were no specialty labels who will risk releasing stuff only a handful of people will care about.

The big, generic labels will release what brings the big $, even providing longer releases, covering the full extent of the CD, and since the late 70's Williams name was big enough to those big labels so that they would release his scores. And even then, the 2-LP set of Jedi never happened... A smaller, failed film, like Heartbeeps missed a LP release, and later on Spacecamp was also a flop and had what always seemed to me as a limited run, score wise. And by the later 80's, some of Williams smaller scores (for less visible film) weren't even released by any large lable, but rather by Varese Sarabande.

So, while I have no real inside knowledge to support whatever theory, I firmly believe this was just a business decision, one that Williams probably understood as a natural one. And by the way, Midway had the two main marches released on a single, back then.

Spot-on!

I just thought the combo of Williams and Hitchcock would be a good seller in the post-Jaws world.

You overestimate the post-Jaws world in that regard. A Williams/Hitchcock after 1977, that would have been a good seller.

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There is another possible reason: re-use fees. In the 70s, an orchestra could demand up to 100% of the fee, if the music was re-used in an OST. This is probably why "The Final Conflict" was not released as an OST until 1986, and a lot of scores did not get released or were rerecorded for the OST. Also, a rerecording gives the composer the opportunity to rethink his, or her, work, and to present it as they wish.

The theme from "Midway" was released...sort of - on a single, in Japan, backed with "MOTYM" but who has that?

Oh, I forgot...I do! (smug mode) :)

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JW himself has expressed little to no interest in having his earliest stuff released.

All the material he loved or was proud of, he re-recorded it with the Boston Pops.

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It's just weird that Missouri Breaks got an OST LP right away by United Artists, but Universal didn't take a chance on Family Plot and Midway in the same year, and right after Jaws made them a ton of money.

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I'd love to own a CD of the score to The Sugarland Express. Shame John Williams doesn't want me to have one.

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Different studio policy or priorities maybe.

Possibly. Perhaps Universal thought that "Jaws" was a one-off, and didn't take into account the name John Williams. But how does that account for OSTs such as "Logan's Run"?

Oops, went a bit wrong there. Post still stands, though.

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I don't think John Williams really had much liberties on the score of Family Plot. It was surely a great experience to work with Hitchcock, but I don't think it was a project where he surpassed himself.

Man, this 70's harpsichord... That's NO. :nono:

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I suppose it would be hard to turn that music into a 35 - 40 minute OST presentation that would have sold well then.

Heck, Varese hasn't even been able to move 5,000 copies in a world where JW is a household name.

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I suppose it would be hard to turn that music into a 35 - 40 minute OST presentation that would have sold well then.

Heck, Varese hasn't even been able to move 5,000 copies in a world where JW is a household name.

I think with these kind of "previously unreleased score" released as limited editions, labels really scrape the bottom of the barrel.

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  • 1 year later...

Hey, this is pretty cool!

 

Quint takes a rare look back at Universal's 1974 slate, which includes movies never made from the likes of George Lucas, Peter Bogdanovich and Don Siegel!

 

Interesting alternate posters and stuff in there!

John Williams would end up scoring 5 of the films in this catalog - The Sugarland Express, Earthquake, The Eiger Sanction, Family Plot, and Jaws.

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4 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

lol at the JAWS poster.

uni74jawsthumb2_large.jpg

 

It looks like a poster for a Puccini opera.

 

And now Tony Spaghetti will sing his famous aria "Lo squalo mi mangia, quale disgrazia!"

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I still stick to my belief that Williams didn't consider MIDWAY or FAMILY PLOT particularly strong scores for soundtrack release. I know that's attributing my taste to Williams, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something in it, much like his alleged displeasure with SUGARLAND EXPRESS. Of course, he's been unable to "stop" releases of MIDWAY and FAMILY PLOT, but has managed to do so with SUGARLAND.

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Williams calling security, requesting the gaunt looking fellow with large eyes and unkempt hair be removed. Since he's been staring into Williams' studio for 31 hours straight.

 

Without blinking....

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