artyjeffrey

Ha! That would be a nice out for him. "What? Oh, yeah, not that Star Wars John Williams, but the guitar guy..." This is where a nice thorough biography of John Williams would have come in handy (HINT HINT). Man, can somebody PLEASE write that one?!

Okay everyone, I need your help on this one. I've had this friend for years who's a bit of a "Big Fish," a one-upper, who's always trying to top whatever I'm saying/doing (we all know one). Anyways, he grew up in the Chicago area, and he said that John Williams' wife was involved with his high school band (!) and (of course) my friend was a member of the band. He related his story about how once they were heading for a special concert and John Williams was riding in the back of the school bus with them. Oh boy. So, he's about 4 years younger than me, which means he would've been in High School in the Chicago area in the late '80s/early '90s. Does anyone have any info that could disprove this guy? Is John Williams' wife involved in the arts? I would LOVE to be able to tell him that he's full of it!

I've begun my journey into the "pre-Jaws" John Williams, with "The Cowboys." I just received it today, and have yet to listen to it, and was wondering, of all of his music before '75, which soundtracks would be the best to seek out? What about "The Missouri Breaks"? I've heard bad stuff about his "Lost In Space" tv music.

Whether or not the masses will remember the names/works of film composers we hold in such high esteem now is not really something to worry about, since even now the masses do not know their names. But there's one thing I know for certain. With all of the young members of this site as an indication, we the listeners may get old and die, and the composers themselves may pass away, but their music will always be picked up by "geeks" who recognize the core value present in these great works. By the way, I don't mean to sound like a commercial, but there's this interesting book I'm reading, Knowing The Score, which consists of interviews with numerous score composers about the "blood sweat and tears" that goes into their work. No John Williams or Danny Elfman, but a lot of composers whose names are most certainly not known, often even to fans like us.

Talk of a Donner edit of Superman II has been floating around for about five years, before he did the re-edit of the first film. There was even an online drive to have fans fill out and mail a petition (I was one who actually did it) to Warners demanding that it happen. Only one bummer... Richard Donner gave it a little thought, and then remembered how he'd gotten screwed halfway through Supes II, and said that he decided to pass. Now, considering that Donner hasn't had a lot going for himself lately, and more importantly, with the tragic death of Christopher Reeve, you never know. He may want to come back and showcase those lost scenes featuring the late actor as a tribute. By the way, some of those lost Donner scenes can be viewed in Quicktime format at the Superman Homepage.

I've seen him here in the States, and it was one of those experiences that are impossible to forget. All I'm going to say is this: when the Star Wars theme was played, I was amused to see "nerds" in the audience whip out lightsabers..... and then I realized that my legs were shaking with emotion! It's worth it.

The recently released 4-DVD box set of the classic Ben-Hur features a fourth disc with special features, one of them being a doc on the legacy of Ben-Hur. Towards the end of the doc, finally, they arrive at the topic of Miklos Rozsa's awesome soundtrack for the film, and yet oddly, of all of the composers out there whom they could have interviewed, they chose Don Davis! The entire time, as he speaks, he's got this odd posture, with mouth kind of gaping, neck squeezed back, oddly wooden. But that's beside the point. Anyways, he expresses his belief that composers out there like John Williams are able to be household names and be successful in the concert circuit because of Rosza. He said that John Williams was probably the only modern composer out there that the common man on the street could name. What he said, while not very clear (watch it, and you'll see what I mean), was true. But, I ask the gods of DVD, why Don Davis?

I trust Singer, and all should go well (if the webdocs are any indication), as long as Ottman doesn't do with JW's themes was Ken Thorne did to them for the previous Super-sequels. Speaking of Ottman, during the commentary on the X-Men dvd, Singer mentions how he regretted having to go with Michael Kamen for the score to the first film, but had to because Ottman wasn't available. Now, listening to both soundtracks, I have to say that Ottman's X-2 soundtrack didn't exactly knock me over. Fingers are crossed.

Yesterday, a friend of my wife's, who manages a Barnes & Noble Bookstore, had to turn Pierce Brosnan away when he needed to use the restroom (plumbers were at work inside). Man, how the mighty have fallen. Poor Pierce.

If you listen closely during playback of the "composer's score" version, you can hear background studio comotion in between takes, and right before the track intended for the final showdown between Ripley and the Alien, you can hear someone (maybe Lionel Newman?) sort of pepping everyone up before the take.

I actually ended up buying the "Legacy" edition of the Alien DVD, ripping both the composer's proposed score AND the "actual" score (although that is up for debate), and then putting them on separate cds. What's so confusing at times is that the original released soundtrack album has some of the same tracks, only their placement in the film is different than what Goldsmith intended, and the track titles have been swapped here and there! A sad mess, and with Goldsmith's passing, can a real record label pay him some respect and release this thing legitimately for all of us?! My track list: Composer's Score- 01. Main Title - The Nostromo (Album Version) 02. Awakening 03. The Landing 04. The Alien Planet 05. The Egg Chamber 06. The Face Hugger 07. Acid Test 08. Ripley Confronts Ash 09. Search for the Face Hugger 10. Departure 11. Kane's Funeral 12. False Alarm 13. "Here Kitty-Kitty"... 14. Brett Finds Jonesy 15. Brett's Demise 16. Mother 17. The Shaft 18. Ash Attacks 19. The Fate of Lambert & Parker 20. Self-Destruct Sequence 21. Saving Jonesy 22. Ripley's Run 23. "I Got You..." 24. Stowaway 25. Showdown 26. End Titles (Album Version) "Actual" score (again, very debatable!): 01. Main Title-The Nostromo (Screen Version) 02. Rise and Shine 03. The Alien Planet 04. Kane's Discovery 05. The Face Hugger 06. Acid Test 07. Demise of Dallas 08. Ash Revealed 09. Breakaway 10. Final Confrontation 11. End Title (Screen Version-- Symphony #2 ["Romantic"] by Howard Hanson)

During JW's "classic era" (1975-84), his scores were very motif-driven, melodic, well, "classics." From about the end of that era onwards it seems that his scores changed, getting looser and kind of impressionistic (pardon my lack of diction). So my question: What score do you believe signified this change in his approach? For that matter, was it Williams that changed, or was it the films he began to score that changed? For me, I noticed the big change with Empire of The Sun.

You know, that's very affirming to hear. I personally prefer '77-'85, and have this nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that it's me clinging to my childhood. So, hearing someone (who's probably of a newer generation) prefering the newer material confirms for me that I am the one who's crusty and wore out, not Williams' music!

Mostly they're from the first few episodes, like someone else said, a very small ensemble performing a cue of "the Little People," and in the first episode there's this odd cue that doesn't appear to based on any motif from the original score. As a matter of fact.... it only last about 6 seconds or so, but it always reminds me of the first half of the "Battlestar Galactica" theme!

Don't forget Silence of The Lambs--- for me, his approach to scoring that film was dead on. Instead of screech screech screech, typical of horror scores, he went the other way, focusing on creating sympathy for the victims and Jodie Foster's character. That was the first time that I really took notice of Shore. The Rings scores, overall, were great.

What's so funny is that, more than The Rocketeer being a rip of Williams, it is more so a rip of Horner's own previous material!! Just a very brief example: listen to the finish of the end titles for Star Trek II, and then do the same for The Rocketeer. It is exactly the same!! Not to start bashing on Horner (because I liked the Rocketeer), but if you really want a belly-laugh regarding his "borrowing" just listen to his score for "Battle Beyond The Stars." Be sure to have a copy of Goldsmith's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" handy!

I have SW, ESB, ROTJ, Dracula, Jaws 2, CEOT3K. Jaws 2 is the one that, had it not been for vinyl, I still wouldn't have been able to experience.

Without a doubt in my mind, THE WORST movie soundtrack EVER would have to be "Never Say Never Again," by Michel Legrand. It doesn't help that Legrand's work would inevitably be compared to John Barry's Bond music, but just view (and unfortunately, listen to) NSNA, and you'll have no option other than to gape at what you're hearing. Awful! Connery as Bond (for goodness sake) can't even, with his presence, overcome that merciless distraction!

My cassette also wore out, and every time a cymbal crashed, there was clipping! The theory about side A being mistakenly put to the second half of the cd makes total sense. I was unaware that there was ever a single lp release of Empire. Which presents the possiblity, still, that someone might have been drunk!

Furthermore, they were played on different turntables!

Hope this hasn't been asked before, but any theories on why the track order for (what I believe is) the first cd release of the original motion picture soundtrack for The Empire Strikes Back was so out of whack? I'm refering to the RSO release that was made in West Germany... Track List: 1. Imperial March 2. Yoda's Theme 3. The Asteroid Field 4. Han Solo And The Princess (Love Theme) 5. Finale (@**#&?!) 6. Star Wars (Main Theme) (Again, **$(@$???) 7. The Training of A Jedi Knight 8. Yoda And The Force 9. The Duel 10. The Battle In The Snow Was someone drunk?

There's something that's always bugged me about the LP version of Return of The Jedi, and, considering the great resource of knowledge here amongst all of the members of this site (I am NOT being sarcastic, by the way), I just thought I'd share it with you and see if anyone else has experienced this or can possibly explain it: Back in 1986, one of the things I bought with my 8th grade graduation money was the Lp version of (obviously) Return of the Jedi. Got it home, it played fine,..... until the second track, "Into The Trap," when at the 1:53 mark, it skipped. I know, no big deal, it was one of the bad things about vinyl. But after exchanging it..... TWO MORE TIMES.... I finally had to settle for the casette version, because all subsequent copies had also skipped, at the exact same spot on the track! Now, fast forward to now. Yesterday. I picked up the long-missing vinyl version from an Ebay auction. It arrived. And YES.......... do I need to finish? Did anyone else ever have this happen? And what exactly could have happened? By the way, I'm keeping it, and pretending that it's the long lost album that my mom took back to the record store!!

I was lucky enough to stumble across the expanded version of Raiders of the Lost Ark back in the mid '90s when it was released-- and thank God I did! Wonderful, completely blowing my old casette version out of the water. In regards to ToD, It's extremely hard to find in a legitimate form (i.e. factory pressed). I also only had the casette, and then acquired a nice cd-r version from a friend about a year ago. No extra tracks, sadly, but it's still better than a casette! I know that every now and then a Japanese Import version pops up for sale on Amazon or Ebay, but it's always at least $30, and I've heard some negative comments about the tinny sound.

Well, I attended the concert, and made the mistake of using a film camera for a few pics. Today, got the film developed, and ..... yeah, well you know. So, I'm wondering if anyone else was there who might have taken some digital pics that night? Would love to see them!

So how many of you here were at the "John Williams: Master of Cinema" concert at the Hollywood Bowl either on September 2 or 3? Obviously, I did get to make it on Friday the 2nd, and in a rare moment in life, if surpassed what I had expected and left me overwhelmed. As a kid, the very first movie soundtrack I ever received was "Star Wars" (now known as EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE), and I remember at night lying in my bed with the blanket over me like a tent, with my little tape player right next to my ear (I would've gotten into a bit of trouble for listening to music instead of sleeping!), because I wanted to listen to it again, for the twentieth time. My love affair with John Williams music began then, 20-some-odd years ago, and his music in turn introduced me to the works of Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rosza, etc. His was the "gateway" composer to a whole new realm, one that I believed was only enjoyed by myself. How fitting it was that, during the program, he conducted Goldsmith's Main Theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And so when, as (I believe) the third encore, he returned and struck up the Star Wars Main Title from the original album, the very first soundtrack I'd ever bought, my legs actually were shaking. I just stood there, and stared at him, thinking about how special of an experience this was for me, and how I had made it a point to enjoy every single second. Here he was, after all of these years! In short (although it's a bit too late for that), I will never forget it as long as I live. THANK YOU JOHN WILLIAMS!!!