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'Alien' versus 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'


Hlao-roo

Josh500 rocks my world.  

47 members have voted

  1. 1. Which score is better?

    • 'Alien'
      9
    • 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
      38


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Close Encounters is one of the best scores ever written. Alien is a JUST a masterpiece.

Karol

Plus Close Encounters gets bonus points for being composed by the better composer.

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Difficult, but CE3K wins.

- Marc, betting a post-2000 sequel would be titled CE4K.

Actually, if my memory serves me right from my younger days, using that title would require Spielberg to make a movie that ahh.....well......would be rather naughty....... :D

See there are different levels of UFO contact, according to UFO-ologists, and a 4th kind, well you can use your imagination.......

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Exellent thread. Both are the best scores by the biggest film composers ever.

Ofcourse Williams wins , CE3K can not be beaten.

How did you vote Stefan , I know Alien is not your cup of tea , but you simple can not

vote Williams over Goldsmith.

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CEO3K

The finale and end credits alone is better than the beautiful parts in Alien. CEOTK revolves arround communication for music, and the score build ups and evolves to the magnificent final scenes.

Anyway the two movies and scores are so different...

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Seriously ,I think Alien is one of the most overrated scores in the film score community. Hypersleep ,Sign Off and End Credits are beautiful ,and some of the alien planet music is haunting, but the rest just fits within the context of the film and not on c.d.

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Anyway the two movies and scores are so different...

How could you forget the fantastic contribution of Italian designer Carlo Rambaldi on both films? Clearly they are not that dissimilar.

Neil

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Anyway the two movies and scores are so different...

How could you forget the fantastic contribution of Italian designer Carlo Rambaldi on both films? Clearly they are not that dissimilar.

Neil

do you mean the desinger of the alien that in some concepts had a p*nis-like appeareance?

Well i'm glad that route was not kept for the CEOTK aliens. :P

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Not even close, Close Encounters fo the Third Kind is the superior.

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Williams is better than Goldsmith.

Especially when you base yourself solely on the music (and not the music with the images). Williams is the more gifted one, every composer or musician will say that.

Alex

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I love Alien, but really, it's not fit to even sniff the sweaty undercarriage of Close Encounters. Alien is extremely good, but lacks any magic; Close Encounters IS magic.

Now, in a showdown between Close Encounters and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I'd have some serious thinking to do.

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ok,I think he did the mechanism for opening the jaw of the alien and the inside teeth

That's right, Carlo 'E.T.' Rambaldi didn't design the creature of Alien, Giger did. Giger designed everything of the alien world in Alien. I believe Dan O'Bannon (who wrote the script) discovered him. Dan showed his work to Ridley Scott. Giger never worked on any of the sequels of Alien.

Alex

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Tie. Both are incredible scores. Although one place Alien has an advantage, rather unique harsh and barbaric orchestration.

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How did you vote Stefan , I know Alien is not your cup of tea , but you simple can not

vote Williams over Goldsmith.

How do you reckon Alien is not my cup of tea?

I jumped for joy when Intrada released the 2 CD set, and before that I had the Silva OST release and the isolated score bootleg.

It's a brilliant score, Goldsmith at his most inventive.

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Not every atonal piece is Ligeti-inspired. It could be as well Bartok, Penderecki. I think CE sounds more like these two.

Isn't Goldsmith the one who is always heavily influenced by Bartok?

Anyway, I voted CE3K.

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Not every atonal piece is Ligeti-inspired. It could be as well Bartok, Penderecki. I think CE sounds more like these two.

Isn't Goldsmith the one who is always heavily influenced by Bartok?

Anyway, I voted CE3K.

yes, he was. Personally while I think Alien is a very good score, I would not say it even functions quite as well as CEOT3K in the film because Ridley Scott cut and pasted a lot of the music. I remember when I bought the record soundtrack back in 1979 I was shocked at all of the music I had not heard in the film.

I love a lot of Goldsmith but I do agree that Alien is a wee bit overrated. I think CEOT3K is actually underrated. Everyone thinks Star Wars or more recently Harry Potter when they hear the name John Williams. Having heard the suite from Close Encounters conducted by Williams himself thrice this year, I am more impressed with it than ever before. There is this beautiful narrative/dramatic development of the music that begins with a basic sound texture and unfolds to that gorgeous finale with complete harmony/melody. It's amazing. Truly.

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Having heard the suite from Close Encounters conducted by Williams himself thrice this year, I am more impressed with it than ever before. There is this beautiful narrative/dramatic development of the music that begins with a basic sound texture and unfolds to that gorgeous finale with complete harmony/melody. It's amazing. Truly.

I'd love to witness something like that someday. :P

Karol

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Sure, the Dies Irae road music doesn't show up anywhere. But the longer suite has cool stuff like Barnstorming etc. It feels complete, the shorter version doesn't quite do that I think (but then, I grew up with the Gerhardt recording).

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Considering Goldsmith's Alien is held is such high regard here, I'm surprised by the one horse race this poll turned out to be. My suspicions must be right then.

Still need to listen properly to Alien though.

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