The John Williams Jurassic Park Collection from La-La Land MUSIC Discussion

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I can't get enough of it. It is the gentle balm, soothing the soul and nursing the intellect after enduring yet another day in this horrible horrible year!

 

 

 

It is scented honey and strong liquor at the same time!

[Henry Sítrónu 494]

I love how the harmonized rendition of the Island's Voice motif is heard (the second time, after first heard during "Raptors Appear") when the helicopter leaves the island and flies over the InGen gate. You should play that unused track over the scene, it's really interesting and obviously a totally different feeling. 

For those who care, the harmonies are:   Gm   F#m/C#   Bbm   Gm

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

 

The Long Grass! That opening bass and piano riff!

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

7 hours ago, Incanus said:

Yes I agree with you both on that. It is rather like with the Compys that are represented by specific soundscape and performing techniques rather than a straightforward melody.

 

And yes the film gives pretty good clues on this stuff.  

Well i'm glad i can spot things even if i dint have musical training

[Brundlefly 2,385]

As "The Lost World (Alternate)" is marked with two stars, I wonder if it's just the opening which is new or if it hasn't been considered to be completely unreleased, because it is merely another recording, but the same composition.

[Jay 37,352]

It's literally just a new 14 second opening connected to the rest of the original recording. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I was a little bit confused, for the end credits of the movie contain some parts of the lost world theme that definitely don't belong to the original recording. Having listened more closely to the movie end credits, I think parts of "To the Island" are actually tracked.

[crumbs 14,307]

Yes, the film's version of the end credits sandwiched in a tracked section of music from To The Island (formerly called Malcolm's Journey on the OST) between the Jurassic Park theme and the Lost World theme (with the concert opening).

[Incanus 5,714]

My personal playlist for the ending is Tranquilizer Dart + The Lost World (Alternate)+Theme from Jurassic Park. Might actually just switch it to Tranquilizer Dart and End Credits (film version) + The Lost World (Alternate) if I can stomach the edit in the former.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

For me it is a 11 min cue Tranquilizer dart + jurassic park theme + Alternate lost world.

 

 

[crumbs 14,307]

Anyone going to track in "To The Island" in their end credits mix?

 

[Incanus 5,714]

16 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Anyone going to track in "To The Island" in their end credits mix?

 

I am sure "score as heard in the film" purists probably will.  

 

It is nice to have the "Theme from Jurassic Park" suite as a separate track in the TLW programme on this set though. It feels a bit like Williams including the Raiders March on the KotCS album, a part of the listening experience and a nod to the fans plus a chance to present the concert suite JW composed between the films on the album. I still don't like the fast reading of the hymn theme but I think it is still a better performance than on the Boston Pops Williams on Williams album.

[Jay 37,352]

This morning I listened to the first 45 minutes of Disc 1 of the set in my car.

 

I really feel like there is a nice narrative flow to the music.  The brilliant opening note of the score sets you up right away for what you're in store for.  The Incident at Isla Nublar reveals the horrors that will be involved in the story.  The Encased Mosquito hints at the wonder, and The Entrance of Mr Hammond hints at the joy.  Then BAM, Journey to The Island begins.  This 8 minute piece of music is epic.  Williams gracefully goes from upbeat adventure to cautious hesitation, to spiritual reverence, to determined travel, to contemplation without ever making the transitions be remotely jarring.  

 

After this we have the strange blend of lovely and scary for the baby raptor scenes, followed by a really clever variation of the big adventure theme in The History Lesson, which provides some perfect peaceful playfullness before our guests enter the park.  Jurassic Park Gate brings us some really cool jungle percussion he would really explore in the sequel, and Goat Bait scores the unease of the scene well (but Spielberg was right to not use it in the film, and perfectly explained by Matessino in the recent audio interview).  The Saboteur still strikes me as an oddity when it begins, since we never heard a note of it until recently, but I'm sure soon it will become as old-hat as the rest of the score.  The cue very nicely sets up the Dennis element of the story, and that things won't be so simple as a preview of the park's features for special guests.  

 

Ailing Triceratops has a nice, lullaby-esque quality to it, a different take on the glory of the benevolent dinosaurs from their first scene.  The Coming Storm explores some of the same territory as The Saboteur, before Dennis Steals The Embryos really kicks things into gear and we know things won't be well for the heroes in our story.  Having just recently watched JFK, the similarities of this cue to The Conspirators cannot be denied at all.  For me, I fell in love with the Jurassic Park take on it for a long time before I ever heard the JFK version, so that will always be the "true" version to me (much like how I heard and knew by heart Aliens long before I ever heard Star Trek III).  Regardless of that, this cue perfectly captures the corporate espionage element of the story, and is such a unique and fun musical piece to listen to on its own.  It's large reliance on synths is unlike anything else in the score, but frankly it doesn't stand out as an oddball, it fits well into our musical story.  Williams is a genius at making digressions like this still feel like part of the score through and through.

 

Now next up, I thought about something I had never really thought of before, until reading the new liner notes  (and this was further elaborated on by Matessino in the audio interview).  And that's the fact that after Dennis Steals the Embryos, the next scene is the 10 minute T-Rex attack sequence, entirely unscored by Williams.   Now, it was of course the right decision to leave it all unscored, but its something I never really thought about when listening to the score by itself before that that's actual a crucial part of the film's story that isn't really represented by the music.  Instead, after the ending of Dennis Steals The Embryos, we not get that interesting, unsettling beginning of "Race to the Dock".  Mike pointed this out in the interview and notes, how the score there is the first score since before the T-Rex attack, how it kind of signals to the audience that the terror of the attack is over.  I always picture the control room when I hear the start of this cue, and almost hear the "ah, ah, ahs" by Dennis in my head.  The furious brass bursts at the end as Dennis gets lost in the rain are really cool.

The Falling Car then kind of awkwardly picks up the action of Grant with the kids; I can totally see why Williams combined this cue with Incident At Isla Nublar on the OST, and the ending of that cue and start of this cue segue gracefully, and each ending / beginning sound a bit, I dunno, unmusical on their own.  But frankly, that awkwardness might be entirely caused by my 20+ years of muscle memory hearing them combined.  It is of course nice to follow the film order on album, and I've always really loved the second half of this cue, the moody music for Ellie and Harding finding Malcolm.  As this cue was ending, I heard the opening note of The T-Rex Chase before I arrived at work...

[Will 2,215]

I listened to the beginning of TLW last night, after watching the film Saturday night for the first time to prepare for my first listen to the score!

 

Wow, "To the Island" is incredible in context. Williams can really build excitement. 

 

The girl looks at the map, the camera zooming in, and the drums start getting louder and louder, then even louder and strains of the main theme chords come in as we cut to the ship, then finally the theme in all its glory!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

"The History Lesson" is my favorite part of the JP score. I always thought it should have been somewhere on the OST. This is why I loved the 20th release. The additional tracks on there were done very well. The only one that doesn't fit is "Stalling Around". It just sounds like something from Home Alone or something and doesn't jive with the tone of the rest of the score. But the others fit right in with the original album, wherever you placed them. It was like they had always been there. I do enjoy the complete chronological JP, but the 20th expanded album had a weird effect on me, where I now expect "The History Lesson" to begin after "Entrance of Mr. Hammond" and such.

[Jay 37,352]

It's a really special little cue. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Little?

[Jay 37,352]

Short. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Round.

[Incanus 5,714]

Yeah there is delicate playfulness to the cue and Williams brilliantly changes the tone of the theme from the very operatic into this little light and airy variation that of course continues the thematic strain of the island fanfare but also has a bit of excitement and humour as the people are boarding the cars and Alan is trying to avoid getting into the same vehicle as the over-eager dinosaur buff Tim.

 

Interestingly now that we hear all the connecting little cues I feel they are all from the same cloth, like every time we take that minute or so from the actual characters the tone changes a bit. The stuff with Nedry and in the control room for example.

[Datameister 2,042]

The History Lesson is probably my favorite JP cue that wasn't on the OST. It's just so sweet and pretty! And as you said, it really showcases the versatility of the island theme.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Ok another possible instance of the Baby motif:

 

Reading the map: 1:16-1:25. This part is dialed out in the film, and could probably score Burk's and Sarah's explanation about the rexes not coming after them because they already retrieved their baby.

[Incanus 5,714]

You are stretching it a bit there I think Manuel. Soon you'll hear it everywhere.

 

And to reiterate but isn't Ripples such a badass piece of music. It covers such variety of material in its running time from the nail-biting tension to wild action and back to the jungle drums. Such energy and pulsing drive.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

1 hour ago, Incanus said:

You are stretching it a bit there I think Manuel. Soon you'll hear it everywhere.

The thing is i'm not looking for them they just pop up in subsequent listens. And when i check what cue it is and what part of the film is scoring...it's always related to the babys... And it is a string backup on an othewise drum beat track.

 

 

But i dont know maybe after listening to shore's LOTR... where eveything is correlated even if it is a three note quote... i hear things everywhere.

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 hour ago, Incanus said:

You are stretching it a bit there I think Manuel. Soon you'll hear it everywhere.

 

Luke is desperate to apply Howard Shore like leitmotific structure to Williams' music!

[rough cut 1,714]

I'm glad they included the information about the performers. Reading information like that always cheers me up!  23 years ago, Jurassic Park was my second JW soundtrack (the first being Star Wars by The Skywalker Orchestra) and I remember being really curious about what orchestra was playing. I even wrote a letter to the record company asking about more information about which orchestra was playing! 

[Arpy 4,145]

Ripped to flac last night, I LOVE 'Up in the Basket' and 'In the Trailer'. Both scores sound brilliant so I'm happy we finally have it all on CD's.

 

I was so used to hearing 'Heading North' combined with 'Malcolm's Journey' that it was a nice albeit odd change of listening experience, however I think it suits the listening experience better to save those moments of TLW theme throughout the score as opposed to bunching them all together. 

[Incanus 5,714]

1 hour ago, RPurton said:

Ripped to flac last night, I LOVE 'Up in the Basket' and 'In the Trailer'. Both scores sound brilliant so I'm happy we finally have it all on CD's.

 

I was so used to hearing 'Heading North' combined with 'Malcolm's Journey' that it was a nice albeit odd change of listening experience, however I think it suits the listening experience better to save those moments of TLW theme throughout the score as opposed to bunching them all together. 

As the liner notes say the TLW theme was originally meant to bookend the whole Isla Sorna experience. Which it does very well as per the original intention. Until Spielberg had time to check out what JW had done, fell in love with the theme (who can blame him?), and as we know then tracked it over quite a few scenes.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

2 hours ago, Incanus said:

As the liner notes say the TLW theme was originally meant to bookend the whole Isla Sorna experience. Which it does very well as per the original intention. Until Spielberg had time to check out what JW had done, fell in love with the theme (who can blame him?), and as we know then tracked it over quite a few scenes.

Yet Williams still used it in the finale

[Incanus 5,714]

Hey he was tying everything together dramatically in a very fitting way. But I think in the narrative itself the theme was meant to appear only twice to denote the very idea of travelling to and from the island. With Spielberg at the sessions it might have turned differently as I am sure he would have asked for rewrites.

[Jay 37,352]

Spielberg was at the Lost World sessions, wasn't it?  It was only JP that he missed?

[Incanus 5,714]

Just now, Jay said:

Spielberg was at the Lost World sessions, wasn't it?  It was only JP that he missed?

I got the impression from the liner notes that he also missed the TLW sessions because he was shooting Amistad.

[Jay 37,352]

Oh OK, I missed that part.

[Incanus 5,714]

The liner notes say Spielberg was completing the filming of Amistad at the time and the sessions took place in two chunks because they had to accommodate the completion of the special effects work.

[Jay 37,352]

I'd love to know which cues were recorded in the first block, and which were recorded a month later in the second block!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Why?

[Incanus 5,714]

Out of curiosity. Curiosity that insatiable beast that hath troubled Man since his inception.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

2 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Out of curiosity. Curiosity that insatiable beast that hath troubled Man since his inception.

 

This is that OCD like curiosity that both you Moderators seem to be suffering from.

[Incanus 5,714]

1 minute ago, Stefancos said:

 

This is that OCD like curiosity that both you Moderators seem to be suffering from.

Well yes but who are we to throw such ugly labels about. Let's call it "study" of Williams' precious works. Extensive study.

[Jay 37,352]

Because its clear that some cues were too difficult to perform as Williams originally envisioned them, and they had to replace whole passages with bars from other cues.  So I wonder if for example "Truck Stop" ("Rescuing Sarah") was recorded in the first block, and then "Horning In" (which cribs bars from it) was recorded in the second block, because Williams realized they wouldn't be able to record what he intended.

 

OR, on the other hand, its possible that both were recorded in the first block, with the change being made very soon, and all the cues he wrote to be recorded in the second block had no "difficult" passages.

 

That's why it'd be good to know!

Just like I'd like to know which JP cues were conducted by Williams, and which by Artie Kane.

[Datameister 2,042]

How do we know that those passages replaced other material? It's not uncommon for film composers to write cues that borrow measures from other cues (or earlier in the same cue), and the handwritten manuscripts often have material pasted in as a result. No sense in writing it out twice.

 

Truck Stop was obviously written early, but what evidence do we have that the other cues weren't always intended to borrow bars from it?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

17 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Well yes but who are we to throw such ugly labels about. Let's call it "study" of Williams' precious works. Extensive study.

 

We need one of those day-by-day incredibly granular reference books on Williams.

 

Like this one published for The Beatles (which I got as a Christmas present many years ago):

 

[Jay 37,352]

6 minutes ago, Datameister said:

How do we know that those passages replaced other material? It's not uncommon for film composers to write cues that borrow measures from other cues (or earlier in the same cue), and the handwritten manuscripts often have material pasted in as a result. No sense in writing it out twice.

 

Truck Stop was obviously written early, but what evidence do we have that the other cues weren't always intended to borrow bars from it?

 

You're right, we don't know anything for sure!

[Taikomochi 1,136]

I did think the Truck Stop quote in Horning In seemed relatively organic in how it transitions back into new material at its tail. I am not convinced it was just a cut and paste job but rather intended by Williams, unless someone else knows otherwise.

[Jay 37,352]

The sheet music literally has  bars from Truck Stop photocopied into it

 

But yes, you're right, it could have certainly always been intentional to reuse those brass passages, and photocopying was quicker for the team that re-writing it.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

33 minutes ago, Jay said:

Just like I'd like to know which JP cues were conducted by Williams, and which by Artie Kane.

 

Again, just something that's little more than mildly interesting.

[Josh500 1,615]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Just like I'd like to know which JP cues were conducted by Williams, and which by Artie Kane.

No way of knowing for sure, of course, but I'm pretty sure "Hungry Raptors" was conducted by AK. Just a gut feeling. 

 

By the way, is that a concert piece for the end credits or which scene was it meant to accompany? 

[Faleel 5,346]

Sattler in  shed....

[Jay 37,352]

1 hour ago, Josh500 said:

No way of knowing for sure, of course, but I'm pretty sure "Hungry Raptors" was conducted by AK. Just a gut feeling. 

 

By the way, is that a concert piece for the end credits or which scene was it meant to accompany? 

 

Are you... are you serious?

 

It's a cue from the film, of course.  See here:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hZY4hhCz-5NzbjKuPOx8R9Yb0iWnr4P4SwzG1-6VSTg/pubhtml

[Josh500 1,615]

42 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Are you... are you serious?

 

It's a cue from the film, of course.  See here:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hZY4hhCz-5NzbjKuPOx8R9Yb0iWnr4P4SwzG1-6VSTg/pubhtml

Oh yeah, thanks for the link! 

 

I'm a huge fan, but I'm not that much of an expert like you or many others here, I'm afraid. 

 

I guess I assumed "End Credits" subconsciously, because this piece was used as the end credits music for the JP documentary.