> I think John Williams writes solid memorable and exciting themes but his
> scores are more of an afterthought and are not that listenable. His
> writing style has an upbeat and sacharine quality to it which is
> detrimental and works against him.
To me Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard
> Herrmann are the true greatest composers of all time. They excelled at not
> only writing great themes but pioneered all sorts of scoring techniques.
> Star Wars is remarkable for only the themes and nothing else.

I fully agree on this. No doubt, John Williams has written several great themes in my opinion, such as Superman main theme, Indiana Jones, E.T. etc. The themes are great, but the rest of the scores - I don't know. I have been listening to the music of John Williams for several years and I still can't find anything worth listening except the themes. His scores are overrated indeed. To me, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and Christopher Franke(music of Babylon 5) are the composers of all time.