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Alien Nation: (Jerry Goldsmith/Curt Sobel) Although
the premise of
Alien Nation was successful enough to green-light
the production of several television incarnations along the same lines,
the original 1988 film is often forgotten because of its lack of
distinctive characteristics. The plot postulated that in the near
future, a few hundred thousand aliens (called "newcomers") take refuge
on Earth and assimilate into society. The Graham Baker film doesn't
attempt to explore the larger worldwide societal issues that such an
event might cause, but instead redirects the story to the confined
spectrum of a cop and buddy picture. A lonely officer, played by James
Caan, is a bigot in regards to the newcomers but is forced to reckon
with the assignment of one such alien to be his partner in the
investigation of his previous partner's slaying. On one hand, you have a
typical detective story, and on the other, you have comments about
prejudice that could have been equally explored (and have been countless
times) in more conventional ways. Only the fact that the aggrieved group
here is alien distinguishes
Alien Nation from the plethora of
similar films. By rooting the story in the short-term future,
Alien
Nation avoids all the expenditures of a science fiction tale,
instead opting to treat its subject matter in a much more down to earth
manner. That was in part the problem with the score provided for the
film by composer Jerry Goldsmith, who had written an impressive work for
Baker's
The Final Conflict several years prior. Goldsmith
approached the film as he had done once before for a futuristic cop
story,
Runaway, deciding to record an all-electronic score for
the picture. Ultimately, Goldsmith's music was likely too cold and
alienating to serve
Alien Nation, emphasizing the cultural divide
on screen rather than the urban, contemporary location and standard
detective elements. When Goldsmith was reportedly unavailable to
re-score the film, his music was completely dropped and veteran music
editor and novice composer Curt Sobel stepped in. Not only did
Alien
Nation end up with a predictably stale light rock and jazz score
from Sobel that did absolutely nothing to extend the fantasy aspect of
the film, but the experience turned out to be a tremendous blessing for
Goldsmith, who was not bothered by the rejection because he recognized
the poor quality of the film. In fact,
Alien Nation turned out to
be simply a practice run for one of the composer's greatest career
achievements.
Goldsmith once again performs the score solo, and of
his three purely synthetic efforts of the 1980's, this one is the most
interesting. The electronic textures of the score are engaging in places
and certainly an improvement over
Runaway and
Link.
Compare "Alien Dance" in this rejected score to the rejected cue "The
Rec Room" in
Outland to hear that Goldsmith had made significant
progress in applying his synthetic tones. Intriguingly, the ambience of
Alien Nation arguably has more in common with the composer's
1990's sound than his previous endeavors. It's still obnoxious in many
places, anonymous in others. An ominous title theme is punctuated by a
rising two-note progression that is liberally quoted throughout the
score and is treated much like the three-note motif that was so
effective in
Lionheart. Some of the wacky renditions of this
rising motif in
Alien Nation, especially detached from the rest
of the theme it forms, are striking in their unique character and
other-worldly demeanor. The action music is the weakest portion of the
score, sometimes revisiting the stinging and obnoxiously flat tone of
Runaway's most irritating staccato pounding on the keyboard. All
of this discussion about
Alien Nation's primary elements is
completely irrelevant, because for Goldsmith enthusiasts, this score is
all about one unlikely thing:
The Russia House. Indeed, for those
not familiar with the evolution of
The Russia House, learning
about the relevance of
Alien Nation to that classic score's
primary identity might seem bizarre, but Hollywood is full of such
strange circumstances. In 1987, Goldsmith wrote but never recorded a
heartbreaking theme of romance for Oliver Stone's
Wall Street.
After substantial disagreements with Stone, however, Goldsmith took the
theme with him and used it to represent the solitude of Caan's character
in
Alien Nation. Though hinted in "Alien Landing," Goldsmith
provides an eerily chilly synthetic sax rendition of this theme in "Take
it Easy" before unleashing its full character in light rock fashion in
"The Wedding" at the end. The progressions eventually changed in two
places over the length of the entire idea, but for the many lovers of
The Russia House, the theme is immediately recognizable (casual
listeners may not even notice a difference). The rejection of the score
for
Alien Nation allowed Goldsmith to take the theme with him
once again, translating it into its stunning jazzy incarnation in
The
Russia House.
Despite the hardships that Goldsmith experienced in the
middle to late 1980's in regards to the rejection of his music (led by
his masterful work for Ridley Scott's
Legend),
The Russia
House was not only the kind of highly personal and redemptive
assignment that the composer had been waiting for, but also an
opportunity to beautifully apply a defining theme that he would later
declare as one of the personal favorites of his career. He would even
adapt an altered version of the melody for the end of
The
Vanishing a couple of years later. Some might argue that to label
Alien Nation as simply a footnote to
The Russia House is
unfair to the former score. But let's face it,
Alien Nation is a
somewhat mindless two-star score at best and
The Russia House is
considered by many Goldsmith collectors to be a classic on the level of
Hoosiers and
Under Fire in terms of emotive quality. For a
long time, few fans had the opportunity to hear this rough draft of the
theme on album. Sobel's score never received a full album release, nor
should it have; such generic muck exists in abundance and is
indistinguishable from elevator music stereotypes. Goldsmith enthusiasts
had long circulated bootlegs of
Alien Nation (going back to the
very early days of CDr's), but these roughly 40-minute presentations
almost always featured extremely unsatisfying sound quality. Their
purpose was to simply give listeners a feel for what the film was
ultimately missing. In 2005, with the death of Goldsmith still fresh in
mind, Varèse Sarabande released 47 minutes of
Alien Nation
in perfect sound quality. The 3,000-copy pressing sold out quickly,
likely taking advantage of collectors eager to hear six minutes of what
amounts to a demo recording of the favorite theme. This material is
appealing on the strength of the melody and not necessarily because of
the cold or pop-like renderings; only the tingling flow of metallic
effects in the background connect the two highly disparate scores'
performances. Outside of these six minutes,
Alien Nation isn't
worth exploring unless you're attempting to maintain a complete
collection of the composer's works (or liked
Runaway for some
reason). Goldsmith has done far worse on his synthesizers, but those
keyboards and their associated sounds are still much more powerful when
merged with a symphonic ensemble. Overall, if
The Russia House
melts your heart every time, then allow your loyalty to that score the
luxury of this album's rough foreshadowing of that classic.
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| Bias Check: | For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.26 (in 113 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.28
(in 136,449 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The 2005 album's insert includes extensive information about the score and film.
