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| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
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1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... (the 2000 Decca album) if you want to do a definitive study of one of the most effective scores of all time, or buy the 2000 re-recording if you want to hear that classic music in digital sound. Avoid it... (all the albums) if you recognize, like many fans do, that it is a great score in the film, but not the most pleasant or cohesive listening experience on album. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
There is no debate about the functionality of the music in the film. Part of the film's dominant success was due, directly, to the score. The ingenious idea of using the mindless two-note progression to represent the shark is effectively applied to the score by its speed or even by its absence. The two-note progression matches perfectly the blood pressure of the shark --not the audience. Many people mistakenly believe that the theme was meant to mirror the horror level of the audience. In fact, the theme represents the internalized zeal of the shark itself --a flow that Williams and Spielberg allow the audience to listen in on. The theme speeds up as the shark gets excited, and the theme is absent from scenes in which the shark isn't anywhere near, most notably in the false alarm scenes of mistaken identity. The shark's primitive and brutal hunting inclinations make the musically simplistic two-note theme into the embodiment of the shark that Spielberg had struggled to obtain with the actual physical shark that he had built for the film. Even if you see a fin in the water, if Williams' theme isn't heard, then there's no reason to worry or panic. Accompanying the title theme is a pleasant, if not jubilant theme for the cozy beach town of Amity, one which provides a handful of thematic bursts that serve as early evidence of Williams' talent for capturing the Americana spirit. The enjoyable outbursts of action music as the Orca sails off and chases the shark are highlighted by the cue "Man Against Beast," which prompted Williams to compare that lengthy duel as having a "pirate spirit" that necessitated music the rolled along with sport and entertainment. Williams slowly takes that sporting spirit and transfers it into one of increasing panic and desperation as the Orca comes under life-threatening attack, until the ultimate timpani roll you hear as the decapitated shark's blood fills the ocean waters. Despite the awesome power and effectiveness of the score as heard in the film, the music doesn't make for one of Williams' better albums. The flighty adventure on the high seas during the chase sequence offers the only really listenable material on album. Who wants to sit and listen to the shark's theme on snowy day in Montana? Many people have suggested correctly that Williams' Jaws 2 is a better listening experience on album. The original Jaws score exists in three recordings. The original LP and 1992 CD feature about half an hour of music that Williams rearranged and re-recorded for the sole purposes of the album, and this was for a long time the only available music from the picture. In 2000, a sudden flurry of activity included the announcement by Varèse Sarabande that Joel McNeely would be conducting the Royal Scottish Orchestra in a performance of the entire Jaws score to be released later that year. Before that could be released, however, Universal decided to hasten a project of releasing the entire original 51 minutes of Jaws music --not the re-recordings done in 1975-- on an album to coincide with the much hyped collector's DVD release (25th anniversary) of the film. For the casual fan of John Williams, your best bet would be the 2000 remastered release of the original Jaws score. If sound quality is your concern, then the RSO re-recording might be best, though the intimate danger experienced by the original Jaws themes is lost a bit by the echoing sound of the large, modern performance. That re-recording does feature some different tempos during key sequences, and this may bother listeners who are very familiar with the original. The old 1992 album would be only advisable for the most devoted Williams fans. Note that Williams had a direct say in how the music was presented on the 1992 and 2000 releases of original Jaws music, so cues will be rearranged and renamed in parts of those albums. Overall, outside of two or three cues, Jaws is not something you can sit and listen to for any great length of time. For fans of Williams' work on CD, you may be better served by avoiding Jaws altogether and seeking a more thematically pleasant score. Nevertheless, the score's construct as heard in the film is one of genius.
Score as heard on the 1992 MCA Records album: *** Score as heard on the 2000 Decca Records album: ***** Score as heard on the 2000 Varèse Sarabande re-recording: **** Overall: *****
* Previously unreleased ** includes unreleased music + includes music not used in the film
The packaging of the albums is extensive; if you want Jaws information, these albums are very informative about the film and score. The 2000 Re-recording contains the complete score with cues in the order in which they appeared in the film; Jown Williams rearranged the other two albums' cues to his liking. The 2000 Re-recording album's liner does contain a few errors in the track title names during its commentary by Michael McDonagh and Robert Townson. The Decca album contains notes from Williams, Spielberg, and music producer Laurent Bouzereau. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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