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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you adore John Williams' whimsy for patriotism and adventure like that which you'd hear in his countless concert pieces of the 1980's and 1990's. Avoid it... if the sticker shock of the rare album is not worth poorly recorded Williams music that would be more finely tuned in future works. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
In the mid-1980's, Williams discovered this highly patriotic style of concert writing that would eventually lead to specialty themes such as "Liberty Fanfare," "Celebrate Discovery," "Jubilee 350," his Olympics work, and even the "Mission" theme for NBC news. In his film scores, this style of writing would debut in SpaceCamp and forever be best represented by that score. Between the concert track and the finale, Williams' patriotic writing is at its very best. The grandeur and exuberance of these fully orchestral statements of broad, hopeful themes are what define Williams' career, and these two similarly-minded performances in SpaceCamp save the score from its otherwise average underscore. Despite Williams' best intentions, much of this score dwells in non-description regions of Williams' writing that takes considerable pages from his disaster scores of the early 1970's as well as some of the lesser interesting underscore from the original Star Wars. The suspense presented in the latter half of the score ("White Sands" is very similar in style to Jurassic Park) fails to state itself with effectiveness, with flat performances and poor recording quality hindering significant portions of the score. Once spoiled by the brass fanfares of the title theme, the training cues do their best to mute their heroism with restrained, but still hopeful brass solos. The identity of the kids really isn't addressed, even in the woodwind and string interludes over flowing harp; Williams seems to have his sights set on the expanse of space and little else. The only exception is the outrageously dated "Training Montage" cue in which Williams poorly attempts a modern light rock rhythm with a drum machine. The remainder of his score is pleasing, although we've heard every element of the music rendered with better results in other works, on screen or in concert. There are several outstanding moments in SpaceCamp, but a flat recording and lack of stylish performance are the ultimate downfall. A CD album was never released until 1992, when a limited, 1,000 copy run was produced in Japan. This BMG/RCA "club" album escalated rapidly in value and has sold in auction for over $200. While the score would be a very strong find as a used-CD, or even at new CD bargain prices, its outdated sound and lack of distinct ideas reduce its attractiveness. It's an admirable effort from Williams, with two incredible cues, but you'll hear everything in SpaceCamp to a much finer degree in other places. ***
The insert includes the following notes about the score and film by John Williams:
The story embraces the excitement of discovery and the exultation of being on the edge of a great new frontier -- a frontier which presents unparalleled opportunity for all of us. In the film our student astronauts are presented a daunting challenge as they make their first flight into space. They rise to this challenge brilliantly and experience that first great flush of success that is the result of their hard work and courage. The movie also brings us some of the wonderful atmosphere and ambience of NASA and of the great effort involved in the exploration of space. Our entire country -- the whole world, in fact -- feels a sense of inspiration from this great endeavor and, despite setbacks and growing pains, the space program continues to be one of our country's most lustrous success stories. In composing the music for the film, I've tried to express the exhiliration of this adventure in an orchestral idiom that would be direct and accessible... speaking directly to the "heart" of the matter. I feel honored to have been asked to compose this score, and I feel particularly proud of my association with SpaceCamp and its creators." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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