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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
It is therefore appropriate that John Williams scored the film. Williams had worked with Allen several times in the past, reaching all the way back to Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants television scores, and including, of course, The Poseidon Adventure. Aside from Allen, Williams would become the "Master of Disaster Scores" by also composing for Earthquake and Black Sunday. Even with all of these disaster scores under his belt, it is The Towering Inferno that stands tall as Williams' greatest score for the genre. Williams was already in the position to pull some weight with the studio and director as of 1974, and it was his idea to showcase the score so prominently during the opening helicopter sequence. A highlight of the film, the first five minutes of the score, consisting of one of Williams' best adventure themes of all time, march across the screen almost unimpeded, leading up the magnificent view of the massive tower standing at the heart of San Francisco. While the entire film would pass before the theme would receive another lengthy performance of bravado height, the inclusion of this landmark title theme is likely worth the cost of the album for many Williams collectors. The final two tracks, dealing with the aftermath of the fire, showcase some great shots of the charred and mangled tower, and Williams' score once again swells to magnificence. A brilliant subtheme is restored to magnificence for the album; the "Let There Be Light" fanfare introduces the opening of the building with one of the better statements of brass by Williams. The lengthy film launches right into the action quickly, not dabbling around in an excess of character development before the fire ignites. In fact, most of the great character scenes are interspersed throughout the stressful trials of the ordeal, which is one of the greater points of the film (also of positive note is the fact that Allen isn't afraid of killing off major, sympathetic characters --but we won't spoil things here). Williams handles the mass of suspense and dramatic material in the middle of the film with creative percussive uses, highlighted by the very first ignition of the fire. During these early tracks, Williams also extends his talents for providing casual pop rhythms to place the film in contemporary time. What's most interesting about these "contemporary" cues is that they don't 'stink', per se, of outdated early 70's style as much as they could have, allowing the score to hold a more timeless personality. As stated by FSM, this score would have been very similar had Williams composed it in 1994. The Maureen McGovern song was the highlight of the music for the film in 1974, gaining songwriters Kasha and Hirschhorn an Academy Award win for "We May Never Love Like This Again" and catapulted the album's success much in the same way "The Morning After" did for The Poseidon Adventure. Williams once again incorporates the song into his own material, translating it into one of the two love themes for the film. The other love theme (both of which sadly doomed as the story would progress) is equally strong, evoking some powerfully emotional moments in the middle sequence of the film and score. The LP record that exists for The Towering Inferno still stands on may film music collectors' shelves, twenty-seven years after its initial release. The reason for the lengthy delay in the transferring of this score to CD undoubtedly rests in the duality of the studio ownership of everything related to the film. Album producers Lukas Kendall and Nick Redman managed to acquire nearly the entire score for presentation on this album, and although a few incidental cues were lost due to damage, the CD contains twice the amount of music as the original LP. So complete is the album that a section of bonus tracks is offered at the end, including the original album re-recording of the song (the film version is presented as well). With "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure ironically playing as background source The Towering Inferno, the instrumental from that is provided as well. Finally, a few of the more damaged cues are offered for completists. But the first twenty-two tracks have been meticulously arranged in their film sequence, and the album reaches an astonishing 75 minutes in length when tallied with the bonus material. The sound quality is as to be expected for the early 70's --slightly tinny and muted-- but silver age fans have come to look beyond the results of older recording technologies. The packaging of the album is nothing short of spectacular, explaining the complexities of the film's production and a cue by cue analysis, along with intriguing concept art and a fascinating, if not spooky, picture of the entire major cast of 10 walking arm in arm down the studio lot. Overall, this is the The Towering Inferno album that Williams fans have been dreaming about for decades, and it is by far the crowning achievement of Film Score Monthly's growing enterprise of Silver Age Classics albums. *****
Insert contains lengthy notes about the movie, score, and composer by Jeff Eldridge and Lukas Kendall, as well as numerous concept art and shots from the production. "We May Never Love Like This Again" and "The Morning After" by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. Vocals by Maureen McGovern. The CD track "Helicopter Explosion (damaged)" is different from the LP track of a similar name. The CD track is for the actual music for the helicopter explosion, while the LP track was for other scenes -- this LP music is not damaged and has been redistributed into "Helicopter Rescue" and "The First Victims." The tracks "Trapped Lovers" and "Finale" have more music than on the previous LP. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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