I started a chronological rundown of my ENTIRE Goldsmith collection on August 18th. All 115 scores that I owned/knew the location of at the start of the survey (films, tv seasons, tv movies, and miniseries) were in-scope. And yes, that included the multiple album programs that some of them have (film versions, LP recordings, subsequent re-recordings). Initial assessments of the recently unpacked Thriller Vol. 1 and the recently purchased The Don is Dead were deferred for post-survey listening (so, apologies, I cannot comment on the synth noodling in the latter work...yet).

I tried listening to other stuff so I didn't get fatigue. But as a result it took over a month to do the whole thing!

Honestly, not a TON of movement happened. I was already fairly familiar with most of these, and in what should be news to, like, no one, Jerry wrote a lot of really good stuff in every decade he composed during.

A few scores got dropped a half rating, namely some **** works that were more like 'guilty pleasure' ***1/2 works (here's looking at you, Extreme Prejudice). I liked older stuff like The List of Adrian Messenger and The Going Up Of David Lev more than I recalled. Seconds gained a full star; it's still not one of his most listenable works in my book, but it didn't deserve a 'poor' rating. A lot of early-mid period Goldsmith 'Americana' scores (many of which sort of function like harmonica concertos) do tend to blend together.

Probably the only monumental shift occurred with QB VII, which gained a half star and jumped into my JG top 10, courtesy of blasting the full Prometheus rerecording CD on a good sound system.

All listed below by rating and order of preference. Rating drops identified. Feel free to applaud, debate, hate on, and/or ignore.

***** (the top 10)
Under Fire
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
The Wind and the Lion
Legend (U.S. rejected / European cut)
Patton
Lionheart (1987)
Hoosiers
QB VII +1/2
The Russia House
Total Recall (1990)

***** (the rest)
First Knight
The Omen (1976)
The Blue Max +1/2
The Shadow
Mulan (1998)
Poltergeist (1982)
Planet of the Apes (1968)

****½ (round up to 5)
The Secret of NIMH
Rambo: First Blood Part 2
Masada (parts 1 & 2)
The Ghost and the Darkness
The Sand Pebbles -1/2
Papillon (1973)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
First Blood

****½ (round down to 4)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Rudy
The Mummy (1999)
The Final Conflict
Rambo III
The ‘Burbs
Basic Instinct
The Swarm
Night Crossing
Rio Conchos
Star Trek: Insurrection
Medicine Man

****
Gremlins
The Red Pony (1973) -1/2
Take a Hard Ride
Capricorn One
The 13th Warrior
Islands in the Stream -1/2
In Harm’s Way
Explorers
Lonely Are the Brave
A Patch of Blue
Small Soldiers
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Timeline (rejected)
Star Trek: First Contact
The Edge
The Haunting
The Boys From Brazil
Ransom (1975) / The Terrorists
The Going Up of David Lev +1/2
The List of Adrian Messenger +1/2
The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint
The Flim-Flam Man
The Chairman
Contract on Cherry Street

***½ (round up to 4)
Extreme Prejudice
100 Rifles
Air Force One
Supergirl
The Great Train Robbery / The First Great Train Robbery
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Sum of All Fears
Damnation Alley
A Gathering of Eagles
Barnaby Jones Season 1 “Requiem for a Son” -1/2
Innerspace
Forever Young
Hour of the Gun
The Salamander
Alien
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 2 'Jonah and the Whale' -1/2
Damien: Omen II
King Solomon’s Mines (1985)
Leviathan (1989)

***½ (round down to 3)
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend
Wild Rovers
Logan’s Run +1/2
Chinatown
Lilies of the Field -1/2
Star Trek: Nemesis
Chain Reaction
Magic
A Girl Named Sooner
Seconds +1
The Prize
Powder
Raggedy Man
Bad Girls
The Twilight Zone Season 2 “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room”, “The Invaders”, “Jazz Theme #2”

***
Bandolero!
Stagecoach (1966)
The River Wild
In Like Flint -1/2
Our Man Flint
Warning Shot (1967) -1/2
L.A. Confidential -1/2
Love Field
Sleeping with the Enemy -1/2
High Velocity
Freud
U.S. Marshals
I.Q.
Matinee
The Stripper -1/2
The Homecoming: A Christmas Story
Cain’s Hundred Season 1 (four episodes) -1/2
Nick Quarry (unaired pilot)
Archer (1975) Season 1 “Shades of Blue”

**1/2
Escape from the Planet of the Apes -1/2

Love me a good Goldsmith list.

Mostly I agree, with my rankingsa withing a star or so of yours, however here are my objections:
Chinatown - definitely a 5* masterpiece and am shocked to see it wallowing in the 3's. Wallowing, I say.
Red Pony - down a half? Have you no soul?
I.Q. - that is a high score for the Godlsmith score I enjoy the least.
L.A. Confidential - waaaay better than I.Q.
Escape - feels like a harsh score. I understand why but the more I listen to it, the more I enjoy it.

> Chinatown - definitely a 5* masterpiece and am shocked to see it wallowing in the 3's. Wallowing, I say.
Wallowing indeed!

It's a short score with
- a very good/great main theme that doesn't undergo a ton of variation
- an otherwise low-key suspense program that's fine but also not terribly distinctive relative to Goldsmith's other such scores from the era.

It's undoubtedly effective. But it is does feel very much like the last-minute replacement score it is.

> Red Pony - down a half? Have you no soul?
I think this had to do with how Goldsmith's 'Americana' works from the 60s and 70s somewhat blend together. And it's not the equal of Copland's take on an earlier film version of the story, a score I rate ****1/2.

Also, if we're comparing Westerns, it was a tad below the echelon I slotted Rio Conchos into.

1973 is perhaps an underrated year for the composer; everyone knows Papillon and many know the Barnaby Jones theme, but The Red Pony and The Going Up Of David Lev are both very good scores that I wish more people were familiar with.

> I.Q. - that is a high score for the Goldsmith score I enjoy the least.
The doo-wop vocals, the 'oh so Jerry in the 90s' pleasant theme, freakin' Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...by all rights I shouldn't like it, and yet it puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. The creative silliness is slightly preferred to the more straightforward Matinee and the 'anyone else could've wrote this in the 1960s' feel of The Stripper.

Its pairing with Seconds on CD is perhaps the STRANGEST combination of scores ever.

> L.A. Confidential - waaaay better than I.Q.
Outside of the thrills of the first track and the elegance of the final one, I found very little to enjoy this time around. The middle tracks often felt like they were cycling through Goldsmith's turbulent suspense mannerisms from the decade without doing anything terribly distinctive.

If this score and its main theme that's heavily indebted to On The Waterfront WEREN'T attached to a classic film I doubt folks would feel the same about them.

> Escape - feels like a harsh score. I understand why but the more I listen to it, the more I enjoy it.
It used to have a lower rating when it was attached as a suite to the VS Planet of the Apes release. Then I got the full score and raised it a bit. Now I guess I'm in the middle. Outside of the jagged rhythms of the first track there isn't a lot I enjoy or even appreciate about the score.

That Jerry was able to write ANYTHING functional for this oddly structured film is perhaps a minor miracle. But on album it alternates between irritating me and losing my attention, and it remains perhaps the only work I've heard by Jerry that doesn't really work.

That said, it's DEFINITELY better than Rosenman's bizarre 'Beneath' score (and its hilariously rock-infused LP recording) and Scott's 'amateur hour' 'Conquest' score.

> It's a short score with
> - a very good/great main theme that doesn't undergo a ton of variation
> - an otherwise low-key suspense program that's fine but also not terribly
> distinctive relative to Goldsmith's other such scores from the era.
> It's undoubtedly effective. But it is does feel very much like the
> last-minute replacement score it is.

I disagree, this is one that soars above the last-minute replacement that lead to it. It creates the mood of the film with the unusual orchestrations and unusual use of instruments tat in almost any other scenario would come off as a cheap trick but here manages to gel with the picture brilliantly. I have Chinatown in my top ten for Goldsmith.

> I think this had to do with how Goldsmith's 'Americana' works from the 60s
> and 70s somewhat blend together. And it's not the equal of Copland's take
> on an earlier film version of the story, a score I rate ****1/2.
> Also, if we're comparing Westerns, it was a tad below the echelon I
> slotted Rio Conchos into.
> 1973 is perhaps an underrated year for the composer; everyone knows
> Papillon and many know the Barnaby Jones theme, but The Red Pony and The
> Going Up Of David Lev are both very good scores that I wish more people
> were familiar with.

Goldsmith's Red Pony works for me more emotionally than Copland's and rate both of them 5*. I put it above Rio Conchos, but can understand how you might rate that higher as it is phenomenal, especially on the Intrada re-recording. David Lev is also excellent, I manged to nab that cheaply on e-bay late last year and have been enjoying it immensely.

> The doo-wop vocals, the 'oh so Jerry in the 90s' pleasant theme, freakin'
> Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...by all rights I shouldn't like it, and yet
> it puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. The creative
> silliness is slightly preferred to the more straightforward Matinee and
> the 'anyone else could've wrote this in the 1960s' feel of The Stripper.
> Its pairing with Seconds on CD is perhaps the STRANGEST combination of
> scores ever.
Definitely a strange pairing and I never listen to them together. His scores in this period for Fred Scepisi are odd and never approach the heights of The Russia House. Six Degrees of Separation (stupid '90s album with dialogue quibbles aside) and Fierce Creatures each have nice moments but are not a great listen overall. But none are as bad a The Lonely Guy which is only saved by a few stand out tracks of brilliance.

> Outside of the thrills of the first track and the elegance of the final
> one, I found very little to enjoy this time around. The middle tracks
> often felt like they were cycling through Goldsmith's turbulent suspense
> mannerisms from the decade without doing anything terribly distinctive.
> If this score and its main theme that's heavily indebted to On The
> Waterfront WEREN'T attached to a classic film I doubt folks would feel the
> same about them.

L.A. Confidential to me is the'90s Chinatown for me and yes it is heavily indebted to On the Waterfront but what Jerry does with that idea is so good I do not mind.

> It used to have a lower rating when it was attached as a suite to the VS
> Planet of the Apes release. Then I got the full score and raised it a bit.
> Now I guess I'm in the middle. Outside of the jagged rhythms of the first
> track there isn't a lot I enjoy or even appreciate about the score.
> That Jerry was able to write ANYTHING functional for this oddly structured
> film is perhaps a minor miracle. But on album it alternates between
> irritating me and losing my attention, and it remains perhaps the only
> work I've heard by Jerry that doesn't really work.
> That said, it's DEFINITELY better than Rosenman's bizarre 'Beneath' score
> (and its hilariously rock-infused LP recording) and Scott's 'amateur hour'
> 'Conquest' score.

Rosenman's Beneath is Beneath discussion and that LP is one of the most bizarre things to have ever emerged from the world of film music. Fascinating bizarre but still awful. I think Escape form PoTA works a whole lot better than, say, The Lonely Guy, aside from the early '70's feel to some of the early cues, I really enjoy the second half of the score and Jerry continues his tradition of writing stand out cues titled "The Hunt" but yes the best track is the opening, by far.

Wow ! that's a nice collection of Goldsmith score !
While I have heard many of those, I only have like 15 scores from the master, so always happy to see the nice albums I can add to my collection.
One of mine is missing in your list: Hollow Man. While it's not anywhere near its best effort, it still is a guilty pleasure for me as I was discovering his work and style at the time.

Cheers,

Jerome

> I started a chronological rundown of my ENTIRE Goldsmith collection on
> August 18th. All 115 scores that I owned/knew the location of at the start
> of the survey (films, tv seasons, tv movies, and miniseries) were
> in-scope. And yes, that included the multiple album programs that some of
> them have (film versions, LP recordings, subsequent re-recordings).
> Initial assessments of the recently unpacked Thriller Vol. 1 and the
> recently purchased The Don is Dead were deferred for post-survey listening
> (so, apologies, I cannot comment on the synth noodling in the latter
> work...yet).

> I tried listening to other stuff so I didn't get fatigue. But as a result
> it took over a month to do the whole thing!

> Honestly, not a TON of movement happened. I was already fairly familiar
> with most of these, and in what should be news to, like, no one, Jerry
> wrote a lot of really good stuff in every decade he composed during.

> A few scores got dropped a half rating, namely some **** works that were
> more like 'guilty pleasure' ***1/2 works (here's looking at you, Extreme
> Prejudice). I liked older stuff like The List of Adrian Messenger and The
> Going Up Of David Lev more than I recalled. Seconds gained a full star;
> it's still not one of his most listenable works in my book, but it didn't
> deserve a 'poor' rating. A lot of early-mid period Goldsmith 'Americana'
> scores (many of which sort of function like harmonica concertos) do tend
> to blend together.

> Probably the only monumental shift occurred with QB VII, which gained a
> half star and jumped into my JG top 10, courtesy of blasting the full
> Prometheus rerecording CD on a good sound system.

> All listed below by rating and order of preference. Rating drops
> identified. Feel free to applaud, debate, hate on, and/or ignore.

> ***** (the top 10)
> Under Fire
> Star Trek: The Motion Picture
> The Wind and the Lion
> Legend (U.S. rejected / European cut)
> Patton
> Lionheart (1987)
> Hoosiers
> QB VII +1/2
> The Russia House
> Total Recall (1990)

Still can't fathom the love of Total Recall and Patton, outside their fantastic main themes/opening cues. Also think Wind and the Lion is a bit overpraised, but whatev's, still damn good.

> ***** (the rest)
> First Knight
> The Omen (1976)
> The Blue Max +1/2
> The Shadow
> Mulan (1998)
> Poltergeist (1982)
> Planet of the Apes (1968)

Can't disagree much, except that Apes I find a lot more fun to talk about than actually listen to. Also, why do people love Poltergeist so damn much???

> ****½ (round up to 5)
> The Secret of NIMH
> Rambo: First Blood Part 2
> Masada (parts 1 & 2)
> The Ghost and the Darkness
> The Sand Pebbles -1/2
> Papillon (1973)
> Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
> First Blood

> ****½ (round down to 4)
> Gremlins 2: The New Batch
> Rudy
> The Mummy (1999)
> The Final Conflict
> Rambo III
> The ‘Burbs
> Basic Instinct
> The Swarm
> Night Crossing
> Rio Conchos
> Star Trek: Insurrection
> Medicine Man

Rudy definitely needed to be in that top 10. Fo sho.

> ****
> Gremlins
> The Red Pony (1973) -1/2
> Take a Hard Ride
> Capricorn One
> The 13th Warrior
> Islands in the Stream -1/2
> In Harm’s Way
> Explorers
> Lonely Are the Brave
> A Patch of Blue
> Small Soldiers
> Twilight Zone: The Movie
> Timeline (rejected)
> Star Trek: First Contact
> The Edge
> The Haunting
> The Boys From Brazil
> Ransom (1975) / The Terrorists
> The Going Up of David Lev +1/2
> The List of Adrian Messenger +1/2
> The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint
> The Flim-Flam Man
> The Chairman
> Contract on Cherry Street

Wow, I haven't heard any of the last, like, five or six things you listed there haha.

> ***½ (round up to 4)
> Extreme Prejudice
> 100 Rifles
> Air Force One
> Supergirl
> The Great Train Robbery / The First Great Train Robbery
> Tora! Tora! Tora!
> The Sum of All Fears
> Damnation Alley
> A Gathering of Eagles
> Barnaby Jones Season 1 “Requiem for a Son” -1/2
> Innerspace
> Forever Young
> Hour of the Gun
> The Salamander
> Alien
> Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 2 'Jonah and the Whale' -1/2
> Damien: Omen II
> King Solomon’s Mines (1985)
> Leviathan (1989)

I'd definitely rate Sum of All Fears and Air Force One higher than 3.5/5. Agreed with lots of others though.

> ***½ (round down to 3)
> Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend
> Wild Rovers
> Logan’s Run +1/2
> Chinatown
> Lilies of the Field -1/2
> Star Trek: Nemesis
> Chain Reaction
> Magic
> A Girl Named Sooner
> Seconds +1
> The Prize
> Powder
> Raggedy Man
> Bad Girls
> The Twilight Zone Season 2 “Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room”, “The
> Invaders”, “Jazz Theme #2”

Take it from someone who also used to rate Chinatown 3.5/5 -- you're wrong!!! Hop on the Chinatown train, buddy, it's wonderful.

> ***
> Bandolero!
> Stagecoach (1966)
> The River Wild
> In Like Flint -1/2
> Our Man Flint
> Warning Shot (1967) -1/2
> L.A. Confidential -1/2
> Love Field
> Sleeping with the Enemy -1/2
> High Velocity
> Freud
> U.S. Marshals
> I.Q.
> Matinee
> The Stripper -1/2
> The Homecoming: A Christmas Story
> Cain’s Hundred Season 1 (four episodes) -1/2
> Nick Quarry (unaired pilot)
> Archer (1975) Season 1 “Shades of Blue”

Awh! LA Confidential is awesome, man!!

> **1/2
> Escape from the Planet of the Apes -1/2

Yeah, recently watched the film and was shocked his name was on it. Didn't sound like a Goldsmith score at all.

This was fun, cheers bud!

> Can't disagree much, except that Apes I find a lot more fun to talk about than actually listen to.
Yeah, though it's an astonishing achievement, it's definitely in the 'easier to appreciate than to enjoy' camp. 'The Hunt' though...yowza.

All that aside, OG Apes music is SO MUCH BETTER than the other scores from the 70s incarnations of the franchise (the 4 sequels plus the TV show). Like, is the relatively anonymous 'Battle' just the best one by default because it's the least obnoxious?

> Also, why do people love Poltergeist so damn much???
Great main theme + bunch of really good sub-themes + dense action/horror tracks that unfurl like puzzle boxes. It was in my Goldsmith top 10 before this survey. In fact, I think it was in my Goldsmith top 3 and scored above E.T. at one point (maybe around a decade ago when I started REALLY exploring the man's output).

I did drop it a bit this go-round. Some of the material is quite similar to what he wrote for other sci fi / fantasy works at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks think V'Ger showed up during the rescue sequence. And the out-and-out chaos of 'Escape From Suburbia' doesn't impress as much as the earlier extended musical set pieces.

Still, it's marvelous. And it's the crown jewel of a year that also had First Blood, Night Crossing, and N.I.M.H.

> Rudy definitely needed to be in that top 10. Fo sho.
Short, supremely effective score. Might place higher if it did more than (crass oversimplification) just toggle between its two stellar primary ideas. Expanded score probably wouldn't help there though; if memory serves the only truly 'missing' highlight is a rare downbeat take on the main theme that occurs mid-film.

> Wow, I haven't heard any of the last, like, five or six things you listed there haha.
My pick among those would be The Going Up of David Lev, which is on streaming services and has an (I think) in-print CD from BSX. Program out the Topol songs and you have a a charming small-scale work that toggles between jaunty rhythms and some moments of sublime beauty. 'The Legend' is an exceptional closing track.

It's essentially a tune-up for Jerry's massive Jewish TV epics to come. It doesn't hit the heights of those works, but I still enjoy revisiting it every so often.

> I'd definitely rate Sum of All Fears and Air Force One higher than 3.5/5. Agreed with lots of others though.
Air Force One benefits way more from expansion than SOAF does, though arguably that's due to the inclusion of McNeely's material. Both works have at least one riveting highlight ('The Mission' and 'The Hijacking') and some dope use of choir for their Eastern European moments.

But both suffer from having a lot of pedestrian, somewhat mundane suspense material in their midsections. I like the AFO Deluxe Edition, but one can only take so many statements of the first two notes of the Russian theme before going 'this AGAIN?!?!' (assuming you aren't already asleep by this point).