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Jurassic Park
(1993)
Album Cover Art
1993 MCA Records
2013 Geffen Records
Album 2 Cover Art
2016 La-La Land
Album 3 Cover Art
2022 La-La Land
Album 4 Cover Art
Composed, Conducted, and Produced by:

Orchestrated by:
John Neufeld
Alexander Courage
Conrad Pope
Labels Icon
LABELS & RELEASE DATES
MCA Records/Universal
(May 25th, 1993)

Geffen Records
(April 9th, 2013)

La-La Land Records
(November 29th, 2016)

La-La Land Records
(July 5th, 2022)
Availability Icon
ALBUM AVAILABILITY
The 1993 MCA album is a regular U.S. release. There was also a limited edition picture disc released with identical contents. The picture disc had a slightly different cover and the CD itself has the Jurassic Park logo in shades of blue as well as the island itself. Since that limited edition CD has no extra music, its value is not above $20.

The 2013 expanded Geffen album is a regular commercial product but not available as a CD release. It was offered first as a lossy MP3 download and then later as a high-resolution download through outlets offering that option.

The 2016 La-La Land set, titled "The John Williams Jurassic Park Collection," is limited to 5,000 copies and sold at soundtrack specialty outlets for a retail price of $60. Over 90% of its production run had sold within the first 16 months of release. This score alone was re-released by La-La Land in 2022 as a pressing of 5,000 copies with an initial price of $30.
Awards
AWARDS
Nominated for a Grammy Award.
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ALSO SEE





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Availability | Awards | Viewer Ratings | Comments | Audio & Track Listings | Notes
Buy it... if you are prepared for a superior John Williams crossover score that connects the high-flying fantasy of his early 1980's triumphs with the more complex rhythms, instrumentation, and density of his 1990's works.

Avoid it... on the heavily rearranged edits of the score for the 1993 and 2013 albums if you can obtain the 2016 or 2022 sets that finally offer the complete, chronological presentation of this large-scale adventure and horror classic.
Review Icon
EDITORIAL REVIEW
FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #12
WRITTEN 9/24/96, REVISED 11/8/22
Williams
Williams
Jurassic Park: (John Williams) With Michael Crichton's fabulously outlandish adventure story, the spectacular digital and live action effects of Industrial Light and Magic, and an odd assortment of entertaining character-actors, Steven Spielberg led the charge of Jurassic Park to immense box office returns that would spawn continued journeys back to the resurrected land of the dinosaurs in sequels to come. Budding DNA technology of the era made postulation about the reconstruction of dinosaurs a viable topic for mainstream imaginations, and Crichton took that thought down its natural commercial route, speculating that if dinosaurs were to be reborn in captivity, they would probably be exploited for profit in a zoo or amusement park. Needless to say, no adventure entry like this could pass without the natural horror element at its side, and before long, a nasty storm causes the safety mechanisms of "Jurassic Park" to fail and the monsters are unleashed upon the humans of the island. Spielberg expertly balanced the wonder of the concept with outright horror and a touch of humor, even going so far as to depict a T-Rex snatching a convenient human munchie directly off a toilet. The mania that surrounded Jurassic Park in 1993 was extraordinary, lines wrapping around theatres for an extended time and the media enamored by all the hype. The movie represented significant advancements in sound technology for theatres, introducing the world to DTS experiences to accompany the stunning visuals. The qualified success of Jurassic Park, in all its domination of the summer of 1993, somehow managed to leave famed composer John Williams behind. Despite a score of Herculean scale for Jurassic Park, Williams overshadowed his effort for Isla Nublar by composing Schindler's List later in the same year, a score that not only swept every major award for 1993, but is considered by many film score veterans to be among the most effective single film scores of the digital age. So outstanding was the reception to these two monumental scores that Williams would conduct them in concerts throughout 1994 and take a break from scoring assignments while doing so.

Compared to the great action themes that Williams has etched into the minds of mainstream movie-goers through the years, Jurassic Park remained surprisingly anonymous by comparison, with its bold identity rarely heard in public performances since the franchise's original trilogy reached its sputtering conclusion at the cinemas many years later. This does not mean, however, that Jurassic Park is no less a score; it was, and will always be, one of John Williams' most impressive masterpieces, despite the tepid criticism of the work that you may encounter from even the most veteran film score reviewers. With Jurassic Park, Williams was given an opportunity to merge nearly every one of his dominant compositional styles of the early 1990's, a fantastic era for the composer, by all accounts, into one momentous product. And in the process of rolling all of these styles in to Jurassic Park, he managed to create a score with a magically cohesive core that is extremely potent in the film itself despite the fact that several notable cues were dropped from the final mix. Among the styles that fans of Williams enjoy in Jurassic Park are, first and foremost, the rousing themes, with the primary identity of the island split into two separate ones (more on that later). The multitude of themes that receive full performances in Jurassic Park will remind collectors of Far and Away, while the broad spectrum of emotions covered in those themes, especially in their sensitivity, will recall the sadness of Hook. Varied electronic rhythms, sometimes brutal in execution, thump their way from the suspense of JFK. Relentless orchestral rhythms, often led by intense chopping of the string section, hail the glory of action cues all the way back to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Charming piano and light percussion solos, and their integration into an ever-increasing orchestral depth, relate back to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and more recently raise the brightness of Home Alone. Williams only sparingly uses choral ensembles, though the employment of such a group in Jurassic Park is the icing on the cake, infusing the score with a delicious flavor that any fantasy film should be so lucky to have.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Williams' ability to combine all of these elements into one score is the wide range of genres the music was required to traverse in the film. From fantasy to adventure, the horror to the child-like, Jurassic Park covers miles of territory musically, making Williams' achievement all the more impressive in the film and interesting on album. Loyalty to the development of his themes is critical in Jurassic Park, for Williams' continuing collaboration with Spielberg would lead to projects with fabulous, but fractured themes (A.I.) or no dominant thematic presence whatsoever (Minority Report, War of the Worlds). There are few blocks of time in Jurassic Park when Williams is not developing or combining his multitude of themes, providing the film with easy identification points and causing a fluid listening experience on album. In a somewhat irregular but in this case an understandable move, Williams graces Jurassic Park with two primary themes. Their purposes are obviously different: a bold and layered brass romp, aided by crashing cymbals and rolling timpani, introduce the audience to the island near the outset of the film and continues to define the adventure associated with the park. Conversely, Williams wrote what is technically "the theme" for the film's dinosaurs in the form of a romantic string and choral piece that remains as noble a fantasy theme as any Williams has ever created. The composer boils this identity down to a solemn but lovely piano solo for the finale scene, suggesting sadness at the loss of life and a return to a more normal suburban existence, a surprisingly elegant choice for that scene. As the theme is extended over the end credits, listeners are treated to Williams pleasant interlude within the idea that rarely receives treatment during the actual film. It's interesting to note that Williams would return more heavily to the bolder brass theme in The Lost World, thus attaching its identity with the concept of the dinosaurs' resurrection and confirming the string and piano theme from Jurassic Park as the identity of that particular island's more benign dinosaur balance. By Michael Giacchino's ventures into the concept's 2010's reboot, the adventure theme is confirmed as the more conceptually dominant idea of the two.

Viewers of Jurassic Park are met with a bevy of strong secondary ideas in the score as well, highlighted by the "panic theme" for the car and electrical fence sequences in the middle of the film. Rearranged out of order on the early albums, the rolling woodwind panic theme, often performed in the depths of the section, is heard in the latter half of "Incident at Isla Nublar," after a nasty little accident with a raptor. It rises through the clarinets and is eventually aided by strings in both that cue and at the outset of "High-Wire Stunts," where it builds to a phenomenal, full-ensemble crescendo of horror. As a churning resident of the lower ranges of the ensemble, this representation of growing panic is not only extremely effective in achieving an ominous emotional response, but also remains accessible enough to enjoy apart from the visuals. Williams has, through the years, proven himself capable of creating remarkable dread with bass woodwinds, using these rolling techniques that extended through his Harry Potter scores. More obvious a secondary theme, though, is the identity for the dreaded raptors (and T-Rex, to a lesser extent) that would fit any predator, taking the rhythmic movement of the ensemble even lower. Growing out of an animal-like bass growl used purely to signal impending trouble (as in "Coming Storm") is a highly mechanical four-note theme performed by harsh brass tones that remains a perfect identity for the equally mechanical killers, and it is malleable enough to be used as a foreshadowing device, as in the opening titles. The static movement of the progressions, vaguely based upon the main dinosaur theme, is heard with nearly every form of emotional appeal in the work, extending into the realm of awe as necessary a few times. But by the flourishing and frenzied "Hungry Raptor" (an unused cue), the idea envelopes the now-wild suspense motif from earlier in the score and is as determined in its malice as Williams' famed rhythmic motif from Jaws. The raptor motif lacks a natural opening note other than a bass statement on key, intriguingly staggered so that it starts unnervingly in the middle of each measure. While the raptor's theme is an extremely effective tool, it's a tougher pill to swallow on the album, and one of Williams' rare oversights in the score is the lack of this theme's foreshadowing in "Hatching Baby Raptor." Some listeners claim that there is a relationship between this rhythmic theme and Williams' iconic five-note idea from Close Encounters of the Third Kind; such similarity is likely coincidental.


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VIEWER RATINGS
18,029 TOTAL VOTES
Average: 4.23 Stars
***** 10,429 5 Stars
**** 3,925 4 Stars
*** 1,979 3 Stars
** 891 2 Stars
* 805 1 Stars
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COMMENTS
117 TOTAL COMMENTS
Read All Start New Thread Search Comments
For me
Afonse Cole - January 30, 2022, at 5:32 a.m.
1 comment  (267 views)
Where is the La-La Land album of Jurassic Park?
Zack - February 26, 2017, at 1:23 p.m.
1 comment  (1477 views)
Better with the lyrics
AhN - October 16, 2014, at 11:27 a.m.
1 comment  (1683 views)
Listen to the "High-Wire Stunts" track at 3:51!!   Expand >>
Arman Yahyai - February 28, 2009, at 6:50 p.m.
2 comments  (2811 views)
Newest: January 28, 2023, at 1:20 p.m. by
Andre
One of the all time best!
Adam Lewis - May 3, 2007, at 1:37 p.m.
1 comment  (3124 views)
Better than Schindler's List, I think
A dissenting voice - May 2, 2007, at 10:54 p.m.
1 comment  (3078 views)
More...


Track Listings Icon
TRACK LISTINGS AND AUDIO
Audio Samples   ▼
1993 MCA Album Tracks   ▼Total Time: 70:20
• 1. Opening Titles (0:33)
• 2. Theme from Jurassic Park (3:27)
• 3. Incident at Isla Nublar (5:20)
• 4. Journey to the Island (8:52)
• 5. The Raptor Attack (2:49)
• 6. Hatching Baby Raptor (3:20)
• 7. Welcome to Jurassic Park (7:54)
• 8. My Friend, the Brachiosaurus (4:16)
• 9. Dennis Steals the Embryo (4:55)
• 10. A Tree for My Bed (2:12)
• 11. High-Wire Stunts (4:08)
• 12. Remembering Petticoat Lane (2:48)
• 13. Jurassic Park Gate (2:03)
• 14. Eye to Eye (6:32)
• 15. T-Rex Rescue & Finale (7:39)
• 16. End Credits (3:26)
2013 Geffen Album Tracks   ▼Total Time: 81:09
2016 La-La Land Set Tracks   ▼Total Time: 91:31
2022 La-La Land Album Tracks   ▼Total Time: 150:53

Notes Icon
NOTES AND QUOTES
The digital booklet of the 2013 Geffen album is useless, containing no information about the film or score, not even the note below from Steven Spielberg that was featured in the insert of the 1993 MCA album. The extensive booklet of the 2016 La-La Land product contains detailed information, though some sets were shipped from the label without a copy of the booklet, and original pressings contained inaccurate artwork. The 2022 La-La Land album's booklet also contains extensive information. The original note from Spielberg:

"Sixty-five million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth. Now, through the miracle of DNA, cloning and John Williams' talent, we're back in the Jurassic Era, listening to a score which I can only call classic, vintage Williams.

John and I haven't made a movie like this together since "Jaws," and it was a lot of fun for us to revisit a genre that we got such a kick out of 18 years ago.

When listening to this score, you should pay particular attention to the music of the raptors - as well as the haunting and enobling sounds of the brachiosaurus - in my opinion some of the most original writing John has ever done for the movies.

"Jurassic Park" marks the end of our first dozen films together. It's the longest personal working relationship I've ever had with anyone in the motion picture industry, and I consider it a privilege to call John my friend."
Copyright © 1996-2025, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Jurassic Park are Copyright © 1993, 2013, 2016, 2022, MCA Records/Universal, Geffen Records, La-La Land Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/24/96 and last updated 11/8/22.
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