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Music From the Films of Steven Spielberg is a 2-disc,
28 track collection highlighting the career, as director and
producer, of Steven Spielberg, whose films are inexorably
linked with the symphonic beauty of John Williams's scores.
While
there are other composers included in this collection, namely
Quincy Jones, Jerry Goldsmith and Billy Goldenberg, this is
in reality a John Williams collection. So, you'll be forgiven
for having that feeling that you've heard all this before.
You have, only much grander in Silva Screen's 2003 The
Music of John Williams 40 Years of Film Music
release.
As
a teenager I was a huge soundtrack collector and own the original
recordings to the majority of tracks reproduced in this collection.
While most of these reworked recordings will be almost indistinguishable
from the originals for those who are not overly familiar with
them, there are some major problems with timings on some of
the tracks. The theme to Jurassic Park was a little
too quick in places and The Basket Game from Raiders
of the Lost Ark alternates between being too fast and
then too slow when compared with the original.
There
was also an issue of off key instruments and singers. While
this is not all that common, and probably won't be that noticeable
to most listeners, I winced when I heard the choral singers
for Poltergeist - they just don't seem to sing in the
same key as the music in places. Also there seems to be a
few too many trumpeters and flutists who can't hold their
notes with out squawking out of tune (check out the Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom Finale
for examples of this).
I
realise that I'm nit-pick for the sake of it, and that 99%
of purchasers of this collection will not notice anything
wrong, it's just that when you know the original material
inside out, you are likely to be hyper critical of any follow
up releases. In truth, you will find it hard not to notice
when instruments play a note slightly different, or that the
mix has been engineered to concentrate on a different segment
of the orchestra.
As
this is a themed movie collection we are mainly treated to
the main themes, or most popular tracks from the movies -
ones that have appeared in countless compilations. That is
to be expected, but there are a number of exceptions here.
There are a few Indiana Jones tracks - not just the
familiar Raiders March - as well as an additional track
from Hook. This compilation also brings us bang up
to date with tracks from The Terminal and Catch
Me if You Can as well as Spielberg's early movies Duel
and the Sugarland Express.
Another
problem that I had was that not all of the tracks are labelled
as they are on the original soundtrack albums. One track taken
from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is listed
as Mine Car Chase, but it also incorporates the track
Nocturnal Activities from the original soundtrack album.
This was something that I mentioned in my review of The
Music of John Williams 40 Years of Film Music. Actually,
if you already own that collection there is very little point
in purchasing this too, as it contains most of the tracks
on this album plus a whole lot more. Not only that, but you
got four disc for under £17.49, whereas with this new
collection Silva Screen want you to part with £14.79
for just two discs.
While
this is a good all-round compilation album, why should you
pay £2 less for something that has (practically) already
been released at least once before? The answer is you shouldn't.
You'd be better off trying to find a copy of that earlier
release. But, failing that, this is still a pretty good value
for money collection.
Darren
Rea
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£12.99
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£12.99
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