WGA, pt.4: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's John Williams! (Superman The Movie - Soundtrack)

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	Superman The Movie - Soundtrack
Date:	19/11/06 (331 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Intricate, melodic, grand, superhero music at its finest

Disadvantages: If you don't like big superhero music then everything I suppose

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Hello everybody. We have already moved to the fourth installment of my celebrated survey into the major film scores of composer John Williams' Golden Age. With now having boosted orchestral film scoring back into the mainstream with Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the future was looking more and more bright for Williams. With 1978 pushing on, he was already a household name, which makes the first score of his for the new year something of a surprise when he scored Brian De Palma's thriller "The Fury." Being pretty much a horror film, The Fury is one of Williams' most disconcerting efforts ever and has garnered a slight cult following among "people in the know". Unfortunately its representation on disc is scarce, with only a re-recorded soundtrack album and an expanded "Special Edition" version available, both extremely difficult to come by and very expensive to purchase. This was followed by a further foray into the world of horror in the form of Jaws 2, where he could again engage his famous shark motif and give a fuller sound to the music than what he didn't get to do on the original, thus making it sightly more engaging as a listening experience. But neither score really stands up for what came next for the summer season of action extravaganza.
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If there is one ensemble that has become almost synonymous with John Williams, it is the London Symphony Orchestra. In the breaking point of the 1970's and 80's, the orchestra collaborated with the composer on some of his biggest scores. Including Star Wars (as well as its sequels), the album re-recording for The Fury and finally Raiders of the Lost Ark, it is with these commissions that the orchestra has become known as one of the best quality performers for film scores in all of Europe. But, arguably, their finest collaboration came in 1978 when Williams was tagged on to score Richard Donner's ambituous movie adaptation of Superman. At that time Donner's only really major achievement in feature films had been with 1976's The Omen, that has become somewhat of a basic staple in the horror genre. With Superman, Donner wanted to create a believable and serious story about the comic book hero, charting his growth from childhood to how he became Metropolis' premium crime fighter in adult life. For Williams this meant that he would have another opportunity to go really over-the-top and have a lot of inspiring material to work with (which unfortunately has been almost totally forgotten in superhero scores and films of today).

Now Superman stands in a rather unique position of being often heralded as one of Williams' greatest creations ever, but at the same time is also thought of as being a "middle score". Being flanked on both sides by two grand Star Wars scores (namely Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back), Superman has often been somewhat sidelined in the process and almost forgotten. Yet, the level of artistry, inspiration and simple scale, it is a longer and in some ways even more elaborate undertaking that either Star Wars score is. As the movie is constructed in a very "episodic" fashion, so is the score built in massive sections rather than playing around in a fairly limited sphere of thematic material. Themewise the score is jock full of them. Of course, the most memorable is the "Superman March," a strident, fanfarish theme that is filled with adventure, derring-do, patriotism, a sense of flight, and features no less than four distinct melodies, all underlined by a consistenly skittering "pam-pada-pam-padam - pa-pa-pa-pam-pada-pam-padam" rhythm. The legendary opening title sequence presents this theme in all its glory, beginning with a stright out fanfare for the "SuperMAAAN" flourish of blasting off, to be followed by a more lyrical interlude before the main march section is heard, being more assertively forward thrusting. This progression is capped off by a brassy presentation of the main love theme, after which most of the material is reprised again with a stirring concluding coda really bringing the house down in style. However, this main theme for the most part disappears until roughly half the film has passed as Superman comes to Metropolis and does his first bit of rescuing in "The Big Rescue", and is often reprised in many guises (though always being heroic in tone) thereafter. The other really major theme of the score is, of course, the wonderful love theme for Superman and Lois Lane. It is first hinted at in "The Big Rescue," and gets more pronounced in "The Terrace" until the absolute highlight cue of the entire score in "The Flying Sequence" gives the theme its most glorified presentation. Of all the romantic themes Williams has ever created, the "Superman Love Theme" remains my favourite, being so unabashedly passionate and lyrically fetching, that again has that wonderful sense of flight that is just irresistible and which traits would again be utilized in the flying music of E.T.

The secondary material is also plentiful in the score, the most impressive being the fanfare for the planet Krypton, heard in its full glory in the fabulous "The Planet Krypton," building from low repetitions of a stately brass melody that builds to an incredibly powerful climax of earth shattering proportions. Unfortunately the theme is not heard often after this opening statement, the rest of the Krypton music being more electronic and subdued and, frankly, not all that interesting. The theme for the Lex Luthor character is rather more of an oddity, as it is rather silly and bungling, by far not something to really incite much malevolence and perhaps better representing Luthor's right-hand man Otis. Best heard in the concert version of "March of the Villains" and later on in "Crime of the Century", the theme very much resembles what Williams would write for the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi later on, and as such thankfully doesn't appear that often in this score for it is rather weak.

With so much material, there are many highlights in the score to even begin to mention all, but aside from the "Main Title March," "The Planet Krypton," and "The Flying Sequence," I do have to mention "Destruction of Krypton" along with "Star Ship Escapes" that both feature some really wonderfully exciting action music, the fantastically impressionistic "The Trip to Earth," the gently Americana flavoured "Death of Jonathan Kent" and "Leaving Home," as well as the eerily haunting "The Fortress of Solitude," also incorporating a chorus into the mix for an extra ethereal quality. Of course, most the big action numbers centre around the latter half of the film and Superman's exploits in Metropolis, flying from one heroic outing to the next, beginning from "The Big Rescue," and going through "Super Rescues," "Misguided Missiles and Kryptonite," "Chasing Rockets," "Superfeats" and "Super Dam and Finding Lois," all predominately being massive action numbers that really test the London performers to the edge of their abilities. Everything is then brough full circle in the final "Finale and End Title March" with a big reprise of the main march. All in all, one has to stand in awe at the inspiration and level of excitement Williams pulls off at almost every turn, while seemingly effortlessly pulling off one memorable theme after memorable theme.

The album situation was for the longest time one of those that more than anything else deterred people from this score. The original soundtrack was presented as a double-LP when it appeard in 1978, and it was consequently re-released in CD form in 1987. However, even though it featured 70 minutes of music, it still omitted many wonderful cues, though featuring most of the main highlights. But sound quality was terribly muffled, making it somewhat unpleasurable to listen to and in addition to the sound issue, the "Flying Sequence" featured the voice over of Margot Kidder reciting the "Can You Read My Mind" dialogue that in all its cheesiness was not really taken up with much happiness by score fans. Some improvement came in the way of a Varése Sarabande 2-CD re-recording of most of the score (though by far not complete), performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under composer John Debney and released in 1998. Personally I have not heard this re-recording, but by all accounts it is remarkably faithful, boasting wonderful digital sound quality and an enthusiastic performance, though some say at times it can get a bit sagging in some major action scenes. However, I will refrain from saying anything else of it since indeed I have no personal experience with it.

The ultimate treat for fans, though, was right around the corner as in 2000 Rhino Records released a 2-CD expanded release of the entire original 1978 performance, along with alternate takes, source music and concert suites. Sound was much improved over the original album release, and the wealth of material was simply staggering (the two CDs are almost filled to the brim with music). The release also includes the original album version of the "Flying Sequence" with the Margot Kidder voice over and two alternates of the "Can You Read My Mind" cue that was more poppy in nature (presented here with both the voice over and as an instrumental), but was thankfully never used (for it sounds like crap). My only real gripe with this version is that the extensive liner notes have for some reason been oversized for the CD, so it doesn't fit inside the jewel case and has been saddled inside an external cardboard casing for the notes and CDs. So as a word of warning, should you be buying this used, be sure that you ask that the liner notes come along instead of just the CDs, as I can tell you they are most interesting and informative.

For the most enthusiastic Superman or Williams fan, though, there is really no other way to get this score than on Film Score Monthly's luxurious Blue Box of 2008, containing not only the original recording fully remastered with great increase in fidelity over the older Rhino set (which was taken from inferior sources they had at their disposal at the time), but also includes the sequel scores of Ken Thorne for the two following Supermans and Alexander Courage's fourth score, which includes brand new themes composed by Williams himself. The set also includes an additional disc with Ron Jones' music from the 1988 animated Superman series, and various other alternates and bits and pieces on an eighth "extra" disc. And one must not forget the hardcover book that is included over regular liner notes for a release that is simply stunning in its value, its attention to quality and detail, its comprehensiveness, and its sheer notion how this has been a real labour of love for the label. Unfortunately, all this excellence must come with a price, and this price is a rather hefty $120 on the mark, added with a limited status of being a 2 x 3000 copy print. It certainly is value for money, but your enthusiasm over Superman will determine your willingness to shell out such money for this type of set. Particularly when you consider that Ken Thorne's two Superman scores are considerably inferior in compositional quality to Williams' original, and it is debatable whether the animated series music is really so important to have, so this only really leaves you with a remastered Superman: The Movie, and the interesting Superman IV with its new Williams themes to truly wet your tongue with. For these reasons, I've never felt the urge to get the Blue Box, and I'm satisfied enough with my older Rhino release, despite its inferior sonics. If these scores could be purchased separately, then I would most certainly trade off my older Rhino set, and also get the fourth score as an addition, but the heavy price and my utter disinterest in the Thorne and Jones' scores makes me rather ambivalent to the whole Blue Box.

So the question as to which version should you get? Well, you can pretty much scratch the original album off the list as being totally obsolete. Therefore, depending on your preference for high definition sound, the re-recording by all accounts could do you well enough as the music included contains just about all the important stuff, while the expanded original recording is a must have if you really know this score, want every last note of it, are an avid fan of original performances, or just want to experience the enthusiasm of those original sessions (whether you get the more easily manageable Rhino set, or the hyper-luxurious FSM box with its remastered sound). For my money, I would place the FSM version at the top, but considering its price the Rhino version is certainly not a bad investment (though knowing of the existence of a better version somewhat hinders overall enjoyment).

Amazon still offers all three albums with the original going for £8.99, the re-recording for £19.99 and the Rhino expansion for £15.97. Get the Blue Box from Screen Archives in USA for $120 (+ shipping) or any other speciality online soundtrack store.

*Happy flying 'ya all*


TRACK LISTING

Original 1978/1987 Album

1. Theme from Superman (Main Title) (4:24)
2. The Planet Krypton (4:45)
3. Destruction of Krypton (5:58)
4. The Trip to Earth (2:23)
5. Love Theme from Superman (5:00)
6. Leaving Home (4:48)
7. The Fortress of Solitude (8:29)
8. The Flying Sequence (4:16)
9. Can You Read My Mind (3:54)
10. Super Rescues (3:24)
11. Superfeats (5:00)
12. The March of the Villains (3:33)
13. Chasing Rockets (7:33)
14. Turning Back the World (2:01)
15. End Title (6:24)


2000 Complete Release

Disc 1
1. Prelude and Main Title March** (5:29)
2. The Planet Krypton** (6:39)
3. Destruction of Krypton** (7:52)
4. Star Ship Escapes* (2:21)
5. The Trip to Earth (2:28)
6. Growing Up** (2:34)
7. Death of Jonathan Kent* (3:27)
8. Leaving Home (4:49)
9. The Fortress of Solitude** (9:17)
10. Welcome to Metropolis* (2:11)
11. Lex Luthor's Lair** (4:48)
12. The Big Rescue* (5:55)
13. Super Crime Fighter** (3:20)
14. Super Rescues** (2:14)
15. Luthor's Luau (source)* (2:48)
16. The Planet Krypton (alternate)** (4:24)
17. Main Title March (alternate) (4:38)

Disc 2
1. Superman March (alternate)** (3:48)
2. The March of the Villains (3:36)
3. The Terrace* (1:36)
4. The Flying Sequence (8:12)
5. Lois and Clark* (0:50)
6. Crime of the Century* (3:24)
7. Sonic Greeting* (2:21)
8. Misguided Missiles and Kryptonite* (3:26)
9. Chasing Rockets** (4:56)
10. Superfeats** (4:53)
11. Super Dam and Finding Lois** (5:11)
12. Turning Back the World (2:06)
13. Finale and End Title March** (5:42)
14. Love Theme from Superman (5:06)
15. Can You Read My Mind (alternate)* (with Margot Kidder) (2:56)
16. The Flying Sequence/Can You Read My Mind (with Margot Kidder) (8:12)
17. Can You Read My Mind (alternate instrumental)* (2:56)
18. Theme from Superman (concert version) (4:24)

* previously unreleased
** contains previously unreleased material

Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams
Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra
Orchestrated by Herbert Spencer & Arthur Morton
Engineered by Eric Tomlinson
Recorded at Anvil Studios, Denham, England
Music Editors: Bob Hathaway & Ken Ross
Music Produced by John Williams
Rhino Version Produced by Nick Redman & Michael Matessino
1978 / Warner Bros.,1987 (3257-2)
Varèse Sarabande, 1998 (VSD-5981)
Warner Archives/Rhino, 2000 (8122-75874-2)

© berlioz, 2006

Summary: SuperMAAAAN John WilliAAAAMS!