Alien [Soundtrack]

Jerry Goldsmith, Lionel Newman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Original Release Date: 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Silva Screen
• ASIN: B0007VJ9O0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #370,862 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1. Main Title ~~~ 2. Face Hugger ~~~ 3. Breakaway ~~~ 4. Acid Test ~~~ 5. The Landing ~~~ 6. The Droid ~~~ 7. The Recovery ~~~ 8. The Alien Planet ~~~ 9. The Shaft ~~~ 10. End Title ~~~

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Version of the Score, January 13, 2008

By 

James Rockhill (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alien (Audio CD)

The original vinyl recording was not all that great, but the sound was decent despite the pops and clicks. Silva Screen's digital remastering had very little presence to it all. Finally, this new set from Intrada offers the music in excellent sound, with extensive annotations.

The first disc contains the entire original score, with alternative versions requested by the director and studio. The second disc reproduces the version prepared for the original soundtrack album with a few more alternative tracks.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jerry Goldsmith's best score., February 27, 2008

By 

WRN "eyebone" (madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alien (Audio CD)

I love this score. I love this movie. I nearly passed out when I heard this was being released.

This 2 CD set has everything. The first disc is the complete 57 minute score, followed by 7 rescored alternate cues that are about 20 minutes long. The second disc is the original 1979 album recreated using the new remastered elements. This is about 35 minutes long. This is followed by 13 minutes of bonus tracks comprising the film version of the Main Title, 1 alternate take, 3 demo excerpts, 1 track of unused inserts and a piece of Mozart source music from the film.

So all together there is over 2 hours of music here! I have to say here that the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Alien movie had the complete isolated score...although a few of the songs are out of order and I suspect a few are missing. So buy the movie if you are also interested in seeing the images with the music.

So if you are a Goldsmith fan you have no doubt heard about this already. If not, buy it immediately!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive release of a classic film score, August 27, 2008

By 

J. Brewer (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alien (Audio CD)

Finally, after years of waiting for an expanded release of Jerry Goldsmith's classic soundtrack, this two disc presentation has been graced upon us. And what an awesome release this is. Alot of soundtrack and Goldsmith fans have been put off by this particular score due to the fact that this is a harder listen than most of his other works and is not near accessible as say his Star Trek work. Yet, underneath the strange, dissonant passages contained here lies what is easily his most memorable and well crafted piece of work. I say memorable not because it is "catchy" by any means, but because it leaves a sense of melancholy and sheer wonder driven up from the powerful dark soundscapes. With that said, Alien might just be my favorite horror film score of all time. And it is by no stretch of imagination to call this soundtrack unlike anything else ever written for a film. It truly does sound alien.

Contained in the 2-disc set are the complete 1979 recordings, re-mastered from newly found 1-inch master tapes and a detailed look into the scoring process, including notes on each individual cue, in what is probably the most extensive set of linear notes I have ever seen on a soundtrack release. In audio fidelity, this is a huge step above the original 1979 Silva LP and the subsequent bootlegs released. The difference is almost night and day. The hiss and muffled sound of the LP and bootlegs is replaced by a vibrant and bright sound, which fully encompasses what is probably Goldsmith's most complex score.

Disc 1:

It is known fact that much of Goldsmith's original score had been tampered and re-mixed, yet I never fully realized the extent of the changes made by Ridley Scott (director of Alien) for the final cut. Just about every cue originally intended by Jerry for the film where either replaced, spliced, re-scored, or removed. Disc 1 chronicles the score as he originally meant it to be heard. Being able to hear these cues in re-mastered form and in the order as they where to appear really made wonder how much better some of the scenes from the film could have been. The rejected, "Main Titles" encompasses the loneliness and beauty of space in a sweeping, emotional opening that differs greatly to the cue used in the film (the Alien Planet theme). Then we have the quieter suspense pieces that utilize a great sense of creeping/rhythmic orchestration that builds into unexpected crescendos and stringers to create a very unsuspecting and tense mood. "Hanging On", another rejected and replaced cue written to play during Kane's examination, fully utilizes this intense atmosphere Jerry wanted to create. It's a shame it wasn't used. Another cue in the same vein, "The Shaft" (replaced by a cue from one of his past scores), is probably the most frightening and intense piece of music I have ever heard recorded for a film score. The alternate, rejected version of "Out The Door", used when the Alien is ejected from the bay doors at the end of the film, utilizes an unheard "action theme" with very rhythmic sensibilities. "End Title" is a highlight of the set, bringing back the "Main Title" theme to close the film in grand finale fashion. Sadly, it was replaced by a temp cue, Howard Hanson's "Symphony No. 2: The Romantic" (not included). Also on Disc 1 are the "re-scored" pieces that Ridley wanted changed.

Disc 2:

Contains the official LP release (re-mastered obviously) and provides for somewhat of a nicer listening experience. Also included are demonstration excerpts of a few of the cues, the film version of the "Main Title" (with added echoplexed percussion), and the recording of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik".

NOTE TO POTENTIAL BUYERS: I say this is the definitive version of his score, despite what people are saying about a few pieces that did not make the release, because this contains the complete 1979 scoring sessions. His cues from "Freud" and Howard Hanson's piece do not belong on here, because they were not recorded during these sessions and were not what Jerry intended for the film in the first place.

Final word, if you are a soundtrack fan/collector, it is essential to have a copy of a classic, beautiful score that will long be remembered.