Customer Reviews

Always [Vinyl]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Steven Spielberg's epic love story is accompanied by some of the best written music, ever! A real masterpiece

I saw this movie years ago and have always loved it. Yes, it is a departure for Spielberg, but it's a great movie. The connection between Pete and Dorinda is so strong you can almost touch it. Also, it was great to see Audrey Hepburn one last time as a beautiful ethereal angel. John Goodman was terrific too.

John Williams never seems to lose sight of what kind of film he is scoring. No matter what the subject his is tackling he manages to find the humanity and spirit of it. His score for "Always" is one such example. The main theme is reflective and sad. One the envokes losing someone who was loved, but at the same time having the courage to let go and live. Williams may not have had the best film to score, the film itself has many flaws, but standing alone this is a fine album that is worth the buy.

After all the bombast of films like the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" series, many would be forgiven for forgetting that composer John Williams is capable of heartbreakingly beautiful music. In 1989, MCA Records (now Universal records) released two Williams soundtracks that displayed this quality--"Born on the Fourth of July," and this one, from longtime collaborator Steven Spielberg's "Always."

Unfortunately, on both albums, Williams' contributions are only given a scant 22 minutes. The rest of the discs are filled with pop songs used in the movies. Granted, the songs are not bad in and of themselves (JD Souther's version of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is quite enjoyable), but it still seems somewhat unfair that out of at least two and a half hours (two in the case of "Always"), MCA only found twenty or so minutes of Williams' music that was usabe.

Admittedly neither film was a runaway success, but John Williams deserved much better than this.

A standout track is "Dorinda's Solo Flight," which closes both the album and the film. For me, its quiet dignity is a testament to everything that was good about both the movie and the soundtrack.

Note to Universal Records: If you should decide to re-release this one, maybe you could include Slim Gaillard's "Matzoh Balls"?

John Williams has created a very beautiful score for, in my opinion, Steven Spielberg's most underappreciated film. Williams's score is very subtle and heavenly since we're talking about a dashing air firefighter (Richard Dreyfuss) who dies while trying to save his best friend (John Goodman), thus leaving behind the woman he loves (Holly Hunter).
After a string of good songs, -The Platters' 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' is included here, along with a very nice version by J.D. Souther -Williams's score begins with 'Among The Clouds', a lovely piece that has something like an overture before giving way to a full treatment of the main theme, itself repeated in cues like 'Pete And Dorinda', 'Saying Goodbye', and 'Seeing Dorinda'. There is also a fun moment with 'Follow Me' where Williams uses one of his trademark techniques: allegretto, if I'm not mistaken. We have also an element of suspense with 'The Rescue Operation', in which the fire flyers are getting ready to put out a big forest fire; in here what I call the "farewell theme" is heard for the first time when the Dreyfuss character is ready to say goodbye to his loved one. That "farewell theme" is better represented in the final cue 'Dorinda's Solo Flight'. However, we have sort of a "heaven-like motif", especially when the Audrey Hepburn character is present, and I'm not quite satisfied with it; somehow it makes the album feel a bit long.
In general, "Always" is a beautiful and touching score. A fine work by John Williams.

Not counting 2001's A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, the 1989 romantic drama ALWAYS, a reworking of the sentimental 1943 World War II-era film A GUY NAMED JOE, is perhaps the most unjustly maligned and misread of any film in director Steven Spielberg's cinematic canon. Its heartfelt, tear-jerking story of an aerial firefighter (Richard Dreyfuss) who is killed in a tragic mid-air accident and comes back to Earth to give inspiration to a rookie pilot (Brad Johnson), only to see that pilot fall in love with the woman (Holly Hunter) he left behind, was all but barbecued by the critics, though it was a moderate box office hit. With enough people, it did strike a chord.

The film also benefits, as do so many of Spielberg's films (even the atrocity that is "1941") by the music scoring genius of John Williams. Jimmy Buffett, Lyle Lovett, and others (including two versions of the much-covered "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", one by J.D. Souther, the other by the Platters in their classic 1958 recording) contribute some songs too, but this is largely Williams' show. His score has a typically touching and tear-jerking element, and some comic elements ("Follow Me"), but there are also moments of haunting dissonance and chords that presage the work he would do on A.I. twelve years later. In particular, "Among The Clouds" (one of Williams' most beautiful and least-heard pieces of film music ever), "Pete And Dorinda", "Saying Goodbye", "The Return", and "Seeing Dorinda" are incredibly poignant and heartfelt. With this sentimental element, it was easy for the critics to rip Spielberg, and to some extent Williams himself, for being shamelessly manipulative. Needless to say, I believe quite firmly that they were wrong. This is especially true for Williams, whose knack for creating great film music, especially for Spielberg, makes him one of the pre-eminent masters of the art of film scoring.

The soundtrack, like any good entry into this arena, can be heard independent of the film, but it never hurts to see the film ALWAYS itself to understand how the movie and the music connect. And whatever you do, please don't listen to the naysayers of this film, of which there are still far too many. Judge for yourself both the film and the wonderful John Williams score.

All the reviews are talking about the movie. I'll talk about the sound track.

This is a good sound track overall - a mix of older pop and orchestral scoring by John Williams.

This is purely conjecture, but my impression is that most (but not all) of the orchestral scoring was ghost writing directed by John Williams. If it was 100% John Williams, I wouldn't call it his best work.

However Track 7, "Among the Clouds" is as good as it gets - with John Williams or any other film composer. Amazing writing and amazing playing (especially the horn). This one track justifies the purchase of the disk.

I would have preferred more of the etherial Williams music and less of the oldies and country stuff. It's a very good score... very sedate stuff for the most part (and hushed, too... you have to crank the music to hear some of Williams' music)

Seller did not disclose damage to cd. 1st song had static all the way through it. Too bad, that song was why I bought the CD.