Customer Reviews

Earthquake: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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This is the mid-piece to a 70's Williams Disaster Film Trilogy that began with "The Poseidon Adventure" and concluded with "The Towering Inferno." The opening theme is reminiscent of the feverish opening to Alfred Newman's "Airport." There is a great set piece in "The City Sleeps." Most of this re-recorded score appears in the film very briefly (if at all). This is perhaps a supreme example of Williams' gift for creating a great compelling drama in music for a lesser film. Earthquake

I didn't know what to think when I saw the movie and listened to the score, but afterward, I borrowed the movie from a friend and then I had this CD put on order and I didn't want to stop listening to it. Then during Christmas time I got the movie. This is the best early recording that I have of John Williams! He now tops the list of my favorite composers putting Bernard Herrmann the second on the list.

From a disaster film comes this wonderful score by John Williams, who briefly played piano for the great Henry Mancini on various albums in the '60s. This of course was before Mr. Williams found his own niche in the world of music. The score for this film is far superor than the film itself, Williams themes are solid and thoroughly enjoyable.

A few stand outs - "CITY THEME" (track three) solo piano to start with, followed by the full and haunting orchestration, simply beautiful - "THE CITY SLEEPS" (track six) a light and different theme rises from the baton of Maestro Williams, nice touch. This early John Williams is a must for any film score collector or Williams fan.

Total Time: 32:50 on 13 Tracks/ Varese Sarabande - VSD 5262 (1990)

Actually, the only bossa-nova track is SOMETHING FOR ROSA. And it's my favorite track. I couldn't help but notice that Williams engaged in a bit of self-repetition when he took an EARTHQUAKE track called THE CITY SLEEPS and redid it as a SUPERMAN track called THE PLANET KRYPTON. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. Maybe. Possibly. Let it also be said that the awakening-city shtick was first done by Vaughan Williams in his LONDON SYMPHONY.) Williams has always been inordinately fond of trumpet triplets and the triplet showcase here is MILES ON WHEELS. Claire Fischer's pianism in CITY THEME is absolutely breathtaking.

A score that is everything but a disaster... John Williams' soundtrack for Earthquake was originally released on vinyl back in 1974. A collector's item worth for keeps, now a digital recording and with an extra track (Something for Remy)not included in the LP version, all of it with superb digital editing, this time in Varese Sarabande label. You will not regret to pay whatever price is asked for this piece.

This was the first Motion Picture Soundtrack purchase as a pre-teen. (8-track tape...who knew ) Although my parents thought it an odd choice, I bought it with my own money (paper route)and couldn't wait to get home to play it! It has become one of my all time favorites. Alhough short, it is an exciting listening session, complete with the rumbling sound effects of the earthquake and aftershocks/danger montage. This music helped to make an otherwise cheesy, effects driven disaster flick much better! Much better than his Poseidon Adventure score, John Williams has made this, along with his Towering Inferno soundtrack the absolute best of this kind of music. Daring, exciting, highly emotional, this pre STAR WARS soundtrack adds a completely satisfying addition to the world of John Williams Movie music. One of the things that i like best about Mr. William's work is that he is instantly recognizable, always different, forever original. Go on, try it, you'll like it!

Prior to him becoming Hollywood's hottest composer of film music, when people like George Lucas, Oliver Stone, and, most prominently, Steven Spielberg made it their business to make his genius part of their canvas, John Williams had already had a reputation of some standing: working with fellow composers like Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, and Bernard Herrmann; and also composing scores for a variety of other films, notably in that oft-maligned genre of the early-to-mid 1970s called the Disaster Genre. He had already done it for Irwin Allen's 1972 opus THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE; and he turned the trick twice as 1974 ended. The first one out of the chute was the score he composed for the Mark Robson-directed EARTHQUAKE.

As a film, EARTHQUAKE is an admittedly fairly standard-issue sci-fi/disaster film of its time, with Los Angeles and much of Southern California being annihilated by a massive earthquake in the 8-to-9 point range, and such stars as Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, and Genevieve Bujold just trying to stay alive and sane. But the driving force, aside from the Oscar-winning special effects of Albert Whitlock, Frank Brendel, and Glen Robinson, is Williams' score, which incorporates brooding classical, pop, and jazz elements. Although not anywhere near as flashy or well known as what Williams would do in years and decades to come, it does a good job at depicting the City of Angels in ruins for what really is a soap opera with frightening special effects. The three-part cue "Watching And Waiting/Miles' Pool Hall/Sam's Rescue" is especially enlightening, beginning with brooding piano and strings, melding into a jazz-rock fusion riff, then the Sensurround rumblings of the Big One itself, and a return to the brooding piano and strings.

To put it mildly, EARTHQUAKE's standing with film critics is not very good, and that's why Williams' music for it is not as well known as what he would accomplish later on. Nevertheless, it does work for the film and its various sub-plots; and, as is the case with practically everything Williams has done, it is eminently listenable from start to finish.

"Earthquake" is an interesting blend of jazz, pop and classical styles that has the listener wondering if this is really for a disaster film, since John Williams wrote a nice score where the pop and jazz moments are the best on this album. The earthquake sound effects are the only things that lead us to say "Yes, this is for a disaster movie." However, I felt kinda disappointed of the classical part of this album because it bores. Maybe Mr. Williams was saving his classical chops for something better.