Star Trek: First Contact (Original Soundtrack) [Enhanced, Soundtrack]

Jerry Goldsmith, Star Trek (Related Recordings) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 1, 1996)
• Original Release Date: November 22, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Soundtrack
• Label: GNP Crescendo Records
• ASIN: B000001P1Y
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,831 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Main Title/Locutus

2. Red Alert

3. Temporal Wake

4. Welcome Aboard

5. Fully Functional

6. Retreat

7. Evacuate

8. 39.1 Degrees Celsius

9. The Dish

10. First Contact

11. End Credits

12. Magic Carpet Ride

13. Ooby Dooby

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Soundtracks & Scores
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 26-NOV-1996

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Star Trek Score, March 27, 2004

By 

Inspector Gadget "Go Go Gadget Reviews" (On the trail of Doctor Claw) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek: First Contact (Original Soundtrack) (Audio CD)

It's no secret that Jerry Goldsmith was the best at scoring Star Trek. His opening music for Star Trek: The Motion Picture was so good Gene Roddenberry demanded it be used for the Next Generation title sequence. But what the Trek movies really lacked was a definitive theme outside of the famous bookending cue. Every entry seemed to come up with new music to fit new stories (and, most of the time, new composers to do it).

First Contact has the best music of all. The opening music is so noble and uplifting you'll be getting goosebumps. Of his five Star Trek scores he never did better than First Contact and it may be in his top five personal best score ever. Some of the tracks sound a bit too similar to Goldsmith's score for Executive Decision (which he also did that year) but when that wonderful First Contact theme kicks in, man does this CD soar!

This edition of the score is one of those enhanced CD thingies. On it you'll find interviews with Goldsmith, Jonathan Frakes and Rick Berman. You have to point and click around the Enterprise to find them. The software's a bit dated and I couldn't get the clips to work. But I probably wasn't working it right. Nonetheless, this is great CD to get. However, it does run a mere 47 minutes, a full 26 minutes short of being complete.

The complete track listing, minus songs, is as follows:

1. Main Title (2:55)
2. Locutus* (1:31)
3. The Enterprise-E (0:28)
4. Battle Watch (aka Starfleet Engages the Borg)* (1:13)
5. Red Alert (2:15)
6. Temporal Wake (2:08)
7. April 4th, 2063 (1:46)
8. The Phoenix (aka Greetings)* (1:05)
9. First Sign of Borg (0:26)
10. 39.1 Degrees Celsius* (4:46)
11. Approaching Engineering* (1:52)
12. Retreat* (4:00)
13. The Borg Queen (aka Data Awakens in Engineering) (1:33)
14. Assimilation* (1:01)
15. Welcome Aboard (2:41)
16. The Gift of Flesh (1:03)
17. Definitely Not Swedish (1:26)
18. Watch Your Caboose, Dix (1:34)
19. Fully Functional (3:20)
20. The Dish (7:14)
21. Bridge Argument (1:56)
22. A Quest for Vengeance (2:41)
23. Evacuate (2:22)
24. The Escape Pods (2:52)
25. All the Time (1:06)
26. Flight of the Phoenix (aka The Starship Chase)* (2:59)
27. Resistance is Futile* (1:46)
28. Victory Over the Borg (aka The Future Restored)* (1:36)
29. First Contact (6:02)
30. End Credits (5:27)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smooth opening, to grinding theme, excellent!, November 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek: First Contact (Original Soundtrack) (Audio CD)

I first bought this CD when the movie came out, and was generally upset because they've made it an "Enhanced CD," and I didn't even own a computer. That really griped me. But I listened to the music, over, and over, and soon enough I caught myself waving my arms about as a director would, because I just love the music so much. I'll go through this CD track-by-track.

1.) Main Title/Locutus - Loved the "TNG Theme" to open it up, gave it a familiar feeling. Then it moves into a mellow, soft French Horn serenade. Add in a few harps, other string instruments, and beautiful creschendo's. It's very moving, very Hollywood. Then it moves into a deep, Borg/dream state. March-like. Uniform, and frightening.

2.) Red Alert - Once again, the familiar "TNG Theme" comes into play, and we quickly move into our standing Borg theme. The brass instruments are done wonderfully, in a menacing, metallic type of fanfare. Then enter the Klingon theme, from early TNG. But it's more than just Klingon, it's a heroic, polished Klingon. Now enter the brave Enterprise again with the TNG theme. Now things get busy. A plan is thought up, and executed, with very subtle, stacatto notes.

3.) Temporal Wake - Spooky, metallic, and creepy is all I can say about this song. Like, "What's that behind you? AAAAHHHHH!" And of course the moody Klingon theme. Then we see assimilated earth, and it's just frozen. I'm not trying to make any sense to you.

4.) Welcome Aboard - Light, friendly. And back to the opening theme. Then we dive into the guts of the Borg.

5.) Fully Functional - Quick, loud, BOO! Very active. Then, as soon as the collective jump into action, they are quiet. The Queen then proceds to seduce Data. Very intense, deep, thougthtful music.

6.) Retreat - Very reluctant in the beginning, like creeping up behind someone's back. Then BOOM! Things start to jump into action. We hear two basic parts combatting each other in the song. The good, brave Federation, are the trumpets and French Horns, and the Borg are the Baritones, trombones, and tubas. Very intenst, quick thinking music.

7.) Evacuate - This piece is quick, active. Like, "Quick, get out of here, you've got two minutes!" Then it moves into the friendly opening theme, and finishes with the creepy, Borg theme.

8.) 39.1 Degrees Celsius - Two words come to mind, Horror Movie. It them moves into a, "Gung-ho" kind of, "What's going on? I'll be right there." And of course the sickbay scene, which was portrayed again, in the Horror Movie light. And then it moves into the "Take Charge" feeling. Beautiful 32nd notes played by the flute when Data encrypted the computer. And then it goes back to gung-ho.

9.) The Dish - Very spacey. I've once or twice lost myself in the music, because it's very floaty. Especially true when Picard shoots a Borg and it goes flying, or when he tries to jump to the other side of the dish. Very nice.

10.) First Contact - Very Hollywood sounding. Big bright climax type of music.

11.) End Credits - Not much to say. Fast-paced, slow, then fast-paced again.

I'm not going to comment on those other two. They are what they are.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another "Trek" triumph for Goldsmith, June 13, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek: First Contact (Original Soundtrack) (Audio CD)

Jerry Goldsmith's score for the first "Star Trek" motion picture (1979) remains a classic in the art of sci-fi scoring. His score for the 1996 installment in the feature film franchise, "Star Trek: First Contact" shows Goldsmith's mastery of the genre to still be firm. This is an excellent score, full of drama and excitement.

Some aspects of the score (in particular, the main title) have a stirring, solemn, almost religious flavor. This is fitting when one considers the theme of the film: humanity's first contact with the people of the planet Vulcan (one of the most important historical events in the fictional "Trek" timeline). But Goldsmith also delivers the goods for the film's action scenes. It's particularly fun to hear the theme music for the Klingons during one of the space battle sequences. His music also effectively complements the sinister, frighteningly alien nature of the Borg Queen and her drones, who threaten Earth in this film..

As a bonus, the CD includes one song each by Steppenwolf and Roy Orbison; this music is relevant to one of the film's characters, space travel pioneer Zefram Cochrane. If you're a fan of the "Trek" franchise, of sci-fi/fantasy film scoring in general, or of the work of the great Goldsmith, I recommend this disc.