Alien The Skeleton

Jerry Goldsmith was right around the peak of his career when "Alien" was released and the score surely displays the mans talents, however his original vision of the score for the film was never fully realized. Ridley Scott has a notorious reputation for handling music in the strangest fashion, he's never been a director to build a consistent relationship with composers, and in some ways this is a good thing. He has given unknown composers a chance to stretch their wings by giving them a film scoring assignment on his film, he did most notably for Hans Zimmer, and his pupil, Harry Gregson-Williams. However, his relationship with Jerry Goldsmith wasn't a fairy tale, in fact they had many disagreements, and Goldsmith probably lost sleep over how his work would be treated on "Alien", and "Legend" years later.

"Alien" does bare similarity to Star Trek, but only in a faint passing, both are different movies, but obviously take place in space. "Alien" is more claustrophobic, and the score showcases that, and it makes attempts to bring about the terror that's involved with being in space, and in an alien environment. Goldsmith make attempts to subtly bring the horror elements to life instead of shoving them in the audiences face, he would subtlety use romantic cues (the main theme in particular) through out the score, but Scott refused these romanticism's and would request Goldsmith to re-score them. Goldsmith would leave the project after all the initial recording were done, and he went on to do other film projects only later returning to do some more re-scoring duties, but much to his dismay he found that most of his work at been altered and re-edited in large degrees, only one of his cues remained completely intact.

It took 28 years for the score to be released in its entirety, (released in 2007) the score isn't an easy listening experience. Most of the score is unsettling, and very atmospheric, and most people wont be able to sit through the entire album. It's not a score that's easy to hear outside of the film although the original format of the music presented on the album isn't what showed up on the final cut of the movie due to Ridley Scott's mutilation of Goldsmith's material.

Taken out of context it's not easy to listen this score by Jerry Goldsmith, and it would probably challenge even the most fanatic score fans. The technical merits should be enough to impress anyone, but the enjoyability of this score on album are debatable. It does bring up the up the question, what makes a score great, it's enjoyability, or the quality of the scores technical merits?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Alien
• Jerry Goldsmith
• Ridely Scott
• The Skeleton
• Film Score
• Film Soundtrack
• Soundtrack
• Horror

[BUBIKINS]

Is it possible for you to post the whole score of the INTRADA CD? The reason I ask is: I can't make up my mind whether to buy the INTRADA CD or not, and it sure would help me decide. I have had multiple different copies of the ALIEN score in the past and I'm trying to find out if the INTRADA CD is the best version available. Thanks and best wishes.

[krazie835]

It's the complete release of the score. It is the best version you can acquire. It comes with all the available material you can ask for, from the original material Goldsmith wrote, to the music that Scott requested for Goldsmith to rewrite. It even comes with the original 35 minute LP release from 31 years ago.

I probably wont be able to upload all the songs due to copyright rules they've placed on youtube now.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

WOW!

Goldsmith was The Best! XD

[Chronicler177]

holy crap...freaking scary.

[TheCloudofDarkness]

Sends shievers down on my spine. It terrifies like nothing else. A true masterpiece!

[JungleHunter87]

It's both scary and mysterious, which is what made the Alien franchise loved by its fan base. Every alien and predator film made since 1997 onward has sucked... The new Predators film had the right idea, but it simply copied a lot of elements from the 1st predator film. And why would the predators kidnap people and take them to a remote planet elsewhere? The predators didn't bring you to them, they went to the prey. The predator went to the alien worlds. That is what a hunter does...

[hunkydave000]

creepiest theme to a movie EVER...and what an awesome film it was too, alien had the biggest shock when it 1st came out, creepiest music, most horrific alien ever created, fantastic acting and story....by far the best round horror/music ever!

[kanchiku]

@EpsilonX

I could be wrong on this but I believe it's either "The Shaft" or "Parker's Death Demonstration Excerpt" with the latter being a very curious and unsettling track to listen to. It almost doesn't even sound like part of a soundtrack.

[kanchiku]

Definitely a very dark, repressive, foreboding, and creeping theme.......perfect for the move ALIEN and the scene it was used on. Simply mind-blowing!

[NegimaMW2]

turn off all the lights and the monitor and have this playing in the background at night....

[juresaiyan]

@BUBIKINS I purchased the Intrada 2CD about 3 months ago. It's absolutely amazing. The sound quality is mindblowing, the booklet is full of track info, even composing info. You get more than 2 hours of Alien music. my favourites are the Restored Alternate Cues on disk 1. If you get the chance, BUY IT. I got mine for 35 euros, which is kind of expensive, but believe me, it's worth every penny. From the rich packaging, to the mindblowing sound quality, this movie score is essential for Alien fans.

[EpsilonX]

i just watched the making of Alien. which song was the one person talking about where there is a horn that plays to represent the alien?

[juresaiyan]

I never heard a more eerie theme in my entire life.....

[longuscatius]

"its like the bloody tropics down here"