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CD Review: Alien Nation |
Posted By: Jeff Bond on September 11, 2005 - 10:00 PM |
CD Review: Alien Nation
Alien Nation ***
JERRY GOLDSMITH
Varèse Sarabande VCL 0505 1035
18 tracks - 46:52
Alien Nation is one of a
handful of all-electronic scores done by Jerry Goldsmith in the '80s,
the heyday of keyboard synth scores. Of course Goldsmith had been
experimenting with electronic sounds since the '60s in films like The Satan Bug and The Illustrated Man. Runaway was Goldsmith's first
electronic score; Criminal Law,
with its Peter Gabriel-inspired, rolling pan flute textures and
immersive atmosphere, was probably his best.
Alien Nation came near the end
of the cycle in 1987, composed for a film that was itself the tail end
of a buddy cop glut started by Eddie Murphy's 48 Hours. Goldsmith score never
made the final cut of the film; it was replaced by a shapeless effort
by music editor Curt Sobel, and while it spawned a cult favorite TV
series several years later, the movie itself sank like a stone and
disappeared. Goldsmith's score is at times tough listening, both for
its shrill sonorities and the now-dated drum machine aesthetic of the
period in which it was written. Marked by a semi-vocal-styled motif
that characterizes the extraterrestrial "Newcomers" that now live
alongside humans in the story, the score isn't one of the composer's
best efforts (even Varèse's Bob Townson practically apologized
for the release in the announcement of the title on the Varèse
web page), but it still demonstrates why Goldsmith was and probably
always will be the most skilled practitioner of scoring science fiction
that ever worked in film. As much as he might have shrugged off his
success in the genre, Goldsmith got it like nobody else -- he brought a
science fiction writer's intelligence, imagination and most of all
empathy to the process. Goldsmith seemed able get into the mindset of
an alien monster, a mentally disciplined Vulcan or a mammoth
extraterrestrial space probe, and he could express those alien points
of view in his music. That's what his Alien
Nation score does -- it's written from the Newcomer's point of
view, constantly reinforcing in an otherwise visually drab film that an
entirely new alien culture is being imprinted on top of humankind's.
Sometimes the effect is too literal and doesn't work, as in the Outland-style "alien strip club"
semi-source cues, but many of the score's moments achieve their desired
effect despite the dated sound of many of the synthesized textures (as
much as Goldsmith was a pioneer in combining electronics and orchestra,
he got married to a number of signature sounds from his keyboards and
synthesizers that haunted some of his scores long after the bloom had
fallen off the electronica rose).
Townson's liner notes point out the strange origins of Goldsmith's
romantic theme for the film, intended to be played out in its entirety
during the closing credits: it was originally composed for Wall Street until Goldsmith
withdrew from that project, then departed from Alien Nation when that score was
rejected. Goldsmith refined the tune for its presentation in The Russia House to great effect,
redirecting his career for a time away from the junky thrillers like Alien Nation that he had become
mired in at the end of the '80s. If Alien
Nation isn't a blow-away Goldsmith album experience, it's at
least a fascinating curio that proves that there's something of
interest in just about everything this brilliant composer ever wrote.
Bring on The Public Eye!
-- Jeff Bond
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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Today in Film Score History: March 29 |
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Alan Menken wins his fifth and sixth Oscars, for the Aladdin score and its song "A Whole New World” (1993) |
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Alan Silvestri begins recording his score for Back to the Future Part III (1990) |
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Dave Grusin wins his first Oscar, for The Milagro Beanfield War score (1989) |
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Franz Waxman wins his first of two consecutive score Oscars, for Sunset Blvd. (1951) |
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James Horner begins recording his score for In Country (1989) |
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Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Strange Bedfellows” (1999) |
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Jerry Goldsmith wins his only Oscar, for The Omen score; the film music community presumably exclaims “Finally!” (1977) |
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John Williams wins his second Oscar and his first for Original Score, for Jaws (1976) |
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John Williams wins his third Oscar, for the Star Wars score (1978) |
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Krzysztof Penderecki died (2020) |
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Maurice Jarre died (2009) |
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Richard Rodney Bennett born (1936) |
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Sam Spence born (1927) |
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Tito Arevalo born (1911) |
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Ulpio Minucci died (2007) |
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Vangelis born (1943) |
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Vangelis wins his first Oscar, for the Chariots of Fire score (1981) |
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William Walton born (1902) |
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