John Williams Albums (67)
'Indiana Jones: The Complete Soundtracks Collection'
Release Date 11/11/2008
Tracks 177
Label Concord
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What The Critics Say
This mammoth limited-edition five-disc box set from Concord Records includes remastered and expanded editions of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade along with 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and a bonus interview disc with composer John Williams, all with rare photos and extensive liner notes. The remastered trilogy is also available separately. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
'Interviews and More Music from Indiana Jones'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 12
Label Concord
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'The Music of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection'
Release Date 11/5/2007
Tracks 87
Label Sony/BMG
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What The Critics Say
This eight-disc set (seven CDs and a CD-ROM) didn't seem that appealing at first sight -- after all, there have been dozens of reissues and repackagings, in various forms, of John Williams' music. from Star Wars and the two immediate sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. But with each successive effort, they've made the music sound better, and it was pretty impressive to start with, 30 years back. The results here are somewhat mixed -- the producers have given the scores for the three movies another state-of-the-art digital treatment, which ends up putting parts of the orchestra at various points virtually in the listener's lap. This was essential, as in the space of three decades, home audio systems that are more advanced and sophisticated than the theater sound systems where the first Star Wars movie ran have become routine. But before going further in sorting out the contents here, one matter should be cleared up -- the soundtrack to the 1977 movie once known as Star Wars (and now officially designated Star Wars IV: A New Hope) has been assembled based on the 1997 CD reissue, in the use and arrangement of cues, and will differ significantly from the original 1977 double-LP (which it otherwise resembles visually); the latter featured a lot of editing by Williams, who sought to assemble his music cues into more significant sounding movements for the album; in keeping with the 1997 edition, the producers have re-established the cues in plot-chronological order, as well as offering some relevant outtakes referring back to Williams' original 1977 album conception. The 400-plus minutes of listening here are mostly extremely rewarding, not just for their exceptional fidelity but what that clarity reveals of the details in Williams' writing for the screen -- the Holst influences were obvious from the start, and it's amazing to realize now how thoroughly and successfully the composer reached out to Stravinsky's playbook for some of the best quiet moments in the score. The seventh disc in the set is referred to as "The Corillian Edition" and assembles cues from all six Star Wars movies, thus acknowledging Williams' later contributions. There's also a CD-ROM (set up to work on both PCs and Macs) that re-creates the artwork, including the various pages of the inserts, from the original three soundtrack LPs. All of that work on the programming, mastering, and production end is great, and if the label had followed through at every other level, this set would get an even higher rating than it does. But the producers also repackaged the CDs in miniature LP-style sleeves, re-creating the original artwork and design of the double-LP soundtrack albums, which is a neat idea; and here's where the flaws in the set become clear -- whereas Sony's Japanese-issued mini-LPs include tiny inner-sleeves to keep the CDs safe in their miniature LP jackets, the company's U.S. division has done us no such courtesy, so the mini-LPs must be kept in the box to prevent the CDs from falling out and rolling away. Additionally, for all of the effort spent enhancing the sound, the makers have given us annotation that's not only sketchy and a bit disjointed, but also very cheap looking -- in place of a booklet, there's just a flimsy folded sheet with lots of artwork and graphics and not a lot of text, and not all of it that well written. For the asking price, one would hope that a little bit more could have been done with the packaging, and it prevents the set from getting a real rave. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
'Monsignor'
Release Date 1/1/2007
Tracks 10
Label Intrada Special Collection
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What The Critics Say
After a series of landmark action and sci-fi efforts spanning from Star Wars to Superman to Raiders of the Lost Ark, composer John Williams looked inward to write 1982's Monsignor, a cerebral and plainly heartfelt score brought to life via the chorus, orchestra, and pipe organ so central to the Catholic faith the film explores. Monsignor steadfastly avoids the mythical scale of Williams' most famous works in favor of a resounding but deeply human approach inspired by Italy's classical masters -- strings, brass, and woodwinds perfectly capture the emotional turmoil that galvanizes the onscreen narrative, and as usual, the performance of the London Symphony Orchestra is flawless. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
'Lost in Space: 40th Anniversary'
Release Date 10/17/2006
Tracks 41
Label La-La Land
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What The Critics Say
In his brief liner notes (really more of an appreciation), director Steven Spielberg points out that composer John Williams' score for Munich, Spielberg's film about Israeli attempts to track down and kill the Palestinians responsible for the massacre of Israel's 1972 Olympic team, is his fourth score of 2005, following Star Wars: Episode Three -- Revenge of the Sith, Spielberg's own War of the Worlds, and Memoirs of a Geisha. That's not a bad output for a man who also celebrated his 73rd birthday during the year. Pointing to the very different sorts of film the four titles represent, Spielberg calls Williams "a master of disguise," a composer able to serve the different needs of such varying subjects. Every film composer must have something of that versatility, though in fact Williams may have it less than most, as he is the closest thing to a traditional Hollywood composer still active. With Munich, he is put in an area that is very familiar to him, since the film is set in Europe, allowing him to draw upon his familiarity with and affection for European classical music. He employs a large orchestra, and for the most part he has written a conservative score for it to play. The one aspect of the project that is unusual is the film's darkness, beginning with the massacre and then following the increasingly problematic actions of those assigned to exact revenge. This does not allow for the kind of stirring, swashbuckling themes of a Star Wars movie. Rather, it involves minor keys, lots of low tones (no less than eight basses are used), and plenty of slow tempos. To make this tolerable, onscreen and on disc, Williams alternates the passages of dread with more romantic (but still sad) ones. Thus, the throbbing, percussive "Letter Bombs" is followed by "A Prayer for Peace," and other lyrical cues such as "Avner and Daphna" and "Avner's Theme" (the latter a solo for classical guitar) are interspersed with more jarring titles like "The Tarmac at Munich" and "Stalking Carl." But this remains a very dark score to accompany a dark film. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
John Williams skillfully utilizes the formidable talents of renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and equally beloved violinist Itzhak Perlman to flesh out director Rob Marshall's celluloid rendering of the bestselling novel by Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha. Elegant and predictable, Williams sticks to the source, building grand Western themes off of traditional Japanese melodies with a heady mix of regional instrumentation (shakuhachi and koto) and cinematic know-how. This is the composer at his most refined and nuanced, providing a textbook example of professional composition that revels in its subject matter without ever intruding. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
'Star Wars: The Story Continues'
Release Date 7/19/2005
Tracks 36
Label DEL
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