Home Alone Christmas - music by John Williams and various artists

 

1 Darlene Love – All Alone On Christmas 4:15

2 Alan Jackson – Holly Jolly Christmas 2:15

3 Fox Albert Choir – My Christmas Tree 2:35

4 John Williams – Somewhere In My Memory 3:49

5 Atlantic Starr – Silver Bells 4:15

6 TLC– Sleigh Ride - 3:44

7 Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Christmas All Over Again 4:12

8 Southside Johnny – Please Come Home For Christmas 2:41

9 John Williams – Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas 2:40

10 John Williams – Carol Of The Bells 1:25

11 Mel Tormé – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 3:05

12 Lisa Fischer– O Come All Ye Faithful 3:26

Home Alone Christmas

see also: A Charlie Brown Christmas

John Williams – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (40th Anniversary Remastered Edition)

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 1977 film of the same name, composed and conducted by John Williams. The original soundtrack album was released on vinyl album (with a gatefold sleeve), 8-track tape and audio cassette by Arista Records in 1977, with a total running time of 41 minutes (it was later released on compact disc in 1990). The soundtrack album was a commercial success, peaking at #17 on the US Billboard album chart in February 1978 and was certified Gold by the RIAA for 500,000 copies shipped. It also peaked at #40 in the UK album charts.

Following the twentieth anniversary re-release of the film in 1998, a new expanded soundtrack was released on compact disc by Arista. The "Collector's Edition Soundtrack" was made using 20-bit digital remastering from the original tapes, and contained 26 tracks totaling 77 minutes of music. The CD also comes with extensive liner notes, including an interview with Williams. Cues are given new titles, and it also contains previously unreleased material, as well as material that was recorded but never used in the film. La-La Land Records reissued the soundtrack on November 28, 2017, in recognition of the film's fortieth anniversary.

The score features some of Williams' most complex and modernistic writing, making use of extended orchestral techniques and atonality.

Expanded Soundtrack Presentation   
1-1        Main Title And The Vision     1:29
1-2        Navy Planes     2:15
1-3        Lost Squadron     2:34
1-4        Trucking     2:09
1-5        Into The Tunnel And Chasing Ufos    3:56
1-6        Crescendo Summit    1:25
1-7        False Alarm And The Helicopter    4:20
1-8        Barry’s Kidnapping    6:22
1-9        Forming The Mountain    1:58
1-10        TV Reveals / Across Country    2:53
1-11        The Mountain    3:36
1-12        The Cover-up And Base Camp    3:56
1-13        The Escape    2:20
1-14        Climbing The Mountain    2:36
1-15        Outstretched Hands    2:50
1-16        The Light Show    3:47
1-17        Barnstorming    4:31
1-18        The Mothership    4:35
1-19        The Dialogue     4:28
1-20        The Returnees    3:58
1-21        The Appearance Of The Visitors 4:56
1-22        Contact    3:22
1-23        End Titles 4:27

        Alternates And Additional Music   
2-1        Main Title    1:18
2-2        Roy’s First Encounter     2:44
2-3        Encounter At Crescendo Summit    1:25
2-4        Chasing UFOs    1:22
2-5        Watching The Skies     1:20
2-6        Vision Takes Shape     0:42
2-7        Another Vision     0:42
2-8        False Alarm     1:45
2-9        The Abduction Of Barry    4:36
2-10        The Cover-up    2:31
2-11        TV Reveals    1:52
2-12        Roy And Jillian On The Road    1:20
2-13        I Can’t Believe It’s Real    3:25
2-14        Across The Fields    1:20
2-15        Stars And Trucks    0:49
2-16        Who Are You People?    1:38
2-17        The Escape (Alternate)    2:41
2-18        Climbing Devils Tower    2:11
2-19        Dark Side Of The Moon     1:34
2-20        The Approach     4:32
2-21        Night Siege    6:27
2-22        The Conversation    2:23
2-23        Inside 2:34
2-24        Contact (Alternate)     2:51
2-25        Eleventh Commandment     2:00
2-26        TV Western     1:06
2-27        Lava Flow     1:47
2-28        The Five Tones     2:25
2-29        Advance Scout Greeting     2:58
2-30        The Dialogue (Early Version)     3:12
2-31        Resolution And End Title    6:55

 Close Encounters of the Third Kind

alt link

https://youtu.be/-KlVw-Fe9kg 

John Williams Greatest Hits 1969-1999...a collection of soundtrack music composed by John Williams

John Williams Greatest Hits 1969–1999 is a compilation of concert suites from various films John Williams has scored between 1969 and 1999. The album contains takes from various orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra and Skywalker Symphony Orchestra.

Disc 1
"Star Wars - Main Title" – 5:44
"E.T. - Flying Theme" – 3:42
"Superman - Main Title" – 4:25
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Parade of the Slave Children" – 4:53
"Sugarland Express - Theme" – 3:35
"Jaws - Theme" – 2:31
"Olympic Fanfare and Theme" – 4:28
"Return of the Jedi - Luke and Leia" – 5:02
"The Reivers - Main Title" – 5:13
"The Empire Strikes Back - The Imperial March" – 3:04
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra" – 2:48
"Empire of the Sun - Cadillac of the Skies" – 4:58
"Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Raider's March (End Credits)" – 5:11
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Suite" – 9:46

Disc 2
"Saving Private Ryan - Hymn to the Fallen" – 6:10
"Jurassic Park - Theme" – 5:29
"Schindler's List - Theme" – 3:32
"Hook - Flight to Neverland" – 4:41
"Seven Years in Tibet - Seven Years in Tibet" – 7:09
"JFK - Prologue" – 4:00
"Stepmom - The Days Between" – 6:27
"1941 - March" – 4:14
"Home Alone - Somewhere in My Memory – 4:54
"Summon the Heroes" – 6:14
"Rosewood - Look Down, Lord" – 4:12
"Far and Away - Theme" – 5:34
"Born on the Fourth of July - Theme" – 6:20
"Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace - Duel of the Fates" – 4:14

John Williams 01

John Williams 02

Memoirs of A Geisha...original motion picture soundtrack...music composed and conducted by John Williams

The haunting, recurring themes of this score help to give the perfect atmosphere to the movie. The music does exactly what it was supposed to do in musically illustrating and complementing the film and setting the mood. 

John Williams, Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman do such a superb job of musically interpreting the story. Yo-Yo Ma describes John Williams' score as "poetic and mysterious". It is he who expresses these elements through his cello while violinist Itzhak Perlman provides strategic moments of enchantment.

As you listen to this soundtrack it casts a spell over you, and shuts out everything except the music and the emotion. From the innocence of "Going to School" to the drama of "The Fire Scene and the Coming of War" it enchants and pulls you in. Listening to it is almost like meditation. 

Memoirs of a Geisha

alt link 1 alt link 2

https://youtu.be/EWRkt6hBVVc

Superman The Movie (1978)...Original Soundtrack...Music by John Williams

This release features 25 tracks on 2 CD's packed with almost 2 1/2 hours of score! Remastered and expanded, including previously unreleased material.


Released during the era of leisure suits and pet rocks, the film Superman: The Movie has aged about as well. But the often-clumsy charms of Richard Donner's cartoonish, hit-and-miss take on the Man of Steel was blessed with at least one superlative artistic effort: John Williams's epic score. The composer's Oscar-nominated music (coming on the heels of Star Wars and Close Encounters) was a wall-to-wall heroic symphony, rife with memorable melodies and ominous arrangements. Almost every original cut on this soundtrack appears in an expanded version, supplemented by nearly a dozen previously unreleased cues and alternate takes. This is the definitive release of one of Maestro Williams's greatest scores. --Jerry McCulley (Amazon)

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Les Miserables..1998 Film Version Original Soundtrack...music by Basil Poledouris

Basil Poledouris' musical rendition for Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is, quite simply, epic. From the prison quarries to Paris, from the struggle between mercy and justice (Val Jean and Javert), to tenderness and battle (Cosette and the ABC Club), Poledouris has captured it all. The main theme evokes images not only the policeman on the hunt, but the students on the barricade - in one spectacular brass arrangement. A particular favourite is the beginning of track three, where the simplicity of Val Jean and Cosette's relationship (in a delicate flute) is suddenly contrasted with the bustle of the Parisian streets (in bubbling woodwinds and strings).

Poledouris has outdone himself with this composition. His music evokes the crystal style of Ennio Morricone and the cinematic majesty of John Williams. It reflects a conversion from light to dark and completes the painting that is the film. In his composition we hear the brooding of Javert's soul, the love and compassion of Valjean. True to the literary work, both the score and the film focus their attention on the conflict between the redeemed Valjean and the obsessed Javert. The score is insightful on a personal level, allowing the listener the realization that darkness exists in all of us, but that darkness is merely the absense of light, the light of human compassion and love. Superb on a technical level, creatively beautiful, this score makes a fine addition to any personal music library, classical or otherwise.

1. Suite 1, Valjean's Journey: Theme From Les Miserables/The Bishop/Javert/The Quarry
2. Suite 2, Vigau: Javert Suspects/Caring For Fantine/Valjean's Confession/The Death Of Fantine...
3. Suite 3, Paris: Valjean & Cosette/The Wall/Outside/Marius & Cosette/Valjean Remembers
4. Suite 4, The Barricades: Funeral Attack/Valjean Saves Marius/Farewell/Javert's Suicide

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Empire of the Sun by John Williams...original soundtrack 1987

Empire of the Sun is one of the lesser known scores by John Williams. The score starts off with a wonderful choral arrangement of the Welsh folk tune, 'Suo Gan'. There are two more choral tracks as well, 'Liberation: Exsultate Justi', and 'Exsultate Justi'. They are similar, but are beautifully composed, and prove that Williams is as much a master of choral writing as he is of fanfares and sweet themes.

Williams's own music is quite a mixed grab bag. 'Jim's New Life' is a happy "bustling town" town type piece, while 'The Streets of Shanghai' is a rousing action piece along with the patriotic British march 'The British Grenadiers'

Also worthy of mention is 'Toy Planes, Home And Hearth'. This piece is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. It's simple and elegant, yet masterful, and worth the price of the album alone. This is a must have for all score fans. It's easily on the same level as Williams's other masterworks.

1. Suo Gan
2. Cadillac Of The Skies
3. Jim's New Life
4. Lost In The Crowd
5. Imaginary Air Battle
6. The Return To The City
7. Liberation : Exsultate Justi
8. The British Grenadiers
9. Toy Planes, Home, And Hearth
10. The Streets Of Shanghai
11. The Pheasant Hunt
12. No Road Home / Seeing The Bomb
13. Exsultate Justi

Empire of the Sun