Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Arista Records

Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams

Produced by John Williams, Shawn Murphy, and Laurent Bouzereau 

Release Date: 1998

     Recent times have seen expanded John Williams music appearing on store shelves: The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition soundtracks and the re-scored Superman. All have been excellent, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind is no exception. With a 70+ minute release, a few alternate and unused cues, and highly informative linear notes, this is a very nice "Collector’s Edition" CD.

     This is one score that I really didn’t want to review. The basic problem was that I couldn’t get past some of the early alien music tracks, especially Barry’s Kidnapping. Once I forced myself to sit down and give it a full run-through, I was pleasantly surprised at how really good this score is. It’s amazing to me how different this score sounds to A New Hope, considering that it is for a movie in the same genre and was scored in about the same timeframe. The first few opening tracks set the tone of the score and introduce main theme and the "friendly alien" theme. The main theme has some very interesting uses in the score, such as being played in a militaristic fashion for the U.S. Government and sympathetically at times for the main characters. The "friendly alien" music has a pretty good use of a female choir. Barry’s Kidnapping is really the only track that degenerates into noise, but at a tad over six minutes, it can get a little grating, but it's better to have it in there than not. The music picks up again, with interesting twists and variations of the main theme along the way, and even some movements with a choir. Williams manages to tie up everything excellently in the ending track, ending with a very uplifting rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star."

     This is another "golden oldie" John Williams score and, with it’s nice presentation and solid content, this one is not to be left gathering dust on the shelf. ****1/2

Track Listing

1 - Opening: Let There Be Light (0:46)

2 - Navy Planes (2:07)

3 - Lost Squadron (2:23)

4 - Roy's First Encounter (2:41)

5 - Encounter at Crescendo Summit (1:21)

6 - Chasing UFOs (1:18)

7 - False Alarm (1:42)

8 - Barry's Kidnapping (6:19)

9 - The Cover-Up (2:26)

10 - Stars and Trucks (0:44)

11 - Forming the Mountain (1:50)

12 - TV Reveals (1:50)

13 - Roy and Gillian on the Road (1:10)

14 - The Mountain (3:31)

15 - "Who Are You People?" (1:35)

16 - The Escape (2:18)

17 - The Escape (Alternate Cue) (2:40)

18 - Trucking (2:01)

19 - Climbing the Mountain (2:32)

20 - Outstretch Hands (2:48)

21 - Lightshow (3:43)

22 - Barnstorming (4:26)

23 - The Mothership (4:34)

24 - Wild Signals (4:12)

25 - The Returnees (3:45)

26 - The Visitors/"Bye"/End Titles: The Special Edition (12:31)

Total Running Time: 77:23