Conducted by Bernard Herrmann

Release Date: November 9th, 1993

              Arista Records

     It's no wonder that Herrmann would become a major force in the musical world of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone after his wonderful score for this Robert Wise film. The story, which told of mankind's first association with extra-terrestrials, contained many big ideas within, and ultimately intended to serve as a warning for the future of humanity (which, at the time of the film, was an era fresh off of World War II and experiencing the opening salvos of the coming Cold War). With almost mythical underpinnings, it's quite apparent why Herrmann chose the particular approach that he did with this score. The haunting refrains of the ridiculously difficult performances on the Theremin (along with organs and other assorted off-beat instrumentation) make this score instantly memorable in the film.

     The album opens with the Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare. The sound quality on this cue seems to be left exactly as it was, thus (as with the Star Wars Special Edition album) it bares no resemblance as to the quality of the rest of the score. Thankfully, the sonic pleasure peaks up tremendously from there. The music immediately leaves its mark with the eerie and delightfully "spacey" main theme. The Theremin makes its appearance from the outset, though the Outer Space cue builds even more so on that strange instrument with a simple motif on piano. How something so simply constructed could work so well is a testament to Herrmann's uniqueness in the film composing world. The following cues continue to build on this formula, but Herrmann never lets up from the intense creepiness that he sets forth in the opening track. As the score progresses to The Glowing / Alone / Gort's Rage the bass undertones pick up and the Theremin continues to weave unendingly throughout the cue. If anyone has ever composed as much intense hair-standing-on-edge music as this, I would be quite astonished to hear it. In fact, the only modern score that even comes close (and which owes a lot to this one) is James Newton Howard's work for Signs.

     As I mentioned before, sound quality picks up quite a bit from the opening Fox fanfare cue. Not to say that you'll mistake this for the new Joel McNeely re-recording of this score (which I've heard is quite good), but quality is acceptable and there's still nothing like the originals. However, this album, released way back in 1993, has since fallen into score limbo and you'll find used copies on Amazon.com for the likes of forty bucks. For those intent on having the originals, that may not seem like too bad a price, but other more casual listeners interested in this score would do better to have a look at the much cheaper re-recording available from Varese Sarabande.

     While it completely embraces a psychologically unnerving feel (similar to that of Psycho) and thus isn't the kind of score you'd pop in on a cheery day, it is quite a masterful score from a classic composer at the top of his game and you'd well be depriving yourself if you don't at least look into this one.

1 - Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare (0:14)
2 - Prelude / Outer Space / Radar (3:52)
3 - Danger (0:26)
4 - Klaatu (2:19)
5 - Gort / The Visor/ The Telescope (2:28)
6 - Escape (0:57)
7 - Solar Diamonds (1:08)
8 - Arlington (1:14)
9 - Lincoln Memorial (1:34)
10 - Nocturne / The Flashlight / The Robot / Space Control (6:03)
11 - The Elevator / Magnetic Pull / The Study / The Conference / 

       The Jewelry Store (4:34)
12 - Panic (0:47)
13 - The Glowing / Alone / Gort's Rage / Nikto /

       The Captive / Terror (5:16)
14 - The Prison (1:46)
15 - Rebirth (1:43)
16 - Departure (0:56)
17 - Farewell (0:37)
18 - Finale (0:30)

Total Running Time: 36:34