Second
to his original score for George Lucas’ Star
Wars, film music composer John Williams’ Academy Award winning contribution
to Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbusting adventure-horror classic Jaws could well be the most instantly
recognizable musical theme in cinema history.
Opening ominously (and infamously) with two subtle alternating notes of
stark dread, Jaws and arguably John
Carpenter’s The Thing represent the
most striking examples of minimalist musical cues to evoke pure unadulterated
dread. You don’t have to be a staunch
cinephile to point out the theme to Jaws anytime
those two alternating notes are played.
So
popular and well known is Williams’ score for Jaws that the theme song forecasting a deadly Great White shark attack
has gone through every stage of parody, tribute and of course repurposing in
the inevitable sequels to Spielberg’s iconic thriller. Even Spielberg and Williams themselves found
room for parody in their second feature together, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the musical exchange
between alien mothership and human scientists culminating in the Jaws theme playing for a few
seconds. Needless to say, the success of
Jaws jumpstarted the careers of both
respective artists and formed a lifelong director-composer collaboration.
Naturally
the soundtrack album was released in 1975 by MCA Records and became an instant
success, garnering a Grammy award followed by two further reissues of the album
in the year 2000 by Varese Sarabande.
All of which begs the question: why do a limited Mondo vinyl when there
already is a soundtrack album readily available? Well, let me explain. Though you may have bought that soundtrack
album on vinyl or compact disc, it turns out that the 1975 album was in fact a
re-recording specifically for that release and not the original performance
recorded and used in the film itself.
This isn’t the first time a re-recording of a film soundtrack was issued
as the official soundtrack album, with James Horner’s score for Brainstorm by Varese Sarabande being a
complete re-recording. In other words,
for over thirty years, your soundtrack album to Jaws is different from what was used in the actual film!
Circa
2017, Mondotees and the album co-producer Mike Matessino working with the
supervision and approval of John Williams have compiled together and restored,
edited and mixed the original sound elements for the film’s soundtrack as heard
in the film itself, resulting in what can be officially declared the very, very
first time the complete original score for Jaws
has been commercially released on vinyl!
Housed on two limited “Ocean Blue” colored 180 gram platters at the
exceptionally rare playback rate of 45rpm (33rpm being the standard practice)
for the finest possible audio fidelity and accompanied by an extensive
collectible booklet documenting the film’s production and the evolution of the
score with newly commissioned original sleeve artwork, this is without question
the definitive release of the Jaws soundtrack
album!
Although
some collectors, myself included, will balk at having to flip sides four times
when the album could have been pressed at 33rpm on one platter flipped only
twice, Mondotees have assembled second to their limited boxed set for Jerry
Goldsmith’s Alien score a magnificent
vinyl set which is absolutely essential to any film aficionado’s soundtrack
collection! Having heard the film itself
in it’s native mono mix and in the newly created 5.1 surround mix for the film’s
anniversary, it was a revelation hearing Williams’ music as heard in the film
in such clarity with sonic depth, warm bass tones and widespread use of the
stereo channels. Though sadly sold out
on Mondo’s website and though owners of the 1975 album won’t be keen on
upgrading their sets, having never owned the album before there isn’t a better
way to enjoy John Williams’ towering achievement in film music than what the
good folks at Mondo have put together here!
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki