E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
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Music CD Cover
Composer: John WilliamsEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered, Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 1996-09-24
Music Label: MCA Records
Soundtracks:
- Far from Home/E.T. Alone
- Bait for E.T.
- Beginning of a Friendship
- Toys
- "I'm Keeping Him"
- E.T.'s Powers
- E.T. And Elliott Get Drunk
- Frogs
- At Home
- Magic of Halloween
- Sending the Signal
- Searching for E.T.
- Invading Elliott's House
- E.T. Is Dying
- Losing E.T.
- E.T. Is Alive!
- Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye
- End Credits
Free Music Notes for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Free Music Review: Can I Phone A Friend?
Hit: 5 Stars
When I first saw E.T. I hid in the crook of my aunt's elbow for the first 15 minutes and John Williams was a large part of it. The terror that was instilled in my little 5 year old heart was beyond my rationale as these faceless men chased E.T. with a cacophonous orchestra cranking up the intensity along with the chase. It wasn't until the much later VHS release that I could recall what happened in that scene visually, because I had my eyes closed. But I couldn't close my ears and the music said everything; "You are supposed to be scared. You should be running." Oh how I wanted to run.
Nowadays, being much older and much braver, E.T. is among my 10 favorite movies of all time and the score is in my top 5. John Williams gives us a score that swells with emotion to the bursting point. The whimsy (particularly with the nod to John's earlier work in Empire Strikes Back), the literally soaring beauty of the Flying Theme, and the 20th Century tension that follows the government as they try to track down our little hero.
The highlight of the score is the 15 minute plus "Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye". I firmly believe that it's a gutsy move for a composer to introduce a new major theme in the last 15 minutes and expect the listener to respond to it, but it works. The 11 note motif is my favorite theme and it's what drives us from the children's escape with E.T. to the end of the movie. Every time I listen to it, I stop what I'm doing and devote myself fully to the music. If I'm particularly invested, when the goodbyes are all said and done and E.T. stands nobely at the entrance of his spacecraft, the ramp raising up, the iris door closing in on his fully restored beating heartlight, I have been known to get more than just a bit misty eyed.
Everyone should own this soundtrack. Even if you've never seen the movie, or have and didn't like it for some heartless reason, the music is inspirational, exciting, terrifying and downright fun.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Poster
While director Steven Spielberg has sometimes termed his blockbuster hit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial a loose sequel to his similarly themed Close Encounters of the Third Kind, that notion only underscores the breadth of John Williams's talents as a composer and tempts the listener to consider this score a sort of second, more nakedly emotional movement to his CE3K music. As in his epic Star Wars work, the musical touchstone is early-20th-century Russian romanticism, a link that becomes even clearer with the restoration of three fragile, largely atmospheric cues ("Main Titles," "Meeting E.T.," and "E.T.'s New Home"). While Williams has often suffered odd accusations of emotional manipulation--which is, after all, precisely the job of a film composer--his E.T. music is still some of his most compelling, recalling Herrmann's delicate, pastoral touch on The Magnificent Ambersons in its first half, then steadily ratcheting up the tension as the score's insistent brass motif intrudes ever more ominously. Two decades later, the 15-minute sweep of "Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye" remains one of Williams's most powerful and memorable film-music achievements. This edition also features an illustrated booklet with a new interview with the composer. --Jerry McCulleyPop Music CDs
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