E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary Edition
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Music CD Cover Composer: John Williams Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Original Language) Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack CD Release Date: 2002-03-19 Music Label: Mca Soundtracks:
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| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $3.19 |
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Free Music Notes for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary Edition Album
Free Music Review: Different "Goodbye" cue at the end...
Hit: 4 Stars
This is a fantastic expanded edition of John Williams' last great score. This is his peak, folks, and it is one to carry with you forever.
But why the four stars, you may ask? Because the "Goodbye" cue at the end is not as it is in the film. A few bars during Elliot's goodbye to E.T. are different; the sweeping strings suddenly drop out and the woodwinds take over, losing all emotional impact. I suspect this is how the scene was originally composed, but Williams felt that it wasn't working for him so SS told him to write it the way he felt it would work best, and that he (SS) would go back to the cutting rooms and cut it to match. But that's not how it is in the film and it's really disappointing to get all the way through this glorious score just to have the dramatic power sucked out in the end. It's nice, but it isn't what's in the film. I will keep a death grip on my original album release, since that has the correct ending to "Adventure on Earth."
I've always held this score close to my heart, along with Jaws and CE3K. I remember listening to it, as a teenager, on a Walkman, while walking through the woods at night. My father was burning some brush down in the stand of trees at the bottom of our hill and just as the ominous theme at the beginning welled up in my earphones, the dark trees before me lit up with the orange glow of firelight. It was an amazing, magical and scary coincidence and I'll always associate it with the original album (since that's all that was available at the time!).
Get this disc for the body of the score, but get the original album (if you can find it) for the original ending. It is emotionally and artistically more satisfying.