Album Review: 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

(C) 1977 Arista Records

Pros: Interesting mix of atonal post-modern styles and more traditional Romantic melodic material

Cons: The cut-paste presentation of cues.

When I first heard the opening bar of the Main Title and Mountain Visions from Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the late summer of 1978, I didn't know what to make of it. I hadn't seen Steven Spielberg's classic film about mankind's first peaceful contact with another spacefaring civilization (having spent much of my movie allowance on multiple screenings of Star Wars), so for me the music was mysterious, strangely atonal, and even ominous. It had none of the 19th Century Romantic era stylings of Williams' music for Star Wars; there wasn't a grand overture or march-like opening and there were very few repeated themes or leitmotivs. Indeed, some of the very early tracks on the Close Encounters, when heard without the context of Spielberg's movie, sound as though they belonged in a ghost story rather than an optimistic "first contact" movie.

Yet, if you listen very carefully to the 10 tracks taken from the original motion picture soundtrack (the 11th, Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is a disco-beat track based on the famous "conversation" five-note motif used by the ETs and Earthlings to "talk" to each other), you'll notice a slow but steady evolution of Williams' music from the abstract and ultramodernistic stylings reminiscent of 20th Century composers to the more melodic and familiar Romantic-flavored approach heard in the composer's scores for films by Spielberg, George Lucas, Oliver Stone, and other acclaimed directors. As the album progresses, the music goes from ominous and brooding as it underscores the mysterious "trail of evidence" left by the UFOs in the movie's first act to lyrical and awestruck as the various characters' storylines converge at Devil's Tower in Wyoming for the climactic "close encounter of the third kind," the actual contact between humanity and extraterrestrials.

One musical "trick" Williams used to "fool" listeners into wondering what the aliens were up to was to use the Gregorian chant "Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath) as part of the moody, brooding underscore for Act I of the film. The "Dies Irae" motif -- also used by Hector Berlioz to good effect in the final movement of his Symphonie Fantastique -- is a dark, almost threatening melody, allowing Spielberg and the composer to make the viewer think the film was a "War of the Worlds" Bug Eyed Monster-fest, making the final and more peaceful resolution all the more awe-inspiring -- and more rewarding on the visual and musical level.

Another melody used by Williams -- in an ingenious interpolation -- is "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Walt Disney's Pinocchio. If you listen carefully to The Appearance of the Visitors (Track 9), at around the 4:30 mark you'll hear the opening bars of that 1941 classic which has become the Disney company's signature theme.

Of the 10 tracks on this Varese Sarabande reissue of the 1977 Arista Records album, perhaps the most famous (and most heard) is The Conversation (Track 8), which features the five-note "musical calling card" the aliens use as a greeting in various scenes; in the film, the five-note motif is fiirst subliminal (being introduced as sung by a crowd in Benares, India, then played endlessly by a young Indiana toddler on a xylophone), then revealed as a sort of "intergalactic Morse code" halfway through Act II. Because it sounds so familiar, so inevitable (as all good music often does), it's hard to believe that there were literally thousands of five-note combinations Williams and Spielberg could have chosen.

The only gripe that I have is that this recording, like many "original soundtrack" albums, presents the music out of sequence (and therefore out of context) with regard to the film. Some tracks, including Main Title and Mountain Visions (Track 1) actually combine two cues from different parts of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While this works musically, purists who watch the film then listen to the album often get this Wait! This wasn't what I heard in the movie vibe.

Although this score is not my favorite Williams collaborative effort with Spielberg (I prefer the more 1930s serials-inspired Raiders of the Lost Ark's marches and themes), this album works not only as a musical memento that helps me remember my favorite scenes from Close Encounters, but it's also a fine stand-alone sample of late 20th Century orchestral music. It's a good example of Williams' eclectic style, and it is worth listening to, especially on a clear, starry-skied night.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1. Main Title and Mountain Visions
2. Nocturnal Pursuit
3. The Abduction of Barry
4. I Can't Believe It's Real
5. Climbing Devil's Tower
6. The Arrival of Sky Harbor
7. Night Siege
8. The Conversation
9. The Appearance of the Visitors
10. Resolution and End Title
11. Theme from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"