Music Album Review: 'Superman: The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

On February 15, 2000, Warner Bros. Records and Rhino Entertainment released Superman: The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a 35-track, 2-CD album that presents the complete score composed and conducted by John Williams for Richard Donner's 1978 epic comic book film.

Produced by Nick Redman and Michael Matessino, the album presents the music as it was heard in the movie, and (as in other Redman-Matessino expansions of classic Williams scores for Raiders of the Lost Ark and the original Star Wars Trilogy) gives film score fans a treasure trove of  previously unreleased material (such as the movie version of the Main Title March, which was not included in Warner Records' 1978 2-LP album) "source" cues (music that is heard "in-movie" by characters), alternate versions of the Main Title March, The Planet Krypton, and Can You Read My Mind (which is Maestro Williams' Love Theme From Superman combined with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse).

As soundtrack aficionados know, Warner Bros. Records released a two-record LP soundtrack album in December of 1978 to coincide with the movie's theatrical debut. Like most "original soundtrack albums," the first iteration was an abridged version of the musical score performed and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Williams' baton. Not only did the '78 double album conform to certain industry conventions, such as the use of "concert hall" versions of The Main Title March and the placement of cues to fit a producer's aesthetic vision rather than to follow the action of the source film. Additionally, the limits of the format, especially in those days of analog recordings, meant that 40 minutes' worth of music, including Star Ship Escapes, Lex's Luau, and The Big Rescue were left off the double LP. (The audiocassette version and the original CD releases of Superman: The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack suffered even more. Due to issues of the media's storage capacity and for marketing reasons, some tracks from the 2-LP album were omitted from the cassette and early CD editions.)

Now, this is not a big deal for the casual listener, but for soundtrack aficionados and John Williams fans who noticed that The Main Title March is shorter in the 1978 album (by two minutes) than what is heard in the film, or that Love Theme From Superman had been placed in the middle of the album rather than as a coda that follows Finale and End Title March in one of Hollywood's longest credits sequences.

But the success of producers Nick Redman and Michael Matessino's restorations of Williams' Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark scores, aided by new digital tools and editing techniques, combined with popular demand for a more complete release of the music from Superman, spurred Warner Bros. Records and Rhino to release the Warner Archives 2-CD expanded edition nearly 22 years after Donner's film made audiences "believe a man can fly."

Disc One

No. Title      Length
1. "Prelude and Main Title March**" 5:30
2. "The Planet Krypton**" 6:40
3. "Destruction of Krypton**" 7:52
4. "Star Ship Escapes*" 2:21
5. "The Trip to Earth" 2:29
6. "Growing Up**" 2:35
7. "Death of Jonathan Kent*" 3:24
8. "Leaving Home" 4:52
9. "The Fortress of Solitude**" 9:18
10. "Welcome to Metropolis*" 2:12
11. "Lex Luthor's Lair**" 4:48
12. "The Big Rescue*" 5:55
13. "Super Crime Fighter**" 3:20
14. "Super Rescues**" 2:14
15. "Luthor's Luau (Source)*" 2:48
16. "The Planet Krypton (Alternate)**" 4:25
17. "Main Title March (Alternate)"

Disc Two
No. Title Length
1. "Superman March (Alternate)**" 3:49
2. "The March of the Villains" 3:36
3. "The Terrace*" 1:34
4. "The Flying Sequence" 8:14
5. "Lois and Clark*" 0:50
6. "Crime of the Century*" 3:24
7. "Sonic Greeting*" 2:22
8. "Misguided Missiles and Kryptonite*" 3:27
9. "Chasing Rockets**" 4:55
10. "Superfeats**" 4:53
11. "Super Dam and Finding Lois**" 5:11
12. "Turning Back the World" 2:07
13. "Finale and End Title March**" 5:42
14. "Love Theme from Superman" 5:06
15. "Can You Read My Mind (Alternate)*" 2:58
16. "The Flying Sequence / Can You Read My Mind" 8:10
17. "Can You Read My Mind (Alternate Instrumental)*" 2:57
18. "Theme from Superman (Concert Version)" 4:24
* Previously unreleased selection
** Contains previously unreleased material

Digitally remastered in "RhinoPhonic Authentic Sound" and carefully restored for this re-release, Superman: The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features John Williams' complete score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, rearranged to match its appearance in the film. In addition, producers Matessino and Redman include alternate versions of various cues, including the more familiar concert hall arrangement of Main Title March (Theme From "Superman"), an unused version of The Planet Krypton, and several different takes on Can You Read My Mind, including the track The Flying Sequence/Can You Read My Mind (the LSO/Margot Kidder vocal) as heard in the '78 album and a 1970s-style instrumental/voiceover mix which was recorded but not chosen for the finished film.

Interestingly, Jerry Goldsmith was originally attached to Richard Donner's film as the composer; the two men had collaborated on 1976's The Omen, for which Goldsmith won his only Oscar (out of 18 nominations). However, he dropped out of the project due to scheduling issues, so Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the film's producers, reached out to John Williams, who had just won the Best Original Score Academy Award for Star Wars. Williams, noting that Superman's tone was fun and did not take itself too seriously, took the gig. (And speaking of Academy Awards...Williams earned another nomination for Superman, but lost that year to Giorgio Moroder's music for Midnight Express.)

The result, of course, was one of the most memorable film scores in modern movie history. Maestro Williams' Main Title March (especially in its abridged concert hall arrangement) is one of the composer's best-loved works, on par with his Main Title from Star Wars, The Flying Theme from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, The "Raiders" March from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the menacing motif from Jaws and its concert arrangement.

Another iconic theme from the Superman score is, of course, Love Theme from Superman. There are several versions of this work in this album, including the end credits arrangement that doubles as a concert arrangement, as well as the vocal-and-orchestra version heard during the somewhat syrupy "flying sequence" with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. British lyricist Leslie Bricusse (who has collaborated with Williams on songs for Hook and Goodbye. Mr. Chips) wrote the words to Can You Read My Mind, which was originally intended to be sung by Margot Kidder to the melody of the Love Theme. This idea was nixed by Donner, so the song morphed into a voiceover. Later, Maureen McGovern recorded Can You Read My Mind and had a modest pop hit with it in 1979, but the song has not aged well. Williams' LSO recording, however, survived and thrived, and many orchestras, including the Cincinnati Pops and the Boston Pops Orchestra, have performed it live and in recordings.

I've owned several versions of the Superman soundtrack, including the LP, cassette, and CD editions of the '78 album, over the past 40 years. Clearly, I've loved them all, but in my opinion, the 2000 Warner Archives extended edition is the best.

Addendum:

This edition is now the second-best release. The best version of the Superman soundtrack is

Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition: Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams, which was released a few days after I posted this review last February. Alex Diaz-Granados, January 6. 2020.