Music Album Review: 'Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition: Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams'
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| Promotional graphic for La-La Land Records' Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition 3-CD set. © 2019 Warner Bros. Records, La-La Land Records, and DC Entertainment |
A few weeks ago (on February 15, to be exact), Burbank-based La-La Records released Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition: Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams, a three-CD box set that presents two versions of Maestro John Williams' 1978 score for Richard Donner's now-classic superhero film about the Man of Steel and his first confrontation with archvillain Lex Luthor.
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The cover art of the 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition is based on the 1978 teaser poster for Superman: The Movie.
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Nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy during the awards season for 1978, Williams' music for Superman soon became as iconic as the composer's previous scores for Jaws, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. So connected were the March from Superman and other themes from the original film that they carried over not just to the three film sequels starring the late Christopher Reeve, but also made their presence known in 2006's Superman Returns and a late 1980s animated series, not to mention non-Superman related events such as the Super Bowl half-time show in early 1979 and, of course, live performances and cover recordings by orchestras and bands all over the world.
Warner Records released the first version of the soundtrack in December of 1978 in three formats: a two-LP vinyl record set with 16 tracks; a cassette edition with two tracks (Growing Up and Lex Luthor's Lair) omitted due to the limits of the tape medium; and the eight-track tape edition, which contained the music from the entire 2-LP album. Per the recording industry's tradition of not releasing complete versions of film scores in "original soundtrack albums," the album produced by Maestro Williams was a condensed edition, with most of the cues presented out of sequence or in "concert hall" arrangements that differ from the versions Williams recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra between July and November of 1978.
11 years later, Warner Records released most but not all of 1978's Superman; The Movie album on compact disc; two tracks were left out of the CD because the standards of the time limited all albums to a total length of 74 minutes. A complete version of the '78 double album was made in Japan in 1990, but it was not easily found in U.S. record stores, which sold the more numerous 74-minute album until 2000.
That last year of the 20th Century saw the release (by Rhino Records and Warner Archives) the first expanded edition of Superman: The Movie's score. Produced by Michael Matessino and the late Nick Redman, "it combined the album master with various edited 'pre-dub' elements to reconstruct the score." This was the first album to present such tracks as Prelude and Main Title and Lois and Clark, as well as Welcome to Metropolis and Luthor's Luau.
The 2000 two-CD album might have been the definitive album of Maestro Williams' music for Superman to the present day had it not been for a lucky find by someone at the studio where the film was made.
Shortly after [the Rhino soundtrack] release, 35mm magnetic film reels containing an earlier-generation 6-track mixdown were discovered at Pinewood Studios. This source was utilized for an audio remix for the film's DVD release on DVD in 2001, with the score presented (in edited, truncated form to match the film) as an isolated track.
This find formed the basis for Film Score Monthly's 2008 Superman: The Music (1978-1988) 8-CD box set, which might have been the score's Ultimate Edition had it not been for another accidental discovery: the original 2-inch 24 track masters used during the recording sessions with the London Symphony Orchestra at Anvil Studios. Warner Bros. had found the tapes, barcoded them, then locked them in a vault.
As a result, Mike Matessino, along with La-La Land Records' MV Gerhard and Matt Verboys, associate producer Neil S. Bulk, and creative consultant Jim Bowers were able to put together a third (and possibly last) restored assembly of John Williams' magnificent score for Superman.
A recent discovery of the score’s original 2-inch, 24-track music masters has led the way to a stellar, high-resolution transfer by Warner Sound. This first generation element has been restored, remixed, assembled and remastered by album producer Mike Matessino, resulting in a stunning presentation of this legendary score that is unparalleled in its sonic quality.
The 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition
Released in mid-February as a limited edition commemorative set, this version of Superman: The Movie's score contains three compact discs:
Discs One and Two present maestro Williams’ film score in its glorious, full form, while Disc Two also contains a bounty of alternate/additional cues (including an astonishing early version of “The Fortress of Solitude” that remained vaulted and unplayed for four decades), and Disc Three showcases the original 1978 soundtrack presentation, rebuilt and remastered from these newly restored recording elements. - La-La Land Records product description
Disc One
(Jor-El/Marlon Brando CD art)
Score Presentation
1 Prelude and Main Title 5:06
2 The Planet Krypton and The Dome Opens 6:39
3 Destruction of Krypton (Extended Version) 7:57
4 The Kryptonquake 2:27
5 The Trip to Earth 2:33
6 The Crash Site :39
7 Growing Up 2:01
8 Jonathan’s Death 3:27
9 Leaving Home 4:52
10 The Fortress of Solitude (Extended Version) 9:22
11 The Mugger 2:11
12 Lex Luthor’s Lair (Extended Version) 4:54
13 The Helicopter Sequence 5:59
14 The Burglar Sequence and Chasing Crooks 3:21
15 Cat Rescue and Air Force One 2:17
16 The Penthouse 1:35
17 The Flying Sequence (Instrumental Version) 8:12
18 Clark Loses His Nerve :51
Disc One Total Time: 74:34
Disc Two
(Superman/Christopher Reeve CD art)
Score Presentation Continued
1 The March of the Villains 3:37
2 The Truck Convoy Sequence 3:27
3 To the Lair 2:21
4 Trajectory Malfunction 1:21
5 Luthor’s Lethal Weapon 2:13
6 Superman Rescued and Chasing Rockets 5:01
7 Golden Gate Bridge and The Rescue of Jimmy 4:57
8 Pushing Boulders and Flying to Lois 5:26
9 Turning Back the World 2:06
10 The Prison Yard and End Title 6:41
11 Love Theme From Superman 5:03
Total Score Time: 1:56:36
Additional Music
12 Prelude and Main Title (Alternate) 3:49
13 The Planet Krypton (Alternate Segment) 3:18
14 The Dome Opens (Alternate) 2:31
15 The Fortress of Solitude (Alternate Segment) 4:12
16 The Mugger (Alternate) 1:29
17 Prelude and Main Title (Film Version) 5:23
18 I Can Fly (Flying Sequence Alternate Segment) 2:15
19 Can You Read My Mind (Film Version) 3:04
20 Trajectory Malfunction (Alternate) 1:04
21 Turning Back the World (Extended Version) 2:20
22 The Prison Yard and End Title (Film Version) 5:48
Total Time: 35:13
Disc Two Total Time: 78:00
Disc Three
(Lex Luthor/Gene Hackman CD art)
Remastered 1978 Original Soundtrack
1 Theme from Superman (Main Title) 4:29
2 The Planet Krypton 4:49
3 Destruction of Krypton 6:03
4 The Trip to Earth 2:28
5 Growing Up 1:56
6 Love Theme From Superman 5:02
7 Leaving Home 4:52
8 The Fortress of Solitude 8:32
9 The Flying Sequence / Can You Read My Mind 8:14
10 Super Rescues 3:27
11 Lex Luthor’s Lair 2:37
12 Superfeats 5:04
13 The March of the Villains 3:37
14 Chasing Rockets 7:37
15 Turning Back the World 2:06
16 End Title 6:36
Disc Three Total Time: 77:55
Three-Disc Total Time: 3:50:29
My Take
I've been a fan of Maestro Williams' score for Superman: The Movie since I first saw Richard Donner's now-legendary film adaptation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster's classic comic book in a darkened theater in December of 1978. In truth, it was the fact that the music was composed by John Williams instead of, say, Jerry Goldsmith, that attracted me to go see Superman in the first place. I was then in my early phase of Star Wars fandom so I was eager to see other films that featured scores by the now-legendary dean of modern film composers. (I also saw the less-classic Jaws 2 during this period for the same reason.)
As many movie music buffs have said, Superman was just one of many of Williams' iconic scores in this new Golden Age of action and fantasy films. This period began with the release of Steven Spielberg's Jaws in 1975, then came into full bloom with the unleashing of Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Black Sunday, and to a lesser extent, The Fury and Jaws 2. And for many Williams' aficionados, Superman's score is the richest and most important of his scores outside the works of his close collaborators Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
I've owned most of the Superman soundtracks that have been available in the U.S. since December of 1978 in almost every format except the eight-track version. The only major releases I have not purchased or listened to are the 1990 made-in-Japan CD reissue of the 1978 soundtrack and the 2008 Superman: The Music (1978-1988) Film Score Monthly box set. And until I bought Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition to celebrate my recent birthday, I only owned the 2000 Rhino/Warner Archives 2-CD restoration, which Mike Matessino and Nick Redman had lovingly reconstructed nearly 20 years ago.
Naturally, much of the musical material in this limited edition is similar to that of the 2000 Superman: The Movie soundtrack album. There are differences, of course; some tracks have been expanded or re-edited, and as such have new titles. Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition presents the film's music as it was heard in the film, which means that tracks such as Luthor's Luau (which is a bonus track in the '00 album) are incorporated into the score rather than as ancillary material heard after the main score.
The music for Superman is brilliantly written, with heroic marches and fanfares that represent Christopher Reeve's eponymous hero and his dual personalities of Kal-El and Clark Kent; a romantic love theme for Superman and the reporter he falls for, Lois Lane (the late Margot Kidder, to whom this release is dedicated); a darkly mischievous March of the Villains that seems to foreshadow Parade of the Ewoks from John Williams' yet-to-be-written score for Return of the Jedi; and scene-specific cues that utilize variations of these themes in a way that marries the music to the images shot by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (who died in October of 1978; he had completed work on Superman and was shooting Roman Polanski's Tess in France when he had a fatal heart attack) seamlessly.
As I said in my recent review of the 2000 Rhino Records/Warner Archives album:
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.
This three-CD edition has all of the music in the 2000 edition, albeit with new reconstructions and previously unreleased versions of The Fortress of Solitude. It also includes the complete 1978 album, alternate takes of classic tracks such as March from Superman and The Flying Sequence, and an informative yet down-to-earth booklet of liner notes written by Mike Matessino.
In my review of the 2000 Matessino/Redman reconstructed soundtrack album I wrote:
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.
Well, folks, I must confess that as much as I like the 2000 Rhino Records/Warner Archives recording, this new Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition: Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams from La-La Land Records surpasses it in scope and sound quality. If I may be allowed a pun, this limited edition re-release is truly super, man.
Sources:
Michael Matessino, liner notes for Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition
La-La Land Records website
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