The Omen: The Essential Jerry Goldsmith Film Music Collection (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

When are compilations not successful? If they present what is not spectacular or if they repeat the same over and over, or if the performances are simply horrible. Luckily Silva Screen and their maestros are doing it fairly good on all those parts. The Omen: The Essential Jerry Goldsmith Film Music Collection proves this and follows John Williams and James Horner in the same line with their take on some of the big classic entries of the composer's career. Of course he was responsible for the Star Trek series, most of the films were scored by him and yes he composed music for often the forgotten B-classics like Baby rivaling Jurassic Park, The Shadow competing against Superman and Medicine Man against Schindler's List (of course not, I made that up). Anyway, Goldsmith was there to score quality while there was occasionally none to be found and this double set of CD's proves what kind of quality that was. Silva Screen performed it all with the City of Prague Philharmonic and let The Crouch End Festival Chorus do its job on several occasions, together it forms quality music in a 2 CD set Compilation. It are classic vibrant performances that make compilations successful and the performance of Capricorn One is one that immediately got me hooked, I never enjoyed it as much as I did now, anyway it rivals the one on Space and Beyond and altogether, it was made by the same orchestra so they knew how to handle it, again. And what about Under Fire, a wonderful collection of themes that makes the original proud, for people not getting their hands on the original, they can amuse themselves with true performances of the music, the guitar playing during 'Bajo Fuego' is terrific and the final march is a breeze, anytime.

But there are great performances each and every time you spot them! The special Omen suite, featuring 12 minutes of its music is a respected and demonic tale that does the Oscar winning score of Goldsmith justice, with the inclusion of the big sounding choir making it as faithful as possible, the appearance of the love theme in the middle is a nice touch and the choir ending it massively always a kicker. Anyway, a special arranged suite like there are several makes a compilation always worthy of praise. Masada and its brilliant main theme is a breeze to hear, especially its rhythm in the performance and The Great Train Robbery is a new piece many people will not have heard yet, anyway its bouncy bumpy feeling reminds me sometimes of Dennis the Menace and the bombastic energy is fun for 5 minutes of your time. Sadly possible winners such as The Shadow and Basic Instinct are lacking several points of the original strengths, even though Basic Instinct comes close with its sultry performance. The second CD opens already with a winner of format, the classic main theme appears three times during the tracks of The Blue Max and each performance is riveting and stylish. The Boys from Brazil is also a piece of music I haven't heard much from and its a nice waltz but I can not connect to it like it could do with other classic Goldsmith scores. Further is the special First Knight trio, with the fanfare for Arthur, the massive choral bombast of 'No Surrender' which kicks ass but sadly the final misses a bit from the original's pride, 'Arthur's Farewell' isn't bad, far from it but it misses somewhat its power at the end when the theme is heralded with choir. It doesn't reach the top of the original performance.

Takes of themes that sound good but don't equal the original versions are further expanded with versions of Total Recall (missing its impact while the clangs of the bells and the rhythm do something to detract from its electronic bounce that Goldsmith used in the normal version) and Powder is lovely with its string theme, but the brass playing almost makes it sound like a new theme of the film, I mean this positively for the piece itself but not for the true faith of the performance. Luckily 'The General's Suite' combining Macarthur and Patton's themes is full of brevity and the same can be said of the suite of First Blood / Rambo II, 5 minutes of excellent main theme versions for John Rambo. The string theme of Medicine Man also misses somewhat its impact while comparing with the original but Star Trek is a whole different matter. 16 minutes of 4 different tracks put together explains why the City of Prague Philharmonic didn't let us down. Just like on the Space and Beyond compilation, this is an excellent versions with 4 different tracks, from 3 different scores and all equally impressive, especially 'Klingon Attack' from Star Trek: The Motion Picture with its impressive resemblance to the beam sound and all the versions of the theme sound terrific. Again it is proven that the compilations of Silva Screen are worthy of attention, the question is what this set offers us what hasn't been heard before or enough. The special suite of Under Fire, the new inclusions of The Great Train Robbery and The Boys from Brazil are special additions to many Goldsmith fans and the double disc proves not only Silva Screen's pride towards the music of Goldsmith, but to classic quality music of Goldsmith in general. Another party to pick besides the Space and Beyond compilations.

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Tracks

Double Disc

Disk One: 66.19

Capricorn One

1. Overture (3.17) Excellent Track

Masada

2. Main Theme (5.11) Excellent Track

Under Fire

3. Prelude (1.52) Excellent Track

4. Bajo Fuego (5.47)

5. A New Love (4.20)

6. The Rebel March (3.14) Excellent Track

Basic Instinct

7. Main Theme (2.31)

The Great Train Robbery

8. Overture (4.55)

The Omen

9. Suite (11.49) Excellent Track

Baby: Secret of a Lost Legend

10. Baby's Alive / End Titles (7.24)

The Shadow

11. Main Theme (2.35)

The Russia House

12. Love Theme (5.12)

The Swarm

13. The Bees Arrive (4.24)

14. End Title (3.19)

Disk Two: 72.10

The Blue Max

1. Overture (2.17) Excellent Track

2. The Bridge (3.00) Excellent Track

3. Finale (2.38) Excellent Track

The Boys From Brazil

4. Waltz / The Boys (7.07)

First Knight

5. Arthur's Fanfare (0.43)

6. No Surrender (5.25) Excellent Track

7. Arthur's Farewell (5.01)

Total Recall

8. Main Theme (2.30)

Powder

9. Theme (4.28)

Macarthur / Patton

10. The Generals Suite (5.26) Excellent Track

Twilight Zone: The Movie

11. End Title Suite (6.27)

First Blood / Rambo II

12. Main Themes (5.58) Excellent Track

Medicine Man

13. The Trees (4.12)

Star Trek

14. Symphonic Suite (16.23) Excellent Track

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=== Link to Composer Site: Jerry Goldsmith ==