Spaceballs (19th Anniversary Edition)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Comedies are one thing, farces another and Mel Brooks movies even something else. In the time of Blazing Saddles, To Be or Not To Be and Spaceballs, Mel Brooks was considered to be a fantastic actor and director who could create insane yet perfect humor for the genres he was trying to ape. And Spaceballs still stands today as a mockery of Star Trek, Star Wars and lets not forget Planet of the Apes. It starred Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Rick Moranis, the late John Candy and Mel Brooks, and contained the unforgettable scenes as Lord Helmet flying with his big Darth Vader look to the brink of the ship, fast forwarding the movie to the point of now as the radar jamming and Winslow trying to explain it the old fashioned Police Academy way. Anyway, still today its a hoot and you could say the same of the composer John Morris his score. Basically aping Williams in abundance, the score still got that undeniable '80 tone while sounding just so fun at itself. 'Spaceballs / Main Title' is a Star Wars rip but a clever one and it never fails to enjoy. 'Long Ship / Dark Helmet Entrance / Evil Schwartz / Planet Druidia' by then apes further Williams with a Jaws like slow moving tune. Nothing wrong with 'Wedding #1 / Here Comes the Bride / Retreat', basically interrupting the known Wedding tune a couple of times for the eyes of the funny priest. All right, the short short version! Not at all because the track names are going up the wazoo with 'Bad Ship #1 / Beam Bad Ship / Luggage Down / Matched Luggage / Bad Year Blimp / Sharking the Ship', yet it contains the great action version of the main theme. For 'First Desert / Deser Playout' we here the epic theme ala Lawrence of Arabia while some romance (not with dolls) is always lovely and 'Love Theme' proves to be the violin led counterpart to Princess Leia's theme. Of course how short they look, 'Dink March (Colonel Bogey March)' is funny as ever with its war march on comedy approach.

While Yogurt's insanely funny doll tries to say the line once more, there we lift 'The Schwartz / Power of Schwartz' just on Barf's foot. The more sinister 'She Will Come' doesn't fool you with its eerie strings while 'Taking Her In / Lonestar & Barf Enter as Guards / Lonestar-Corridor / After Stunt Doubles' is another variation of the main theme with brass and sets some more doubles at work, underscoring yet another funny scene. 'Mega Maid' has that cool look of an effect with its 2001 imitating nature, but its track 18 (forget I'll type this a second time) with its ring battle that sounds cool before we notice the order in tracks suddenly shifts with the movie's premise, first we reach the more lovelier moments with the love and main theme. 'Fanfare for Prince Lonestarr / Kiss / Big Finish' is extremely nice. The rest is basically alternate takes and more or less the same with just a few changes, however the only thing you just need to know and hear is 'Spaceballs' the song because that's a hoot, incredibly catchy in the movie and it has that undeniable 80's sound that just doesn't change in time, don't even forget its partly written by Mel Brooks himself. When listening to Spaceballs, there is not a second that doesn't go by without me thinking back at the movie, revisiting those funny scenes with that perfectly witty music. Its just as serious as it is funny and Morris did a great job in giving Spaceballs that never ending sound. And its finally available on CD because the fans of Mel Brooks were dying to get their hands on this goodie. This selection however with 45 tracks (and coming from a 90 track bootleg) shows one thing, a lot of tracks doesn't ruin a listening experience at all, but insanely long names (do they have to pinpoint out what happens each 10 seconds?) and 10 alternate versions of the same theme isn't necessary at all. However forget that because no Schwartz is needed to enjoy it, no Apes are necessary to mimic its flair, just some witty humor and a score to represent it is all what we want to let the Schwartz be with us.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Spaceballs / Main Title (2.32)

2. Long Ship / Dark Helmet Entrance / Evil Schwartz / Planet Druidia (2.24)

3. Wedding #1 * / Here Comes The Bride / Retreat * (1.42)

4. Hail To The Chief (0.14)

5. Bad Ship #1 / Beam Bad Ship / Luggage Down / Matched Luggage / Bad Year Blimp / Sharking The Ship (2.26)

6. First Desert / Deser Playout ** (0.52)

7. Love Theme (1.08)

8. Desert / Thirsty / March / Falls / Bad Ship #2 (1.46)

9. Dink March (Colonel Bogey March) (0.27)

10. Into Cave / The Cave (1.28)

11. The Schwartz / Power Of Schwartz (0.33)

12. She Will Come (1.34)

13. Yoghurt's Goodbye / Bad Ship #2 (0.48)

14. Taking Her In / Lonestarr & Barf Enter As Guards / Lonestar-Corridor / After Stunt Doubles (2.56)

15. Bad Ship After Rambo (0.14)

16. Mega Maid (1.36)

17. Tymp Hits / Schwartz Switchoff (0.34)

18. Entering The Ear / Down The Ladder / Hand Print #1 / Hand Print #2 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #1 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #2 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #3 (4.38)

19. Post / Explosion Barf (0.25)

20. Keep It For Yourself / Romance (1.00)

21. 2nd Wedding (0.55)

22. Yoghurt's Goodbye / Liquid Schwartz (1.01)

23. Fanfare For Prince Lonestarr * / Kiss / Big Finish * (1.24)

24. Spaceballs / Main Title (without SFX) (1.46)

25. Spaceballs *** (3.46) Excellent Track

The Alternates

26. Spaceballs / Main Title (alternate) (1.53)

27. Druidia Landscape (0.22)

28. Ladder Down / Matched LuggageLuggage (0.52)

29. Love Theme Alternate (1.12)

30. Love Theme DB * (2.17)

31. Love Theme DG1 * (2.40)

32. Love Theme DG2 * (2.27)

33. Love Theme Ver * (2.24)

34. Love Theme Rec Ver (1.16)

35. March / Colonel Bogey Inst (0.42)

36. Power Of Schwartz / Yoghurt's Goodbye (1.00)

37. Mega Maid 1st Version (1.35)

38. Mega Maid 2nd Version (1.36)

39. Schwartz Switch Off / Entering The Ear (1.44)

40. Yoghurt's Goodbye (0.37)

41. Kiss / Big Finish (1.21)

42. Spaceballs / Main Title (alternate 2) (1.58)

Album Versions

43. Love Theme (2.24)

44. Winnebago / Mega Maid (2.26)

45. Main Title (first take) (1.44)

* Not used in film

** Composed by Kenneth J. Alford

*** Performed by The Spinners, written by Mel Brooks, Clyde Lieberman & Jeff Pesceto

Total Length: 70.59

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