Jurassic Park

In returning to the genre which produced ‘Jaws’, Williams produces action music of a high calibre. However these cues are never as downright scary, arguably because the musical ideas are not as simple. The music is certainly not as heart stoppingly fear inducing.
The action music is frenetic and fast paced as one might expect. The string section of the orchestra is severely taxed with the brass and percussive displays providing real bite. As in Star Wars, the timpani pound in the T-Rex cues among forceful trombone stabs. Personally, I don’t find this action music as texturaly impressive or as orally pulsating as the percussive and rhythm driven ‘The Lost World’. The music for the raptors, utilising growling bassoon turns and a rumbling bass sonority, is not as gritty and dirty as Williams’ sequel score. However, it’s Williams melodies and his touch for lighter music which is on display here and ultimately steals the show.

The score is about fantasy, and some of the most successful music on the album is the music composed to convey the sense of awe and power of creation. Williams’ use of chorus is particularly effective in producing this tone. ‘Hatching Baby Raptor’ employs a beautiful and haunting female chorus whilst towards its end enthusing an eerieness through its subtle manipulation of dissonance. Tracks such as ‘Petticoat Lane’ and ‘Welcome To Jurassic Park’, see Williams use the celeste and piano to offer solo performances of the main Jurassic Park theme. This writing, whilst reminiscent of Home Alone and ET, is effective in providing variations of the themes, whilst still maintaining the tonal feel of the album. The use of the celeste is actually rather melancholic.

The only poor track on the album is ‘Dennis Steal The Embryo’. Its a rather boring listen due to an over repetitive electronic ostinato. ‘My Friend The Brachiosaurus’ contains a brilliant use of harmony and harmonic progressions. The track is beautiful despite lacking the more ‘glossy’ orchestrations.

This score is not John Williams best work ever, but it is still brilliant. In my opinion it is one of the best score of the 90’s. The Lost World is equally impressive but for different musical reasons. The album contains all of the major music from the film and is worth every hard earnt penny!


Williams does it again.   September 10, 2005
Mr. Andrew Moore (Worcestershire)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I have a confession to make; I love film soundtracks. I like the film music of John Williams more than any other, and that's not easily said with the likes of Horner, Zimmerman, and a miriad of others. But Williams... Star Wars had me hooked as did Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Schindlers List, Superman the Movie, even his TV stuff like Lost in Space (credited as Johnny Williams).
So Jurassic Park... the dinosaurs were so realistic in the film butwould it have been as good without the music? try watching the film with no sound... it doesn't work.
To my mind, the mark of a good soundtrack album is one you can listen to and appreciate without having seen the film and Williams' scores do just that, Jurassic Park being no exception. The music is a character in itself, and I think he does this by composing themes and not music to a scene. The themes are then used to accompany appropriately timed scenes in the film thus enhancing the mood of the scene. However, the album returns to the themes and as such work brilliantly.
Jurassic Park is an album which I return to regularly, the music is simply terrific, uplifting, exciting, relaxing, even comical at times. This is Williams at his best, get it.


Awesome   July 11, 2005
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

An amazing soundtrack from an amazing composer

Highly recommended


Yet another famous movie theme   September 19, 2005
Juan Iglesias
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

It's amazing when you realise just how many famous film themes John Williams composed. This two-part theme is a classic and the tracks 'Theme from Jurassic Park' and 'Journey to the Island' are enough to warrant a purchase. The rest of the disc, however, is rather average. There is a four note 'Dinosaurs are dangerous' motif that doesn't quite grab and although the Raptor music and atmospherics are interesting, they aren't as enjoyable as you want them to be. 'Dennis Steals the Embryo' is a great track, reminiscent of his fantastic conspiracy music from JFK and there are nice touches throughout but the disc seems to suffer from bad editing decisions, which takes away the direction it should have. It's not Williams at his best, but it's a lot better than most other composers' work.