Rocks In The Attic #98: John Williams - ‘Jaws (O.S.T.)’ (1975)

One of my top five favourite films, and probably one of my top five favourite film soundtracks, I was so pleased to find this on vinyl in the soundtrack section of Real Groovy when I first came to New Zealand on holiday.

People assume that Williams is merely aping Bernard Herrman on this soundtrack, with the tuba on the soundtrack’s Main Title (Theme From Jaws) being as simple and effective as the strings in Herrman’s score for the shower scene in Psycho; but as Williams himself admits, his score is just some jaunty pirate music, bookended by a simple touch of horror music in the opening Main Title and a touch of calm in the closing End Title.

The repetitive motif that is introduced in Sea Attack Number One and opens One Barrel Chase and Preparing The Cage continually goes round and round in my head, probably more than any other piece of film soundtrack. If I start humming that theme, I will start off on one instrument and then follow this with another instrument, just like Williams’ arrangement. There’s only so many instruments I can mimic so it soon gets tired, until I start humming it again. And again. And again.

I’ve never been diving in a shark cage, but I can guarantee that when I eventually do, it won’t be the Main Title (Theme From Jaws) that will be going round in my head, it’ll be that tune that permeates through the second side of this album, and the latter half of the film.

Hit: Main Title (Theme From Jaws)

Hidden Gem: Preparing The Cage

Rocks In The Attic #48: Clint Mansell - ‘Moon (O.S.T.)’ (2009)

Soundtracks are a minefield. You can have the great themes by composers like Bernard Hermann and John Williams, but those soundtracks can also be marred by short, unmelodic bursts of score that only serve the purpose of matching cues in the accompanying film. Then there are the soundtracks that just have popular songs on them, starting with American Graffiti and continuing through the John Hughes films of the 1980s. These types of soundtracks are all the rage these days (especially since Tarantino lent an air of cool to the process in the 1990s) as they’re easy to cobble together. Then there are composers who simply try to put across a mood or a feeling in their soundtracks. Clint Mansell is one of those composers.

Looking at the subject matter of this film, and the identity of the film’s director Duncan Jones (also known as Zowie Bowie), it would have been all too easy to plonk Space Oddity on the film’s soundtrack. Thankfully, this fantastic film was made in the UK, away from the clichés of Hollywood.

Hit: Welcome To Lunar Industries

Hidden Gem: Memories (Someone We’ll Never Know)