Along with their James Horner compilation, Silva Screen have released a very long overdue Jerry Goldsmith compilation. In fact, this is only the second compilation of his work that is easy to come by (the other being the sci-fi extravaganza Frontiers on Varese). Unlike Frontiers, this one covers the entire spectrum of his music and with a few omissions for reasons of space, the selection is comprehensive with classics such as The Omen (of course), Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Blue Max, Total Recall and Patton.
Starting with the sci-fi selections, Capricorn One is given a superb rendition which, despite having appeared on previous Silva Screen releases, was well worth putting on here. Total Recall works much better than it did on Frontiers as some attempt has been made to add digital percussion and the way the coda on the main theme is performed makes it sound less forced than on Frontiers. It is only a shame that it sounds so much like Poledouris' Anvil of Crom from Conan, there are plenty of other cues from Total Recall that could have been used otherwise. Twilight Zone: The Movie is something that many people would like to see get a release and so it is nice to be able to have a powerful and mostly accurate rendition of it preceded by Constant's classic television Theme. Baby: Secret of a Lost Legend is rather uninspiring, but will be of interest because it only appears on the SPFM tribute otherwise and that's not exactly easy to track down! The Swarm is similarly unreleased; the Bees Arrive track sounding a lot like Bernard Herrmann in ray Harryhausen mode (nothing in particular though), the End Credits are very similar to Rudy for some strange reason, but are quite fun. The suite from Star Trek is fractionally annoying, being arranged as one long track, rather than separate sections. The performances are variable. Both renditions of the Motion Picture theme from both the original setting and from First Contact are not quite together in places and the different brass parts have a tendency to stick out at times when they should be blended with the rest of the orchestra better. The same problem occurs in the First Contact theme when the performance is actually annoyingly loud when it should be more subdued and measured. The Klingon Attack recreates the original twanging noise quite well, but it's still not quite the same. The theme from Voyager has quite a few flat brass notes which are extremely distracting.
Goldsmith isn't synonymous with epics, but there are a few things here that could be deemed as such and failing the tag of epic, War Film will also do! The first is Masada, from the television miniseries which is a march, but has almost jazzy rhythms in it which actually sound rather odd in the context of a Biblical epic, however it is extremely enjoyable and well played. The Blue Max is a popular score among Goldsmith admirers and the short suite presents a good taster of the score, as does the selection from Boys from Brazil, even if the playing in the waltz isn't quite as together as it might be at times. First Knight is either loved or loathed. Some, like me, just find it a rippingly exciting, old fashioned score, but others dislike it for being so old fashioned. Either way, the 11 minute suite actually presents about a third of the score available on original soundtrack and contains many of the good sections, with the chorus providing a very tangible epic sound during the action cue. The General's Suite is almost always played at Goldsmith concerts, but I think what it sounds like is a bit of a mystery to many people. Basically, the main theme from MacArthur is played and then it blurs into Patton, echoing trumpets and all. Of the two recordings of the suite available, this one and the one of the Goldsmith Soundtracks with the Philharmonic, I am still not overtly inspired by the performances. Both are a little slow and lack the punchy brass of the original MacArthur recording and the tight playing of the RSNO on the re-recording of Patton (which also features a different arrangement of the March as well).
The remaining selections, Basic Instinct, The Great Train Robbery (only recording of the bouncy, with hints of Ron Goodwin, theme available on CD, jolly well performed as well), The Shadow (in that strange concert arrangement), The Russia House and so on are all pretty well performed and represent the original scores quite well and based on whether you like the selections, liking of the original score is fairly probable, apart from perhaps Powder where the original score doesn't feature the pseudo-James Horner theme very much at all.
It was about time that an easy to find and cheap to buy Goldsmith compilation was available and this one will do very nicely indeed. There are omissions, this kind of thing never gets by without complaints about omissions. There are no selections from Jerry's Westerns, either Bad Girls for fun or something more serious like Stage Coach. His association with Joe Dante has no representation. I'm sure many people would be interested to hear music from The 'Burbs as well as perhaps something from Gremlins. There is plenty of scope for a second volume! Most Goldsmith fans will gain something from the compilation as there are many rare things, perhaps the most of important of these is Under Fire, which is a stunning score that virtually no-one has heard since it's a foreign release and also out of print. The performance of Bajo Fuego could never hope to be as good as original, but it is fine enough and the rest is performed with typical aplomb and will likely make people salivate for the original. So, a definite must for new Goldsmith fans and at the price, you get a lot of excellent music, mostly well performed and don't be tempted to skip past the stuff you've not heard of, you'll be onto Star Trek quicker than you could possibly imagine otherwise!
Rating ~ 
Disc One ~ 66:17
Disc 2 ~72:08
