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Artwork copyright (c) 1974 Universal
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2004 James Southall
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EARTHQUAKE Barely
registers on the Richter Scale A review by JAMES SOUTHALL They're all in it - Charlton Heston, George Kennedy, Lorne
Green - this is a disaster movie with pedigree. Not particularly better
nor worse than the countless others that went around it, it does its job well
enough, featuring all the stunts you might want. John Williams wrote the
scores for many of the famous disaster movies of the early 70s, taking his cue
from the one that started them all - Alfred Newman's Airport - but not
really coming up with anything quite so memorable. Indeed, in this
writer's opinion, Williams's disaster scores are the weakest aspect of his
career apart from those countless 60s comedies he did. The Towering
Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure are both virtually intolerable to
listen to, but Earthquake is actually considerably better, easily the
best of the three. Damning with faint praise, perhaps, but it's certainly
in a higher league. The opening theme is as cheesy as they come - well, you might
think, you haven't heard what comes later yet! - but despite its extraordinary
naffness, it's actually quite fun and memorable. Hardly up there in the
pantheon of great Williams themes, but it's not bad. In its solo piano
form in "City Theme" it works very well, by far the most serious
aspect of the score, and probably the most impressive. "Something for
Rosa" is like the worst piped muzak you ever heard, truly deliciously
awful. It's an absolute riot! "Love Scene" is quite nice
romantic music; again, it's a little like elevator music, but it's attractive
enough. The music becomes more serious in "The City Sleeps",
which resembles other, better Williams efforts and is really rather impressive,
a subtly moving and powerful piece which certainly does a good job of conjuring
up images of a great city. For an action movie, there is surprisingly
little action in the score, but "Cory in Jeopardy" is probably the
best track, featuring some imaginative piano writing and John Barry-style
xylophone, all with the merest hints of the main theme coming through from time
to time. Good stuff. "Something for Remy" is a bizarre mix
of contemporary jazz, orchestral suspense music and sound effects (yes, the
sounds of buildings collapsing - lovely to listen to with the wife over a glass
of chianti) which fails abjectly at whatever it's trying to achieve. The
Finale piece is good enough though. It's remarkable to think today, when he barely seems to put a
foot wrong, that Williams once wrote scores like this. Earthquake
is a curious mixture of solid orchestral material and naff-beyond-belief
contemporary music which really does fall into the "so bad it's good"
category. For fans of Williams who only know him through his more famous
blockbuster scores, listening to something like this could be something of an
eye-opener. For his more seasoned fans, it's not likely to get much play
time, but it's quite good in places, even if you do have to step over a few
sizable cracks to get there. (Geddit?) Buy
this CD from amazon.com by clicking here! Tracks
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