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Composed by
JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating
***

Album running time
39:16

Performed by
ORCHESTRA DI SANTA CECILIA DI ROMA
Conducted by
JERRY GOLDSMITH

Orchestrated by
ARTHUR MORTON

NANCY BEECH

Engineered by
ALLAN SNELLING
BRUCE BOTNICK
Edited by
KEN HALL
Produced by
JERRY GOLDSMITH

Released by
VARESE SARABANDE
Serial number
VSD-5226

Artwork copyright (c) 1989 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures; review copyright (c) 2003 James Southall

LEVIATHAN

Alien meets Outland, in an inferior way
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Leviathan is a solid, if predictable, Jerry Goldsmith action/suspense score that comes between his gritty horror scores like Alien and 90s action works like Total Recall. His integration of synthesisers is notably better than it sometimes is - the stereo percussion effect in "Decompression", for example, is excellent, and the whale calls he uses a couple of times (most notably in "Underwater Camp") are appropriately atmospheric.

The main theme is quite good, if a little cheesy, but is very adaptable: Goldsmith plays it as a sensitive love theme in "One of Us" (which is unfortunately short), a heroic fanfare in "Escape Bubbles" and as a kind of Swarm-like optimistic finale in "A Lot Better". Once it gets going, "Can We Fix It?" is a great action cue, with some growling, underwater synth effects that are, again, quite appropriate.

Unfortunately, against these very good tracks are some really quite dull suspense cues that are quite serviceable in the film, but just can't maintain the interest on disc.

Leviathan seems to be hated by most Goldsmith fans; I'm not sure why it engenders such negative feelings, because it's really quite an enjoyable listen. The same goes for Deep Rising, written a decade later for another silly horror film about an underwater monster - hated by nearly all, but I honestly can't see why. This is a piece of enjoyable enough fluff that can hardly stand up to the finest entries in Goldsmith's canon, but is quite a decent diversion from time to time.

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Tracks

  1. Underwater Camp (3:23)
  2. Decompression (3:16)
  3. Discovery (5:24)
  4. One of Us (1:41)
  5. The Body Within (4:33)
  6. Escape Bubbles (5:37)
  7. Can we Fix It? (3:25)
  8. Situation Under Control (1:49)
  9. It's Growing (3:10)
  10. Too Hot (3:27)
  11. A Lot Better (3:31)