In Space, No One Can Hear Your Score
Films are often recut after the scoring process has begun. Generally a soundtrack release will betray this by containing cues in a longer form than what is in the film, or occasionally a track which is not represented in the film whatsoever. What must 1979 consumers have thought, then, when the soundtrack album for Alien contained almost no music used in the film? The film’s composer, Jerry Goldsmith, was none too happy. Not with the music that was in the album, but the music that accompanied the film itself during its theatrical tour. The music on the album was taken from his own scoring sessions; what accompanied the film was an amalgam created by editor Terry Rawlings and director Ridley Scott. However, a listen-through of Goldsmith’s complete score doesn’t reveal much relation to the final edit. Under the original score lied a very different edit, one which, despite having full visual effects, was a very different beast. Deleted sequences have always been a point of interest f...
