E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (John Williams)

(1982)

It’s difficult to write a review for a score as well known as this. Most people consider ‘Star Wars’ to be John Williams’ finest film work. However, for me at least, nothing beats E.T. It is, in my opinion, the best score Williams has ever written, the best film that Spielberg has ever made, and one of the best and most inspiring scores in the history of cinema.

The soundtrack is an absolute delight from beginning to end. The album starts with the eerie ‘Three Million Light Years from Home’, and then on to ‘Abandoned and Pursued’, played mostly on horns and trumpets, as E.T. flees from the police after his spaceship leaves without him.

We then move on to ‘E.T. and Me’, a beautiful, gentle piece played mostly on a harp with gentle strings in the background, and then, two minutes in, the full orchestra, mainly the strings, come in to play a rich, powerful rendition, of E.T.’s theme, and the harp then brings the cue to a close.

‘E.T’s Halloween’, when Elliot and his brother take E.T. out of the house disguised as a ghost so that he can make a phone call home, starts as a playful, amusing tune on woodwinds, and then a solo woodwind (playing Yoda’s theme from Star Wars) leads the strings in to playing what is a somewhat suspenseful piece at first, but then swells into the glorious flying theme as Elliot and E.T. go off the mountain and fly past the moon.

The next ‘Flying’, is probably the best recognised theme from the score, again featuring the flying theme, but featuring a playful woodwind and string segment before the strings come in to play the main theme.

‘E.T. Phone Home’ is similar to ‘E.T. and Me’, starting with E.T’s theme as the previous track did, but played on light percussion instead of the harp this time. The horns then play the flying theme again as E.T. successfully gets through with the phone call…

Next is ‘Over the Moon’, a brilliant piece featuring a solo piano with strings in the background. The album ends with ‘Adventure on Earth’, a 15 minute long track which recaps most of the main themes, and which Spielberg loved enough to edit the final sequence in order to get the best musical performance.

E.T. isn’t just a magnificent soundtrack album; John Williams writes them every time he scores a film. It’s an inspiring, magical, and emotional musical ride. I know, most of John Williams’ other scores are like that too, but for me at least, no other score he has written is as effective as this one. Without any doubt one of cinema’s greatest scores, and the mark of a true master.

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Track Listing

1 – Three Million Light Years from Home

2 – Abandoned and Pursued

3 – E.T. and Me

4 – E.T.’s Halloween

5 – Flying

6 – E.T. Phone Home

7 – Over the Moon

8 – Adventure

Credits

Composed & Conducted by John Williams

Recorded by Jim Pace

Mixed by Bruce Botnik

Recorded at MGM Scoring Stage, Culver City, CA

Produced by John Williams and Bruce Botnik

Awards

Academy Award for Best Original Score – Winner

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score – Winner

BAFTA Award for Best Music – Winner

Grammy Award for Best Score – Winner

AFI – 100 Years of Film Scores – #14

Insert Notes

Contains a list of credits and a note from director Steven Spielberg.

All artwork and images are Copyright © MCA Record