Aliens: The Deluxe Edition

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Aliens: The Deluxe Edition

Binding: Audio CD
Published: 2001-05-01

$17.98

Features:

Extra tracks
Original recording remastered
Soundtrack

Aliens: The Deluxe Edition
by: James Horner

Editorial Review:

Despite the phenomenal box-office bounty of Titanic, director James Cameron didn't become King of the World overnight. Indeed, King James helped build his crowd-pleasing reputation on the belated 1986 sequel to Ridley Scott's outer space shockfest, Alien. That sequel, Aliens, was also his first collaboration with film scorer James Horner, whose music contributed in no small way to Titanic's über-success. This expanded edition of Horner's mysterious Aliens score features a sparkling digital transfer and over a half-hour of previously unreleased cues and outtakes. While Horner obviously trades on Jerry Goldsmith's original masterpiece and even Khatchaturian's Gayane Ballet Suite (used so effectively by Kubrick to evoke the loneliness of space in 2001), it's a pastiche that's informed by a masterful use of brooding orchestral colors and percussion flourishes that are by turns ominous and subtle. That element of the composer's evocative formula is further explored in two percussion-only bonus cuts, "Ripley's Rescue" and "Combat Drop." This edition also includes a colorful illustrated booklet with a detailed essay about the film's musical genesis. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Star Trek, part Two:

I was really looking forward to getting this CD, since I loved the movie so much. But after putting it in the player and hearing some of the tracks, I realized I had heard something like it before. And then it hit me: Some tracks were almost verbatim from the Star Trek II & III Wrath of Kahn and Search for Spock Soundtracks, especially the Klingon attack music. Nuts! I hate it when composers use similar music for different movies. Horner went and got lazy it seems. The other music is Aliens specific and... more info

Excellent. Stop waffling and get it.:

Amazing score, especially for only having been written in a few weeks. There is indeed a lot of new stuff on here, which along with the remaster, makes the disc completely worth the re-purchase. Sure, it should have all been on the original to begin with, but come on now.
Among the half hour's worth of new tracks, are the intense "Queen to Bishop" and the surprisingly complex "Face Hugger" - the cue used for the facehugger attack on Ripley and Newt when they are locked in the quarantine room of the... more info

Outstanding, arguably Horner's best soundtrack:

In contrary to many reviewers, it is my opinion that Horner really did an admirable job on Aliens. This is a fantastic soundtrack, largely also due to LSO's outstanding performance. There are very few weak moments on this soundtrack, and I - being a percussionist - also like the "percussion only" tracks, which apparently seem to annoy everyone but me. :) Otherwise, lots of great writing and instrumentation, especially in those more atmospheric cues (which also seem to annoy some people, but I think Horner... more info

Aliens "Unedited":

I say "unedited" because this is the score as it was recorded in the studio, not how it was heard in the movie. As the 2 disc edition of Aliens explains, there were difficulties with scoring this film as "both director and composer didn't know how to deal with composers and directors". However, both composer and director have proven to have learned this necessary skill as was seen (and heard) in Cameron/Horner's Titanic.
This is actually quite an accomplishment for having been composed in a matter... more info

Tracks: