Alien Nation – music by Jerry Goldsmith

2 min read

Order this CDThe differences between Alien Nation‘s movie and TV incarnations are so significant that they almost shouldn’t share the name. Both had shortcomings: the TV series delved into the concept more fully, but was often cutesy in an ’80s-family-drama kind of way; the movie was a bit edgier, but ultimately less successful in fleshing out the concept.

The soundtrack of Alien Nation (the movie) wasn’t one of the things that made it edgier. It was also the second soundtrack the film went through: Jerry Goldsmith had originally been hired to score Alien Nation, and created an all-synth score which was subsequently rejected and replaced by the Curt Sobel score that was ultimately heard in theaters. The liner notes of this release paint this as the movie’s loss, but it may be a toss-up as to which composer would have serviced the movie better.

Here’s the problem: frankly, the TV series had better music, because it dared to give its alien characters alien music. There seem to be a few hints that Goldsmith had thoughts about going in that direction, but most of those hints take the form of unearthly noise sweeps at the beginning of some tracks. But for the most part, as unlikely as it may seem to describe anything composer by Jerry Goldsmith this way, Alien Nation a la Goldsmith is unremarkable.

2 out of 4It’s no better and no worse than any other synthesized score, but the music itself seems remarkably tame for what was meant to be an adventurous, high-concept new take on a classic genre. It almost sounds like a demo rather than a finished score, which may or may not have been the intention. And in any case, Goldsmith would go on to create better music for better projects than Alien Nation. Maybe the material just didn’t inspire him.

  1. Alien Landing (3:47)
  2. Out Back (2:01)
  3. Are You Alright? (1:50)
  4. Take It Easy (2:53)
  5. The Vial (2:13)
  6. Jerry’s Jam (1:51)
  7. Alien Dance (1:57)
  8. Are You There? (2:01)
  9. The Beach (3:42)
  10. Tow Truck Getaway (1:52)
  11. 772 / I Shall Remember (4:08)
  12. Tell Them (1:29)
  13. A Game Of Chicken (2:36)
  14. Overdose (2:26)
  15. Got A Match? (2:53)
  16. A Nice view (2:34)
  17. Just Ugly (1:57)
  18. The Wedding (4:43)

Released by: Varese Sarabande
Release date: 2005
Total running time: 46:43