News

Only shortly after their expansion of the score to JAWS 2, Intrada gives fans of the great white shark franchise a true reason to need a bigger boat, announcing a deluxe edition of John Williams’ iconic, Academy Award-winning soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s JAWS.

We’ve told the story behind the music before, in a Friday Feature from 2012. What’s important now is what fans can expect from this new release, the third issue of JAWS score on CD.

According to Intrada’s product description, the first release of the original film score (Decca’s 25th anniversary edition from 2000) featured a distillation of the original three-track scoring masters, mixed first into 5.1 for the film’s premiere on DVD and then reduced, de-noised and reverbed for the final stereo album master. Many fans felt something was up, that the music could have been heard better.

Now, they can. For this release, longtime soundtrack guru Mike Matessino (who brilliantly restored JAWS 2 as well as the Back to the Future trilogy, to name only his most recent credits) created brand new stereo mixes from Universal’s original session tapes, under the careful supervision of Williams himself. This presentation allows for the full score on one disc, along with 15 minutes of previously unreleased alternate cues, including an early, unheard take of the classic main title.

Happily, the second disc of this new JAWS set includes a remaster of Williams’ original soundtrack album, comprised of alternate, newly-arranged cues with a different orchestra intended for an “album experience”; this disc is augmented with another 15 minutes of intriguing bonus material: source music for various scenes around town, arranged by Stu Phillips (writer of the theme to Knight Rider) and Hal Mooney (a longtime arranger who was musical director for many Universal television shows at the time) and conducted by Williams early on in the scoring sessions. (According to legend, director Spielberg himself played clarinet in this ensemble.)

For fans of JAWS–or plain great film music in general–Intrada’s new issue is sure to be a revelation. And what a stunning coup, with the label celebrating its 30th anniversary by issuing all four scores from the franchise in stunning detail! One of Williams’ many masterpieces has never had this much bite.

John Williams, JAWS: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada INT 7145, 2015)

Disc 1: Original film score (released in part on Decca 289 467 045-2, 2000) and alternates

1. JAWS – Main Title
2. The First Victim
3. Remains on the Beach
4. The Empty Raft (Extended Version)
5. The Pier Incident
6. Father and Son (Film Version)
7. The Alimentary Canal
8. Ben Gardner’s Boat
9. Montage
10. Into the Estuary
11. Out to Sea (Film Version)
12. Tug on the Line
13. Man Against Beast (Film Version)
14. Quint’s Tale
15. Brody Panics
16. Barrel Off Starboard
17. Great Chase
18. Shark Tows Orca
19. Three Barrels Under
20. From Bad to Worse
21. Quint Thinks It Over
22. The Shark Cage Fugue
23. The Shark Approaches (Film Version)
24. The Shark Hits the Cage
25. Quint Meets His End
26. Blown to Bits
27. JAWS – End Title
28. JAWS – Main Title (Alternate)
29. The Typewriter
30. Man Against Beast (Alternate)
31. Barrel Off Starboard (Alternate Segment)
32. Great Chase (Alternate)
33. Shark Tows Orca (Alternate)
34. The Shark Approaches (Alternate)
35. Quint Meets His End (Alternate)
36. Wild Shark Theme

Disc 2: Original soundtrack album (released as MCA Records 37171, 1975) and source music

1. Main Title (Theme from JAWS)
2. Chrissie’s Death
3. Promenade (Tourists on the Menu)
4. Out to Sea
5. The Indianapolis Story
6. Sea Attack Number One
7. One Barrel Chase
8. Preparing the Cage
9. Night Search
10. The Underwater Siege
11. Hand to Hand Combat
12. End Title (Theme from JAWS)
13. Joplin Rag (Original Rag)
14. Winter Stories Waltz
15. In the Good Ole Summertime
16. Thousand and One Nights Waltz
17. Marching Band No. 1
18. Marching Band No. 2