Album Description

1995 reissue. 30 additional minutes have been interwoven which were deleted from the original 1981 release, totaling 74 minutes of pure listening pleasure. Re-mastered including a special 24 page booklet containing an interview with John Williams, as well as liner notes, rare photos and sketchesnot included with the original release. Standard jewel case housed in a slipcase.

Amazon.com

In the '80s and '90s, John Williams has come to occupy roughly the same towering place in filmdom occupied by Henry Mancini for much of the '60s and '70s. Williams (who played piano on some early Mancini scores) carved out that distinction with exciting, full-blooded scores like George Lucas's Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones cycle, Steven Spielberg's blockbuster tributes to the cheesy film serials of his youth. The first in that series, Raiders wears its retro-symphonic sensibilities like a badge of honor and indeed, DGG's expanded deluxe release plays like a more economic Mahler opus. A true film music classic, even if its sensibilities are 40 years misplaced. --Jerry McCulley

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Discs and Tracks

Disc 1
  1 - The Raiders March - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  2 - Main Title: South America, 1936 - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  3 - In the Idol's Temple - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  4 - Flight from Peru - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  5 - Journey to Nepal - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  6 - The Medallion - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  7 - To Cairo - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  8 - The Basket Game - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  9 - The Map Room: Dawn - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  10 - Reunion and the Dig Begins - John Williams, Williams, John
  11 - The Well of the Souls - John Williams, Williams, John
  12 - Airplane Fight - John Williams, Williams, John
  13 - Desert Chase - John Williams, Williams, John
  14 - Marion's Theme - John Williams, Williams, John
  15 - The German Sub/To the Nazi Hideout - John Williams, Williams, John
  16 - Ark Trek - John Williams, Williams, John
  17 - The Miracle of the Ark - John Williams, Williams, John
  18 - The Warehouse - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil
  19 - End Credits - John Williams, Williams, John [Fil

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Great Music -- New Release comming 2/24/2009        Rating:

It's great music, and I am looking forward to replacing my Album with a new cd. DON'T BUY THIS COPY -- WAAAAAY OVERPRICED!

Get the newly remastered CD for less than $15, it should be in stores by March 1, 2009.

The studio will using the original tracks (1981) conducted by John Williams and used in the film. Amazon should have the CD available for preorder soon.

From the Press Release (10/14/2008):
This DCC version of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK includes 30 additional minutes not on the original release.The London Symphony Orchestra includes: John Williams (conductor).Original score written by John Williams.Recorded at Anvil Recording Studios, Denham, England and EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London, England in February 1981. Includes liner notes by Lukas Kendall, Steven Spielberg and John Williams.Composer: John Williams.Steven Spielberg reinvented the cliffhanger adventure formula of the '40s and '50s with this Harrison Ford blockbuster. Longtime collaborator and composer John Williams further ignited the screen with his rousing and robust score. Williams, who had already lent his deft hand to such notable Spielberg films as JAWS, elevated RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to instant-classic status with a score marked by triumphant choirs of brass and bravura.On CD, the soundtrack has been treated with the attention it deserves. Fans all over the globe can rejoice in Williams' complete score, remastered and reissued in a beautiful cardboard slipcase. Exhaustive liner notes detail the music's creation, and entire pieces never featured in the film are restored. Williams' mighty symphonic tome is an adventurous exploration for the ear, by turns foreboding when necessary or dazzling in the grand, epic manner of Hollywood's bygone era, yet always powerful.

A Rousing and Memorable Soundtrack!        Rating:

John Williams' score for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK may be the second most memorable score of all time, second only to Williams' score for the original STAR WARS film. The music is engaging and moving, and browses its way through many different styles and genres. You can see the scenes playing in your head as you listen. Great CD. Highly recommended.

Awsome        Rating:

This is truly one of John Williams greatest works.
The only thing is that Marion's Theme. It is a nice track but it doesn't really fit her in my opinion. I loved the Desert Chase and Miracle of the Ark.
A must have soundtrack!

TRACKS:        Rating:

Tracks:
1. Raiders Of The Lost Art / Kool Moe Dee & Treacherous Three -- Kool Moe Dee & The Treacherous Three
2. Sun Don't Shine In The Hood / The Furious Five -- Furious 5
3. Do It Again -- Whodini
4. Somebody Else / Da Original -- The Originals
5. Keep On Rockin / Fearless Four -- The Fearless Four
6. G-Party / Kurtis Blow -- Kurtis Blow
7. Mic Slayer / The Furious Five -- Furious 5
8. Real / Busy Bee -- Busy Bee
9. Keep It Real -- Kool Moe Dee
10. The Cooley -- Afrika Bambaataa

Williams has done it again        Rating:

In 1936, archaeologist Indiana Jones began a search for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Death lurked everywhere - in the form of Egyptian Cobras (Asps) that guarded the Ark, Nazi agents & thugs that wanted the Ark for Hitler, and traitorous guides in the jungles of Peru. Indiana Jones, however, was too smart and too fast for these adversaries, and the Ark was safely returned to the United States. This adventurous archaeologist could not have done it without the help of composer John Williams, whose music captured Indy's feats, escapes, and misadventures with a terrific score.

Conspicuous by their presence here are several tracks that were not featured on the 1981 LP release. Most notable are 'In The Idol's Temple', which used trumpets to portray Indy's narrow escape from the Peruvian temple with a giant boulder close behind, as well as 'Airplane Fight', in which Indy takes on a giant Nazi thug while trying to hijack the plane intended to transport the Ark in. One of the finest tracks, however, remains the 'Desert Chase', which chronicles Indy's pursuit of the Ark on horseback after the plane is blown up, as he takes control of the truck carrying the Ark & takes out the convoy's vehicles one at a time. Highly recommended for fans of Williams', Spielberg's, or Lucas's work.

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