Superman: The Music (1978-1988)

John Williams was not available to score the Superman sequels, but in each case his music was adapted and re-recorded by one of his colleagues. For Superman II (1980) and Superman III (1983) that was British composer Ken Thorne, who had a long working relationship with director Richard Lester. For Superman II – in which Superman deepens his relationship with Lois Lane and fends off the Kryptonian super villains – Thorne stuck close to Williams’ compositions, stretching and reworking them to fit the drama. The result was a score filled with interesting variations on Williams’ cues that beautifully supported the new picture. Thorne's score was released on LP by Warner Bros. Records that surfaced on CD only in a long out-of-print Japanese edition (coupled with the Superman III album). This premiere release of the complete score (doubling the playing time) has been entirely remixed from the 35mm music scoring masters and is found on disc 3. (Source music from Superman II is relocated for space purposes to disc 8.)

Superman: The Movie (1978) is a score that needs little introduction – it is one of John Williams’ glorious "blockbuster" works from the late 1970s in which he nearly singlehandedly revived the symphonic film score. Rousing, tuneful and unforgettable, it is one of the lynchpins of any soundtrack collection. The film features a kind of tripartite structure, moving from Superman's origin on planet Krypton (given austere, almost Shakespearean colors) to his teenage years in Smallville (scored with beautiful Coplandesque melodies) and his debut in bustling Metropolis, where the film's action, romance and comedy come to the fore in some of Williams’ greatest scoring ever. Like the film itself, Williams’ music is a perfect combination of heart, humor, myth and drama.

Williams’ music to Superman: The Movie has been released on several occasions, most recently on a 2CD set from Rhino (now out of print). That album, however, was reconstructed using secondary dubbing elements, as the six-track 35mm music masters were unearthed only afterwards. For this definitive presentation, the entire recording has been painstakingly remixed and remastered from that first-generation source, yielding the best sound quality ever. Discs 1 and 2 of this 8CD set present Williams’ complete recordings to Superman: The Movie (additional alternates and source music are on disc 8) – including alternate versions never before heard, such as a powerful early version of the Kryptonian villains' banishment to the Phantom Zone.

Superman III found Superman traveling in a lighter direction, to accompany director Lester's sensibilities and that of costar Richard Pryor. Superman defeats a supercomputer financed by industrial tycoon Robert Vaughn and overcomes poisoning by fake kryptonite; his alter ego, Clark Kent, begins a romance with Smallville's Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole). Ken Thorne was given a freer hand with the music and composed a great deal of new material (such as a main title ballet for slapstick on the streets of Metropolis), returning to Williams's themes for key action and character moments more in the Superman mythology. A creative and intriguing work, only 20 minutes of his Superman III score were included on the film's 1983 LP (and aforementioned Japanese CD). Disc 4 features his complete Superman III soundtrack, with alternates and source music (including the five tracks on side two of the LP by composer/producer Giorgio Moroder) on disc 8.

Limited signed release of 50 copies.
Limited unsigned second release of 3000 copies.

The Holy Grail for Superman music aficionados has been the completely unreleased score to the fourth film, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), for which Williams's themes were adapted by his longtime friend and occasional collaborator, Alexander Courage. With Superman IV being an attempt -- at least at first -- to restore the quality of the franchise, it was decided that all major John Williams themes would be used (where appropriate) in the new score. What's more, Williams himself contributed three new melodies for Courage's use: "Someone Like You," a sultry, sexy melody (recalling the swinging sixties work of "Johnny" Williams) for Mariel Hemingway's character of a young newspaper executive; "Nuclear Man Theme," a driving action theme for the radioactive villain played by Mark Pillow, treated in versions alternately dramatic and comedic, and -- sure to be a delightful surprise – "Jeremy's Theme," a lyrical theme for the young boy who appeals to Superman to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

In addition to being the composer of the original Star Trek theme, Alexander Courage was one of the greatest arrangers and orchestrators for Hollywood musicals. That training came to great use in Superman IV as he adapted Williams's melodies into a powerful symphonic work, with imaginative and nuanced renditions of the familiar themes. The film was cut by over a half hour prior to release, with much of Courage's work ending up on the cutting room floor as well. The two-disc presentation of Superman IV (on discs 5 and 6) showcases his score as it was meant to accompany the complete version of the picture -- meaning many cues, some comprising entire sequences, have never been heard in any form. His complete score (recorded for scheduling purposes in both Germany and England) has been newly remixed from the original two-inch multitrack masters.