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Never seen the movie, but musically I like Black Sunday more than Star Wars, even with all the fond nostalgia I have connected to the latter.
Yavar
I've heard the YT samples several times. It's an interesting form of eeriness and dread that JW conjures up for BF...but let me withhold conviction until I grab the CD.
I've grown in my admiration for JW through Jane Eyre, ET, Fury, and Family Plot. But JG is just...there are so many dimensions to his repetoire. John was certainly versatile, JG was probably more the trailblazer.
I keep bringing up the two I guess because I feel a bit of an underdog thing for JG. He missed out on awards that he should have overwhelmed, while I feel JW got overcompensated for stuff he made famous decades earlier. But that's just my opinion. I also significantly enjoy JG's output from an overall level more than JW's (while still having the capacity to know that Jane Eyre is a film score masterpiece, and as a concert piece holds it own with most others of the era).
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You'll find a lot of people at this forum share that opinion, WA -- including myself. 
Yavar
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While there is no question that Goldsmith somehow never quite got the public accolades he deserved, I find that an odd reason to listen to any particular piece of music.
I absolutely love "Damnation Alley" (was just listening to it again last night), but my love for it has nothing to do with compensating for the lack of plaudits Goldsmith ever got for it, and everything to do with the music, which is compelling, fresh, and exciting.
Likewise, that John Williams (among others) may have received the occasional nomination for less-worthy scores doesn't make me enjoy his music any less.
Not having seen the movie, the way the Intrada plays out in my mind like a movie, unravelling like a set of scenes. It's a really good standalone listen imo.
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You guys aren't missing much!
Well, aside from the original synth performance...
Yavar
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The Star Wars score is a symphonic masterpiece.
So is Boys From Brazil, Ben Hur...
feel free to fill in the blanks.
I personally thought the Empire Strikes Back score was the masterpiece. Even Williams criticized heavily his orchestration for the original SW.
That said, I'm not a SW fan. I'm more Alien.
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For me a certain EB is right there with them.
Yavar
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For me a certain EB is right there with them.
Yavar
There's a film composer who's probably next for deeper investigation.
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Listening to this for the umpteenth time today, I was struck yet again by how much Jerry can make from so little. I've always loved that so much variety in his scores comes from such small ideas.
Pardon me for getting a little musicological (or a lot if you follow the asterisk): His primary action motif is just six notes that form the second part of the main title - starts at 1:16 on the Intrada release. It's a little figure that climbs up and goes back down on note six, played once at tempo followed by two repeats twice as fast:
Bum bum bum bum bum bum, bumbumbumbumbumbum, bumbumbumbumbumbum (and repeat).
Almost fanfare like, and it builds a bit of excitement.*
Now go to track three, Valley of Death, and listen to what a workout the idea gets. The two repeats become four, go four times faster, and rise up step by step, building tension. There's a lot going on in this little two-minute action number, and it features a lot of characteristic Goldsmith devices. But it still sounds as if it belongs in this score and no other, and all because of JUST SIX NOTES. And we're only three cues in!
*For those so inclined, the motif is constructed of three minor thirds, two going up, one going down, all within a tritone, with alternating time signatures, one 6/4 followed by two 6/8 (or one 12/8, if anyone ever asks me to conduct it).
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Damn(ation) STRAIGHT, Sean -- nice little bit of musical analysis! It is indeed incredible how much Goldsmith brilliantly mines these simple musical ideas in this score.
Yavar
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Thanks, Yavar. (Now I feel guilty for not having caught your podcast yet, but I work in radio, so I already have SO MUCH to listen to!)
Just one more. Move ahead to track 11, The Wrong Order. Two thoughts:
Very funny that Goldsmith effs with us at the beginning by pausing before the quick repeats of the motif - sounds like sneaking up, and then, here come the repeats just when it seemed like he wasn't gonna do it.
And then (at :35-:50) he takes elements of the pattern and constructs a whole new action motif that sounds different from what came before. Though it doesn't really go anywhere - it's just a throwaway idea, for heaven's sake. Jerry's just showing off! 
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Thanks, Yavar. (Now I feel guilty for not having caught your podcast yet, but I work in radio, so I already have SO MUCH to listen to!)
Just one more. Move ahead to track 11, The Wrong Order. Two thoughts:
Very funny that Goldsmith effs with us at the beginning by pausing before the quick repeats of the motif - sounds like sneaking up, and then, here come the repeats just when it seemed like he wasn't gonna do it.
And then (at :35-:50) he takes elements of the pattern and constructs a whole new action motif that sounds different from what came before. Though it doesn't really go anywhere - it's just a throwaway idea, for heaven's sake. Jerry's just showing off! '
Great post! And don't miss the Odysseys my friend, they are extremely informative (and especially engaging to boot!)
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Will do - I've seen the movie twice, so am kinda familiar with the score. Thanks.
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It's before we'd really worked out our format, but our first regular episode, Black Patch, is also pretty good if you've never been exposed to that score. (I actually think it has more depth and greater highlights than Face of a Fugitive, though the latter is the more consistently engaging/accessible listen.) And it's a much shorter listen if you're looking for one, because my cohost Jens cut out like 10 minutes of film talk after we got multiple complaints that there was no music discussion for 18-19 minutes.
http://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/656592-episode-1-black-patch-1957
Yavar
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By the way, the first four notes of the six note motif I have been going on about is also the opening fanfare in the main titles.
Thrift! Thrift, Horatio!
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