Close Encounters of the Third Kind (soundtrack) explained

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Type:Film score
Artist:John Williams
Cover:Close_Encounters_soundtrack.jpg
Caption:Original 1977 soundtrack album
Released:1977
Recorded:June 1976 – October 1977
Studio:Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank
20th Century Fox Studios
Genre:Soundtrack, Classical
Length:41 minutes (Original album and cassette)
44 minutes (re-issued cassette)
77 minutes (Collector's Edition CD)
Label:Arista
Producer:John Williams
Prev Title:Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Prev Year:1977
Next Title:Jaws 2
Next Year:1978

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 1977 film of the same name, composed and conducted by John Williams. The soundtrack album was released on vinyl album (with a gatefold sleeve), 8-track tape and audio cassette by Arista Records in 1977, with a total running time of 41 minutes (it was later released on compact disc in 1990). The soundtrack album was a commercial success, peaking at #17 on the US Billboard album chart in February 1978 and was certified Gold by the RIAA for 500,000 copies shipped.[1] It also peaked at #40 in the UK album charts.[2] Although not included on the original soundtrack album, a 7" single of a disco treatment of the five-note motif, titled, "Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind", was included with the album as a free bonus item. Despite being a giveaway, Billboard chart rules at that time allowed the single itself to chart, and it peaked at #13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in March 1978. The single was later added as a bonus track to the cassette.

Following the twentieth anniversary re-release of the film in 1998, a new expanded soundtrack was released on compact disc by Arista. The "Collector's Edition Soundtrack" was made using 20-bit digital remastering from the original tapes, and contained 26 tracks totalling 77 minutes of music. The CD also came with extensive liner notes, including an interview with Williams. Cues were given new titles, and it also contained previously unreleased material, as well as material that was recorded but never used in the film. La-La Land Records reissued the soundtrack on November 28, 2017, in recognition of the film's fortieth anniversary.

The score features some of Williams' most complex and modernistic writing, making use of extended orchestral techniques and atonality.

Track listing

1977 original album

1978 reissue – bonus track (cassette), free bonus 7" single (vinyl album).

2017 La-La Land Records' 40th Anniversary release

Notes and References

  1. https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database RIAA – Gold & Platinum Certifications (searchable database)
  2. https://www.officialcharts.com/archive/official-albums-chart/ UK Charts Stats (Close Encounters soundtrack)