Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2009 January 12 • Monday

The forty-third Soundtrack of the Week is Starcrash, scored by John Barry.

I had never heard of this movie before. It's apparently a terrible Italian Star Wars rip-off (3.1/10 on imdb). According to the liner notes, John Barry was more or less tricked into agreeing to score it.

Somehow Barry managed to come up with a main title which is majestic, romantic, brooding and menacing, all at once. (It's also similar to his main title for Game of Death.) The cues "Launch Adrift" and "The Ice Planet/Heading for Zarkon" are two beautiful pieces, the latter brilliantly adding some kind of electronic instrument, probably a keyboard, to the orchestra.

I might have bought this even if it weren't John Barry. I think it's a good sign anytime I see an album with a track called "Akton Battles the Robots".