Filmtracks.com
by Christian Clemmensen

Many fans of IMAX music have already heard and enjoyed Alan Williams' score for the popular IMAX film Amazon (which is, to date, his only commercial CD album release). Thanks to a series of promotional titles, however, Williams' music is becoming more well known both in the industry and among the soundtrack enthusiasts. The most recent promotional album of Williams' work is brought to us by veteran scoring label Intrada Records. Island of the Sharks is the third IMAX score by Williams to be released on CD in any fashion, and it is just as impressive as the others. Moreso than regular feature films, IMAX films are even more dependent on their scores, because the music and narration have to rival the immense images on the screen. Williams is up to the task.

Once again, Williams' IMAX scoring is reminiscent of the recent styles of Jerry Goldsmith and James Newton Howard. This time, though, Williams' breath taking themes offer a more dramatically heavy touch, a la John Barry. The sweeping string themes that carry this short score from scene to scene carry the same wonder and fascination that Barry evokes in his IMAX film score Across the Sea of Time. For this occasion, the setting of Cocos Island (off the Costa Rica shore) provides Williams with an opportunity to spice up the flavor of the score by including some light mambo pieces for scenes featuring the more innocent creatures in the island's waters. The dancing flute and percussion heard in track eleven is, like its counterpart cues in Amazon, a worthy page inspired by Goldsmith's Medicine Man. For the bigger and nastier creatures of the island, Williams manages to create menacing (and yet awesome) brass cues without resorting to the usually inevitable Jaws motif. Only does the music from track six break from the easily listenable progression of cues, though those two minutes are easy to forget when surrounded by such beauty in neighboring tracks.

In summary, I have yet to hear an Alan Williams score that I did not thoroughly enjoy. He has composed scores for both television and regular films, and yet it is his IMAX music that continues to inspire and amaze me. Island of the Sharks melds the styles of Barry and Goldsmith into a building block that Williams extends with his own magic. With the majority of tracks on this promotional release featuring gorgeous thematic performances by 70 players, I highly recommend you contact Intrada Records for a copy of your own... while they last. If not for just the sake of solid IMAX music, the album will provide you with a glimpse of the work of a composer who could produce superior mainstream work in the future.