By the time Aliens came into cinemas in 1986 the first film had passed into sci-fi horror legend. The keenly awaited Aliens, directed by the master of action and sinking ships, James Cameron (Terminator, True Lies and Titanic), saw new revelations in the Alien saga. It also gave the rising James Horner the job of scoring the film. Horner, already well known for his sucess in sci-fi (Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn) and improving all the time won an award for his score for Alien. Ironically he disliked the score he had created for the film. Cameron's perfectionistic direction lead to Horner's score being chopped up reassembled with pieces of Jerry Goldsmith's Alien motifs put in place of Horner's.
However, Horner's score still shines. From the opening cymbol roll that creates a frightening, jarring sound to the closing cue the score has all the atmosphere of the film.
The main title is very quiet and shows no grand theme. The themes are introduced slowly throughout the film. The most distinctive motifs being the wavering flutes whenever the tension begins to build and the loud 4 note trumpet theme to represent the aliens when all hell breaks loose in the film. The alien motif gets several frenzied performances in the "Futile Escape" track as hundreds of aliens attack the survivors through the roof of the command centre. The theme has a fast, dangerous feel that effectively represents the swarms of alien Xenomorphs and the scratching percussion instruments in the background of the theme make a cool screeching noise that accurately mimics the sounds of the aliens.
Some of the tracks are a little too quiet and bland, lacking in theme and in some places any instrumentation at all. These tracks get completely forgotten once the driving action music kicks in during "Ripley's Rescue". At the end you can not think anything except this is a great album. The sound quality is good and the running time is beyond criticism.
****
2. Bad Dreams (1:22)
3. Dark Discovery/Newt's Horror (2:07)
4. LV-426 (2:03)
5. Combat Drop (3:29)
6. The Complex (1:34)
7. Atmosphere Station (3:11)
8. Med.Lab. (2:04)
9. Newt (1:14)
10. Sub-Level 3 (6:36)
11. Ripley's Rescue (3:19)
12. FaceHuggers (4:24)
13. Futile Escape (8:29)
14. Newt is Taken (2:04)
15. Going After Newt (3:18)
16. The Queen (1:45)
17. Bishop's Countdown (2:50)
18. Queen To Bishop (2:31)
19. Resolution and Hyperspace (6:27)
Bonus Tracks:
20. Bad Dreams (alternate) (1:23)
21. Ripley's Rescue (percussion only) (3:20)
22. LV-426 (alternate edit - film version) (1:13)
23. Combat Drop (percussion only) (3:24)
24. Hyperspace (alternate ending) (2:08)
