Track Listing

1. Indy's Very First Adventure
2. X Marks The Spot
3. Scherzo For Motorcycle And Orchestra
4. Ah Rats
5. Escape From Venice
6. No Ticket
7. Keeper Of The Grail
8. Keeping Up With The Joneses
9. Brother Of The Cruciform Sword
10. Belly Of The Steel Beast
11. Canyon Of The Crescent Moon
12. Penitent Man Will Pass
13. End Credits

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191358 in Music
• Released on: 1989-06-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Original language: English, German, Greek
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The third instalment of Indy's big-screen adventures elicited from all concerned performances that triumphantly surpassed their previous achievements on Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. Far from growing tired of the franchise, John Williams seemed re-invigorated, his music shines with a boyish energy and a generous helping of wit, tempered by a firm grasp of the movie's dramatic motivation. From the outset, the tone is established as he accompanies "Indy's Very First Adventure" in exuberant style, the music keeping pace with every twist and turn of the on-screen action. Williams's gift is that such "mickey-mousing" always works in its own right, so listening to this splendid music away from the screen is always a self-fulfilling pleasure ("Keeping Up With The Joneses" and "No Ticket" are equally vivacious examples). As the album develops, so the music grows in stature, introducing significant thematic material associated with the Grail quest (a pastoral in the tradition of Vaughan Williams infused with a palpable religious awe) and some of the composer's very finest action writing: the "Scherzo For Motorcycle And Orchestra" stands out, an extraordinary moto perpetuo treatment of themes for Indy, his father and the Nazis. Amongst all this amazingly strong material, the "Raiders March" hardly needs to put in an appearance, but when it finally blazes over the end credits it's guaranteed to raise a cheer. Only the absence of the London Smphony Orchestra and their glorious brass section, so crucial to the sound of the original, is any cause for complaint. Otherwise, this is an ideal demonstration of what John Williams does best. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews

Crusade score is abridged, but fun to listen to....
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's soundtrack recording, like most albums of the genre, has its virtues and vices. Even keeping in mind that it was released originally in 1989 in records, cassettes, and the still-new CD format, it is still an album that offers John Williams' score for the third film in the Indy series, but not enough of it.

Having veered by design into dark thematic and musical territory in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, director Steven Spielberg, producer George Lucas and composer Williams decided to revisit the more fun and thrilling tones of Raiders of the Lost Ark, adding depth to Indy's character by including his father, Professor Henry Jones, Sr. and new themes reflecting the father-son dynamic and the quest for the Holy Grail.

Keeping in mind the limitations of this album, the music here is enjoyable. Listen to "Indy's Very First Adventure" (track 1) and you can almost see young Indiana Jones (as incarnated by the late River Phoenix) as he goes after the Cross of Coronado in a Utah cave, then is chased as he rides first a horse, then a circus train, to get the relic to the sheriff before a band of thugs catches him. It's a very 1930s-style action key in the vein of Erich Korngold, but (and here's the rub) it is missing the segue to the conclusion of the sequence as seen in the final scene, when the rogue archaeologist places his fedora on young Indy's head, then with the appearance of the Raiders March Phoenix's face is obscured, to be replaced by Harrison Ford's as Spielberg flashes 26 years forward to 1938 and a storm-tossed freighter off the Portuguese coast.

The music of The Last Crusade veers from the rollicking "Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra" (track 3 and one of the most clever cue titles), which has a recurring motif heard as underscore during Henry and Indy's adventures as they evade their Nazi pursuers. Williams intercuts that lively theme with a darker musical idea for the Nazis, which evokes an evil militaristic order (in the style of his Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back) with its minor keys and jeering brass notes. The short cue "No Ticket" (track 6), heard when Indy, dressed as a German airship crewman, punches out SS Col. Vogel (Michael Byrne) and sends him flying from the Zeppelin's window, is wryly humorous, while "The Belly of the Steel Beast" (track 10), with its suspenseful atmosphere and rising crescendos recalls Indy's attempts to rescue his dad and Marcus Brody from an enemy tank in the desert of Hatay.

The famous Raiders' March is seldom heard on this CD, being briefly stated in tracks 3 and 10 and only coming to the fore in track 13, "End Credits (Raiders' March)," where it is married to the "Scherzo" and the sentimental theme for Henry. Nevertheless, for Williams' aficionados, this CD is an enjoyable one.

Excitement is everything...
The enthusiasm of this light-hearted chapter of the Indy series flows through this score which seems to be having so much fun you cant help but enjoy it. There's a playful exuberence which drives the music, epitomised in 'Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra', which for my money is the finest gem amongst a veritable hoard of treasures.

Williams' sense of humour shines through the music as does Speilbergs through the action, but wihtout ever hinting camp. The themes are pollished, musically excellent, which is a given for a Williams work, and the thematic texture is so strong Williams barely mentions the triumphant 'Raiders' March'- he doesnt need to.

This score has a clutch of new themes of it's own, from the sensitive Henry's theme, which describes the relationship between Indy and his Father, to the to the powerful theme associated with the Grail legend, which infuses the score with a majestic, noble reverence. Yet despite the wealth of new material, this still sounds a completely natural development of the previous two films' works.

The only gripe is the relatively tiny amount of music to be found here, given that Williams actually recorded 110+ mins of music for Last Crusade. Well, you cant have everything I suppose.

A fanatastic, exciting score.
I bought this CD a few days ago and I'm really getting into it now. What I love the most is the first track and the "Grail theme" which really captures the religious importance of the discovery of the Grail. As a whole the score is just excitement all the way and you really feel caught up in the action. The only downside to this score is that the tracks are not in chronological order, but then that is a failing of many soundtrack albums. If you are a fan of adventure sountracks this is a great buy.