Alan Williams Info

Alan William's

Amazon IMAX

"It's more fun... seriously!"

This is an extension of Yumbiosis.
Got the score blues?!?
Have you had your new score discovery today???

This page is to promote the amazing score to the IMAX documentary Amazon (and other works), by Alan Williams.

Amazon CD
Composer - Alan Williams

Performance - Sony Scoring Stage, LA

Length - 41 minutes

Label - Hybrid Records

Recording - 9 out of 10

Rating - 9 out of 10

I am proud to voluntarily promote Amazon, by another promising 'new' composer, Alan Williams! I found a site on the movie, thanks to Mark Plotkin, see www.ethnobotany.org! The movie was Oscar nominated for Best Documentary.

Updates

Dangers Of The Ice Age scored by Alan, airs Monday, March 13th @ 9PM PST and Saturday, March 18th @ 6PM PST, on The Discovery Channel.
Going Home airs Sunday, March 12th on CBS @9/8c, starring Jason Robards.
The Christmas Wish aired Wednesday December 22 on CBS 9 PST, starring Debbie Reynolds and Neil Patrick Harris.
Santa and Pete aired Sunday, December 5th on CBS 9/8c, starring Hume Cronyn and James Earl Jones, and features about 70 minutes of score.
Alan has a new compilation CD out called Sketches.
A CBS TV movie Silk Hope starring Farrah Fawcett aired October 17, with a country/blugrass score in addition to the opening song 'Carolina Skies' written by Alan.
Who Gets The House? (comedy feature film) has been recorded featuring a diverse score, in addition to a jazz tune Alan was asked to record based on one of his themes for the end credits; the movie will be released later this year.
His current IMAX film Cocos: Island of the Sharks was again scored with a 70-piece orchestra at Sony recording studios, and a commercial CD was planned by Intrada (who are now retailing all of Alan's current albums and promos); it may end up as a promo.
Angels in the Attic was a film scored a year ago for Promark Entertainment. It may premiere on the Disney Channel.
The songs to Princess and the Pea have been recorded with orchestra and all of the singers.
Alan is happy with the recording to Sony's 3D IMAX Mark Twain's America - 70-piece orchestra at Sony recording studios, only available as a private promo - RA samples to come.
Received 3 promos from Alan:
1. Original Scores - wonderful demo cues - Track 1, Track 7, Track 27
2. Shivers (Clubhouse Detectives) - both sweet and dark - Track 2
3. Tiny Heroes - score to animated family movie - brilliant stuff - Track 1
I will upload more samples and comments in due time.

From the composer

"The first time that director Kieth Merrill showed me Amazon, I knew that it was a special film. The beauty of the rainforest and the majesty of the river provided a canvas to create lush musical textures and sweeping melodies.

The combination of the traditional orchestra along with ethnic woodwinds, percussion and choir, created a musical tapestry as rich as the rainforest itself.

I thank Kieth for the stunning visual images which stimulated my emotions and led to the music of the Amazon"

Biography

ALAN WILLIAMS graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Music and then completed graduated studies in film scoring from the University of Southern California.

As a composer, Alan Williams has scored films in many genres ranging from the epic IMAX film AMAZON to action/adventure pictures like CLUBHOUSE DETECTIVES, ANGELS IN THE ATTIC and CHRONOS 5.O. He also has scored dramatic films like CADILLAC and THE AFFAIR as well as a number of thrillers including ASYLUM. Williams proves his range and versatility as he has written both songs and underscore for the animated features THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA and TINY HEROES. Among his television credits is the music for the TV series HIGH TIDE.

As a conductor, Alan Williams has recorded an album with the London City Symphony, which he also arranged and produced, conducted many local concerts including the Glendale City Symphony and concert at the Bing Theater in Los Angeles as well as numerous recording studio orchestras in Los Angeles.

My experience

I love music, all forms of music, and at this point in my listening maturity, movie scores are paramount. However, as some of you might know, recent movies and their scores haven't been too inspiring. In my recent visit to the Southern USA, I managed to see my 3rd IMAX movie - Destiny In Space. It too has a lovely score by Mickey Erbe & Maribeth Solomon.

This put me in a mood to track down more IMAX scores (Destiny has arrived), and while being hosted by score fan John Townsend in Atlanta, I discovered Amazon at a superb used CD store called Eat More Records; furthermore the store assistant recommended it, and being pressed for time, I purchased it.

Giving it a spin the next morning was such a joy. Firstly track 2 stuck out like a gem, then track 11 was simply stupendous. Track 16 had the hair on my arms standing, and I felt my nerves being tingled.

To use some sort of score analogy, it is probably the same feeling a score fan had when hearing The Mission for the first time. The lack of a similar follow-up by Ennio Moriconne has been disappointing, but this has certainly made up for it, thanks to Alan.

Kudos to this Williams for presenting the best 'ethnic' score I've heard in a while, reminiscent also of Millenium by Mark Mancina and John Van Tongeren, Waterworld by James Newton Howard, and style-wise Sam Cardon's Treasure Of The Gods.

I also recommend this score without reservation, for its orchestration, themes, melodies, evocation of emotions and images, and 'tribute' to the influence of Ennio Moriconne.

I'm willing to bet that you'll love this too.
If you can, let me know if you get to see the movie! At least you'll get your money's worth from IMAX - sound, visual and content-wise, as the (Northern) summer movies have been rather lame, and sound presentation has been abominable due to lack of quality control in their rush to get as many prints out at once.

I reckon this guy also deserves an opportunity for a major Hollywood production, and you agents out there better get cracking! Alan Williams, remember it well! I reckon he can go very far......

Contacting Alan!

Feel free to send questions, comments, and praise to Alan by emailing him.
Do be considerate of his time, and please do not abuse his generosity in providing his address publicly.
Go here for the Official Composer Site!

Have a listen! (judge for yourself...)

Here are some samples of the wonderful score music, I have selected 5 representative tracks for your preview enjoyment (gotta leave some for you to discover for yourself!). This listening post holds ENTIRE sound clips from the album, in the Real Audio 3.0 format . Of course the CD sounds heck of a lot better, and don't sell yourself short by being content with these clips.

You have a choice to listen (pseudo)-streamed (faster playback, possible clipping) - recommended for 28.8 or higher users,
or unstreamed (wait for download copy, which plays back unclipped) - recommended for 14.4 users.

28.8 Mono clips will play on all machines.
Higher formats require at least a 40Mhz processor (with FPU/Math co-processor).
If you experience any distortion or artifacts, just reduce your RA volume.

Amazon

1. Amazon (1.54) Streamed or Download (ISDN Stereo 550k) - ready to rumble.

2. Mamani (3.18) Streamed or Download (28.8 Stereo 490k) - pretty stuff.

3. The Journey Begins (3.26)

4. Bolivian Village (1.44)

5. The Rain/Searching For Herbs (3.09)

6. Animal Montage (2.05)

7. Underwater (1.41)

8. The River (2.16)

9. Flight (1.47) Streamed or Download (ISDN Stereo 520k) - brass granding, familiar vibes.

10. Faces From The Past (2.17)

11. The Zoe (3.01) Streamed or Download (28.8 Stereo 450k) - let your hair stand.

12. Mamani Arrives (3.49)

13. The Dart Of Death (1.32)

14. The Village (2.16)

15. Meeting At The Market (2.26)

16. Journey's End (2.22) Streamed or Download (ISDN Stereo 700k) - do you miss the brilliance of The Mission?

17. End Credits (2.07)

How to obtain a copy

It is now widely available; go here to buy it for $11.99 plus $1.99 shipping in the US area, $4.99 international.

What people are saying so far...

"Alan Williams' powerful score is relentlessly spectacular." - (LA Weekly)
"Exceptional is the score composed by Alan Williams." - (Los Angeles Times)
"An evocative score that highlights the different native rhythms from festive flutes to intense beating drums." - (Box Office Magazine)
"Nice!" - Daryl Mok
"Boy this music IS MARVELLOUS !!! It is so beautiful and really beats Morricone's MISSION. I can't wait for this CD!" - Uwe Sperlich
"It is 'amaz'ing! I'm reasonably impressed." - Roger Lee
"Wow! Simply amazing!" - Martin Provost
"It's wonderful!" - Ron Tilford
"Nice. Very nice!" - Aidan Milner
"Lovely stuff." - Robin Whiteside - "Alan, if that is you, please get in touch!"

For info on other wonderful IMAX scores, treat yourself to Uwe's IMAX Score database.

General introductory and past information available at home page.

Thank you for visiting our pages. If you like, you can Add to our guestbook.

This IMAX page has been graphically rippled times, since Fri, Sep 5, 1997.
See Stats