THIS ISLAND EARTH (and other alien invasion films)

Contains never-before-released music from four outer space films of the 1950s and ’60s. This Island Earth was Universal-International’s only big-budget color sci-fi thriller of the fifties, and it’s one of the classics of the genre. This recording features the entire unforgettable score by Herman Stein, with minor assistance from Henry Mancini and Hans Salter, and it includes music cut from the film and heard for the first time since the original scoring sessions. The music ranges from beautifully-evocative passages to mysteriously atmospheric cues, not to mention some amazingly inventive musical sound effects sequences and cues of pure action and terror.

Next is a lengthy suite from Ron Goodwin’s masterful The Day of the Triffids, a 1962 British film about killer plants who attack when a meteor shower renders most of humanity blind. Goodwin’s exceptional music includes lovely pastoral cues, shock hits, and one of the most powerful Main Titles in all of monsterdom! This unique score stands apart from most monster movie soundtracks.

Closing out the album are two Main Titles of note. 1958’s War of the Satellites is a breakneck excursion into low-budget film scoring, so evocative of the era. And then there’s the opening from Ray Harryhausen’s 1956 classic Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, which perfectly sets the stage for the alien menace that will follow.

This CD includes 40-page liner books, complete with never-before-released photos, music scores, and approximately 20,000 words of text! Lovers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror films and their music will not want to miss this classic release.

War of the Satellites (1958)
(Walter Greene) [1:23]

1: War Of The Satellites 1:23


This Island Earth (1955)
(Herman Stein, with additional music by Hans Salter* and Henry Mancini**) [37:42]

2: Main Title 1:48
3: Jet West :42
4: Color Blind :55
5: From Unit No.16 2:33
6: Interocitor Montage :35
7: Eerie Remains :47
8: Robot Plane 1:42
9: Haven’t We Met? 1:58
10: Exeter’s Mansion 1:30
11: Wrong Girl :33
12: This Way, Doctor :42
13: Secret Meeting 1:18
14: Neutronic Rays :51
15: Conversion Tube 1:00
16: Vermont Memories 1:34
17: Transformation 1:05
18: Shooting Stars 1:58
19: Meteor Battle 2:22
20: Metaluna Tunnel :37
21: Metaluna Transport :42
22: Metaluna Catastrophe, Pt. 1 1:53
23: Metaluna Catastrophe, Pt. 2** 2:23
24: Flight From Metaluna* 2:13
25: Amorous Mutant** 2:43
26: Down To Earth* 1:36
27: End Title* 1:10
28: End Cast* :19


Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
(Daniele Amfitheatrof) [:47]

29: Main Title :47



The Day of the Triffids (1962)
(Ron Goodwin) [20:10]

30: Main Title 2:03
31: Greenhouse 1:46
32: A Sight For Sore Eyes 1:24
33: Hospital Awry :25
34: Doctor Steps Out :48
35: Plane Crash 1:23
36: Triff Riff :09
37: Lost :18
38: Susan And Bettina 1:18
39: Turning On The Lights 1:21
40: Fatal Foliage :52
41: Escape & Coker’s Death 1:38
42: Spanish Square :49
43: Here Come The Triffids! 1:03
44: Leaving Town :13
45: On To Cadiz 2:01
46: Triffid Attack 1:27
47: End Of The Triffids 1:04