Spaceballs
John Morris
" May the Balls be plenty with the Schwartz "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the limited release
Comedies are one thing, farces another and Mel Brooks movies even something else. In the time of Blazing Saddles, To Be or Not To Be and Spaceballs, Mel Brooks was considered a fantastic actor and director who could create insane yet perfect humour for the genres he was trying to ape.
Spaceballs still stands today as a mockery of Star Trek, Star Wars and let's not forget Planet of the Apes. It starred Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Rick Moranis, the late John Candy and Mel Brooks, and contained the unforgettable scenes as Lord Helmet flying with his big Darth Vader helmet to the brink of the ship, fast forwarding the movie to the point of now as the radar jamming and Winslow trying to explain it the old fashioned Police Academy way.
Anyway, still today it's a hoot and you could say the same of John Morris his score. Basically aping Williams in abundance, the score has got that undeniable '80 tone. "Spaceballs / Main Title" is a Star Wars rip but a clever one and it never fails to enjoy. "Long Ship / Dark Helmet Entrance / Evil Schwartz / Planet Druidia" by then apes Williams further with a Jaws like slow moving tune.
Nothing wrong with "Wedding #1 / Here Comes the Bride / Retreat", basically interrupting the known Wedding tune a couple of times for the eyes of the funny priest. All right, the short short version! Not at all because the track names are going up the wazoo with "Bad Ship #1 / Beam Bad Ship / Luggage Down / Matched Luggage / Bad Year Blimp / Sharking the Ship". And yet it contains the great action version of the main theme.
For "First Desert / Desert Layout" we hear the epic theme in Lawrence of Arabia style while some romance (not with dolls) is always lovely and "Love Theme" proves to be the violin led counterpart to Princess Leia's theme. Of course how short they look, "Dink March (Colonel Bogey March)" is funny as ever with its war march on comedy approach.
While Yogurt's insanely funny doll tries to say the line once more, there we lift "The Schwartz / Power of Schwartz" just on Barf's foot. The more sinister "She Will Come" doesn't fool you with its eerie strings and "Taking Her In / Lonestarr & Barf Enter as Guards / Lonestarr-Corridor / After Stunt Doubles" is another variation of the main theme with brass, putting more stunt doubles to work.
"Mega Maid" has that cool looking effect with its 2001 imitating fanfare, but it's track 18 (you can forget I'll type this a second time) with the ring battle that sounds so cool. Then we reach the more lovelier moments with the love and main theme. "Fanfare for Prince Lonestarr / Kiss / Big Finish" is extremely nice in that regard.
The rest is basically alternate takes and more or less the same deal (just slightly altered). However the only thing you just need to know and hear is "Spaceballs" the song because it is a hoot. Incredibly catchy in the movie, it has that undeniable 80's sound that just doesn't die (partly due to the writing of Mel Brooks himself).
When listening to Spaceballs, I constantly think back at the movie, revisiting those funny scenes holding that perfectly witty music. It is as serious as it is funny and Morris did a great job in giving Spaceballs that never ending sound. Now it is finally available on CD, presenting you the chance to revisit it after all these years. The selective 45 track album however (coming from a 90 track bootleg) shows one thing well. A lot of tracks don't ruin a listening experience at all, but insanely long names (do they have to pinpoint out what happens each 10 seconds?) and 10 alternate versions of the same theme isn't necessary at all. Luckily no Schwartz is needed to enjoy it and no Apes are necessary to mimic its flair. Just some witty humour is needed to let the Schwartz be with us.
Tracklisting
1. Spaceballs / Main Title (2.32)
2. Long Ship / Dark Helmet Entrance / Evil Schwartz / Planet Druidia (2.24)
3. Wedding #1 * / Here Comes the Bride / Retreat * (1.42)
4. Hail to the Chief (0.14)
5. Bad Ship #1 / Beam Bad Ship / Luggage Down / Matched Luggage / Bad Year Blimp / Sharking the Ship (2.26)
6. First Desert / Desert Layout ** (0.52)
7. Love Theme (1.08)
8. Desert / Thirsty / March / Falls / Bad Ship #2 (1.46)
9. Dink March (Colonel Bogey March) (0.27)
10. Into Cave / The Cave (1.28)
11. The Schwartz / Power of Schwartz (0.33)
12. She Will Come (1.34)
13. Yoghurt's Goodbye / Bad Ship #2 (0.48)
14. Taking Her In / Lonestarr & Barf Enter As Guards / Lonestarr-Corridor / After Stunt Doubles (2.56)
15. Bad Ship After Rambo (0.14)
16. Mega Maid (1.36)
17. Tymp Hits / Schwartz Switchoff (0.34)
18. Entering the Ear / Down the Ladder / Hand Print #1 / Hand Print #2 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #1 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #2 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #3 (4.38)
19. Post / Explosion Barf (0.25)
20. Keep it For Yourself / Romance (1.00)
21. 2nd Wedding (0.55)
22. Yoghurt's Goodbye / Liquid Schwartz (1.01)
23. Fanfare for Prince Lonestarr * / Kiss / Big Finish * (1.24)
24. Spaceballs / Main Title (without SFX) (1.46)
25. Spaceballs *** (3.46) Excellent track
The Alternates
26. Spaceballs / Main Title (alternate) (1.53)
27. Druidia Landscape (0.22)
28. Ladder Down / Matched Luggage (0.52)
29. Love Theme Alternate (1.12)
30. Love Theme DB * (2.17)
31. Love Theme DG1 * (2.40)
32. Love Theme DG2 * (2.27)
33. Love Theme Ver * (2.24)
34. Love Theme Rec Ver (1.16)
35. March / Colonel Bogey Inst (0.42)
36. Power of Schwartz / Yoghurt's Goodbye (1.00)
37. Mega Maid 1st Version (1.35)
38. Mega Maid 2nd Version (1.36)
39. Schwartz Switch Off / Entering the Ear (1.44)
40. Yoghurt's Goodbye (0.37)
41. Kiss / Big Finish (1.21)
42. Spaceballs / Main Title (alternate 2) (1.58)
Album Versions
43. Love Theme (2.24)
44. Winnebago / Mega Maid (2.26)
45. Main Title (first take) (1.44)
* Not used in film
** Composed by Kenneth J. Alford
*** Performed by The Spinners, written by Mel Brooks, Clyde Lieberman & Jeff Pesceto
Total Length: 70.59
Spaceballs still stands today as a mockery of Star Trek, Star Wars and let's not forget Planet of the Apes. It starred Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Rick Moranis, the late John Candy and Mel Brooks, and contained the unforgettable scenes as Lord Helmet flying with his big Darth Vader helmet to the brink of the ship, fast forwarding the movie to the point of now as the radar jamming and Winslow trying to explain it the old fashioned Police Academy way.
Anyway, still today it's a hoot and you could say the same of John Morris his score. Basically aping Williams in abundance, the score has got that undeniable '80 tone. "Spaceballs / Main Title" is a Star Wars rip but a clever one and it never fails to enjoy. "Long Ship / Dark Helmet Entrance / Evil Schwartz / Planet Druidia" by then apes Williams further with a Jaws like slow moving tune.
Nothing wrong with "Wedding #1 / Here Comes the Bride / Retreat", basically interrupting the known Wedding tune a couple of times for the eyes of the funny priest. All right, the short short version! Not at all because the track names are going up the wazoo with "Bad Ship #1 / Beam Bad Ship / Luggage Down / Matched Luggage / Bad Year Blimp / Sharking the Ship". And yet it contains the great action version of the main theme.
For "First Desert / Desert Layout" we hear the epic theme in Lawrence of Arabia style while some romance (not with dolls) is always lovely and "Love Theme" proves to be the violin led counterpart to Princess Leia's theme. Of course how short they look, "Dink March (Colonel Bogey March)" is funny as ever with its war march on comedy approach.
While Yogurt's insanely funny doll tries to say the line once more, there we lift "The Schwartz / Power of Schwartz" just on Barf's foot. The more sinister "She Will Come" doesn't fool you with its eerie strings and "Taking Her In / Lonestarr & Barf Enter as Guards / Lonestarr-Corridor / After Stunt Doubles" is another variation of the main theme with brass, putting more stunt doubles to work.
"Mega Maid" has that cool looking effect with its 2001 imitating fanfare, but it's track 18 (you can forget I'll type this a second time) with the ring battle that sounds so cool. Then we reach the more lovelier moments with the love and main theme. "Fanfare for Prince Lonestarr / Kiss / Big Finish" is extremely nice in that regard.
The rest is basically alternate takes and more or less the same deal (just slightly altered). However the only thing you just need to know and hear is "Spaceballs" the song because it is a hoot. Incredibly catchy in the movie, it has that undeniable 80's sound that just doesn't die (partly due to the writing of Mel Brooks himself).
When listening to Spaceballs, I constantly think back at the movie, revisiting those funny scenes holding that perfectly witty music. It is as serious as it is funny and Morris did a great job in giving Spaceballs that never ending sound. Now it is finally available on CD, presenting you the chance to revisit it after all these years. The selective 45 track album however (coming from a 90 track bootleg) shows one thing well. A lot of tracks don't ruin a listening experience at all, but insanely long names (do they have to pinpoint out what happens each 10 seconds?) and 10 alternate versions of the same theme isn't necessary at all. Luckily no Schwartz is needed to enjoy it and no Apes are necessary to mimic its flair. Just some witty humour is needed to let the Schwartz be with us.
Tracklisting
1. Spaceballs / Main Title (2.32)
2. Long Ship / Dark Helmet Entrance / Evil Schwartz / Planet Druidia (2.24)
3. Wedding #1 * / Here Comes the Bride / Retreat * (1.42)
4. Hail to the Chief (0.14)
5. Bad Ship #1 / Beam Bad Ship / Luggage Down / Matched Luggage / Bad Year Blimp / Sharking the Ship (2.26)
6. First Desert / Desert Layout ** (0.52)
7. Love Theme (1.08)
8. Desert / Thirsty / March / Falls / Bad Ship #2 (1.46)
9. Dink March (Colonel Bogey March) (0.27)
10. Into Cave / The Cave (1.28)
11. The Schwartz / Power of Schwartz (0.33)
12. She Will Come (1.34)
13. Yoghurt's Goodbye / Bad Ship #2 (0.48)
14. Taking Her In / Lonestarr & Barf Enter As Guards / Lonestarr-Corridor / After Stunt Doubles (2.56)
15. Bad Ship After Rambo (0.14)
16. Mega Maid (1.36)
17. Tymp Hits / Schwartz Switchoff (0.34)
18. Entering the Ear / Down the Ladder / Hand Print #1 / Hand Print #2 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #1 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #2 / Lonestarr & Helmett Fight #3 (4.38)
19. Post / Explosion Barf (0.25)
20. Keep it For Yourself / Romance (1.00)
21. 2nd Wedding (0.55)
22. Yoghurt's Goodbye / Liquid Schwartz (1.01)
23. Fanfare for Prince Lonestarr * / Kiss / Big Finish * (1.24)
24. Spaceballs / Main Title (without SFX) (1.46)
25. Spaceballs *** (3.46) Excellent track
The Alternates
26. Spaceballs / Main Title (alternate) (1.53)
27. Druidia Landscape (0.22)
28. Ladder Down / Matched Luggage (0.52)
29. Love Theme Alternate (1.12)
30. Love Theme DB * (2.17)
31. Love Theme DG1 * (2.40)
32. Love Theme DG2 * (2.27)
33. Love Theme Ver * (2.24)
34. Love Theme Rec Ver (1.16)
35. March / Colonel Bogey Inst (0.42)
36. Power of Schwartz / Yoghurt's Goodbye (1.00)
37. Mega Maid 1st Version (1.35)
38. Mega Maid 2nd Version (1.36)
39. Schwartz Switch Off / Entering the Ear (1.44)
40. Yoghurt's Goodbye (0.37)
41. Kiss / Big Finish (1.21)
42. Spaceballs / Main Title (alternate 2) (1.58)
Album Versions
43. Love Theme (2.24)
44. Winnebago / Mega Maid (2.26)
45. Main Title (first take) (1.44)
* Not used in film
** Composed by Kenneth J. Alford
*** Performed by The Spinners, written by Mel Brooks, Clyde Lieberman & Jeff Pesceto
Total Length: 70.59