Skip to content
Alien album cover

Album · 1979

Alien

by Jerry Goldsmith

Alien is a 1979 soundtrack album by Jerry Goldsmith. It runs 10 tracks across 36 minutes.

Soundtrack

Best albums of 1979

Your rating

90 /100
4 critics
10
Tracks
36 min
Runtime
119 bpm
Tempo
G minor
Key

Not yet rated.

Be the first to rate it.

Reviews

No reviews yet.

Critics

4 publications

Scores collected from the English Wikipedia ratings box (CC BY-SA). Ratings belong to the publications; follow a link to read the review.

Tracklist

10 tracks · 36 min

Ranked head-to-head

1 vs 1

Stars say how much you like Alien. They never settle which song on it you would defend. Pick between two at a time and the order builds itself.

Nobody has finished a run on this record yet. Rank Alien's songs yourself →

More like this

Albums like Alien

About

The iconic, avant-garde score to the film Alien was composed by Jerry Goldsmith and is considered by some to be one of his best, most visceral scores. Rather than focusing on themes, Goldsmith creates a bleak and dissonant soundscape that fits the film's dark and intense atmosphere, with only a few "romantic" cues. The music was performed by The National Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Lionel Newman. However, the music was not originally used or heard as intended. The score was substantially cut for the released versions of the film, and some recordings from other sources were added, notably portions of Goldsmith's original score for the 1962 film Freud (which were that film's Main Title, as well as the tracks Charcot's Show and Desperate Case), and the second movement (adagio) from Howard Hanson's 1930 "Symphony No. 2, Romantic" for the film's end credits.

In brief

When was Alien released?
Alien was released in 1979.
How many tracks are on Alien?
Alien has 10 tracks, with a runtime of 36 minutes.
What genre is Alien?
Alien is catalogued under Soundtrack.
What BPM is Alien?
Alien runs at a median tempo of 119 BPM across its tracks, most often in G minor, measured from audio analysis.
What albums are similar to Alien?
Listeners of Alien also rate A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by James Horner, The Prince of Egypt (Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Hans Zimmer, Focus by Ennio Morricone.

Alien at a glance

Label
20th Century Fox Records
Produced by
Jerry Goldsmith

Facts from Wikidata (CC0).