Ah the sweet, sweet sound of disasters.

No, I’m not talking about current events. Though, come to think of it, if a movie is ever made about the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d like John Williams to score it. Who wouldn’t?

Rather, I’m talking about the trio of 70s disaster movies that Williams scored. Not familiar? Follow along.

John Williams shot to stardom in 1975 with his music for Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. To this day, that movie still makes people scared of the ocean, and Williams’s hauntingly simple dun-dun theme is synonymous with sharky mayhem and terror.

But Jaws was hardly Williams’s first rodeo. He’d been composing music for TV and movies since the late 50s. And in the few years right before he became a household name (and traveled to the galaxy far, far away), he was the go-to guy for big-budget disaster flicks.

It began in 1972 with The Poseidon Adventure (disaster at sea) and continued with 1974’s Earthquake (disaster on land) and The Towering Inferno (disaster in an office building). And all three bear the hallmark of Williams’s compositions.

(Check out our review of the recent Blu-ray release of Earthquake here.)

La-La Land Records, who continue to do the musical lord’s work (if you’re a soundtrack nerd like me), released a 4-disc box set of Williams’s scores for these three films… and all three are divine.

If all you know of John Williams are his soaring themes from Star Wars and Superman and Indiana Jones, or his epic soundtracks from the 80s on, then his music here – which is mostly subdued and atmospheric – might cause some confusion. These are more at home with Jaws than they are with Harry Potter.

There are themes, and there is a big orchestral sound, but the music wasn’t intended to stand up and steal the spotlight during the films. The audience was meant to notice and be captivated by the sinking cruise ship… or the Los Angeles shaking itself apart… or the skyscraper in flames. The music was meant to set the mood and help establish the emotional core of the films, but it wasn’t supposed to take center stage.

What’s interesting is that even though Williams’s music here is a perfect accompaniment to big-screen action and large-scale destruction, most of the music remains intimate, personal, and surprisingly sparse.

Listen, none of these is going to be anyone’s favorite John Williams soundtrack. But they reveal a master on the cusp of becoming a superstar, a genius still tinkering with form and looking for his groove.

I say all that, but Williams had already raked in NINE Academy Award nominations by the time he worked on The Towering Inferno (which would be his tenth nomination).

The Poseidon Adventure (which also garnered an Oscar nom) was Williams’s first foray into blockbusters, and indeed, the movie “functioned so well as a film that Williams elected to leave much of its action and dramatic confrontations unscored, and several cues that he did record were dialed out of the film to allow the scenes to play free of music.”

Most of the cues that appear in the film highlight the relationships between and among various characters. Likewise, Williams noted about his score for Earthquake, “The music… should relate to the people in the film rather than to the catastrophe itself.” In classic Williams style, the score includes themes for each of the major characters – and for the city itself. But he didn’t go big and try to drown out the disaster with a forceful soundtrack.

This trio of films essentially rebooted John Williams’s young career and positioned him as a composer of blockbusters – a genre that would largely define the next 45 years of his unbelievable career… and his legacy.

Williams’s music aside, the work that La-La Land put in behind the scenes to remaster the tracks (often from fresh transfers) was an epic undertaking unto itself. Each of these soundtracks comes with in-depth liner notes and a brand-new essay that takes a deep dive into the respective film and an almost beat-for-beat analysis of Williams’s score. The booklets also pull back the curtain and reveal what was involved to remaster and reissue these stunning scores.

All three soundtracks are extended with brand-new tracks, additional music, alternate takes, and source music. If you’re a fan of 70s disaster flicks or of John Williams’s mastery, then these are all a must-listen.

Oh, and Physical Media Forever!