Peter Schickele • Silent Running
Decca Records DL 7-9188
33-RPM LP
One of the movies that I love and have seen numerous times is Douglas Trumbull’s 1972 science fiction cult classic directorial debut, Silent Running, which is an eco-protest movie set in the distant future where all plant life on Earth is extinct. The only remaining specimens are in several glass-domed space craft, orbiting near Saturn. In a cost cutting measure, the crews of the ships are ordered to jettison and destroy the domes. One crew member—played by Bruce Dern—refuses to comply with the order and hijacks one of the ships, killing one of his shipmates in the process. This record is the movie’s original soundtrack.
Consisting of mostly instrumental incidental music, Silent Running also contains two songs sung by popular folk singer, Joan Baez: Silent Running and (my favourite) Rejoice in the Sun. The album also includes the main and ending themes (the former being an instrumental version of Rejoice in the Sun).
The sound quality is quite good, the trebles surprisingly so. The sweetness of, and the air around, the triangles and similar instruments is breathtaking! The imaging is fairly flat and the dynamics are a bit limited (this wasn’t ever intended to be an audiophile spectacular), but the music more than makes up for it. A must-have if you’re a fan of the movie!