The Towering Inferno Soundtrack

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Music

The score was composed and conducted by John Williams, with orchestrations by Herbert W. Spencer and Al Woodbury, and was recorded at the 20th Century Fox scoring stage on 31 October and 4, 7 and 11 November 1974. The original recording engineer was Ted Keep.

The first release of portions of the score from The Towering Inferno was on Warner Bros. Records early in 1975 they include:

1. "Main Title" (5:00)
2. "An Architect's Dream" (3:28)
3. "Lisolette And Harlee" (2:34)
4. "Something For Susan" (2:42)
5. "Trapped Lovers" (4:28)
6. "We May Never Love Like This Again" – Kasha/Hirschhorn, performed by Maureen McGovern (2:11)
7. "Susan And Doug" (2:30)
8. "The Helicopter Explosion" (2:50)
9. "Planting The Charges – And Finale" (10:17)

A near-complete release came on the Film Score Monthly label (FSM) on 1 April 2001 and was produced by Lukas Kendall and Nick Redman. FSM's was an almost completely expanded version remixed from album masters at Warner Bros. archives and the multi-track 35mm magnetic film stems at 20th Century Fox. Placed into chronological order and restoring action cues, it became one of the company's biggest sellers; only 3000 copies were pressed and it is now out of print.

Reports that this soundtrack and that of the film Earthquake (also composed by Williams) borrowed cues from each other are not accurate. The version of "Main Title" on the FSM disc is the film version. It differs from the original soundtrack album version. There is a different balance of instruments in two spots, and in particular the snare drum is more prominent than the album version which also features additional cymbal work. Although the album was not a re-recording, the original LP tracks were recorded during the same sessions and several cues were combined. The film version sound was reportedly better than the quarter-inch WB two-track album master. Although some minor incidental cues were lost, some sonically 'damaged' cues – so called due to a deterioration of the surviving audio elements – are placed at the end of the disc's program time following the track "An Architect's Dream" which is used over the end credits sequence.

Main Soundtrack

1. "Main Title" (5:01)
2. "Something For Susan" (2:42)
3. "Lisolette and Harlee" (2:35)
4. "The Flame Ignites" (1:01)
5. "More For Susan" (1:55)
6. "Harlee Dressing" (1:37)
7. "Let There Be Light" (:37)
8. "Alone At Last" (:51)
9. "We May Never Love Like This Again (Film Version)" – Maureen McGovern (2:04)
10. "The First Victims" (3:24)
11. "Not A Cigarette" (1:18)
12. "Trapped Lovers" (4:44)
13. "Doug's Fall/Piggy Back Ride" (2:18)
14. "Lisolette's Descent" (3:07)
15. "Down The Pipes/The Door Opens" (2:59)
16. "Couples" (3:38)
17. "Short Goodbyes" (2:26)
18. "Helicopter Rescue" (3:07)
19. "Passing The Word" (1:12)
20. "Planting The Charges" (9:04)
21. "Finale" (3:57)
22. "An Architect's Dream" (3:28)
23. "We May Never Love Like This Again (Album Version)" – Maureen McGovern (2:13)
24. "The Morning After (Instrumental)" (2:07)
25. "Susan And Doug (Album Track)" (2:33)
26. "Departmental Pride and The Cat (Damaged)" (2:34)
27. "Helicopter Explosion (Damaged)" (2:34)
28. "Waking Up (Damaged)" (2:39)
29. "Hold On Now The Building's On Fire" (Bonus Track) - Fred Astaire (3.24)