Awesome John Williams

From Star Wars to Raiders of the Lost Ark to Jurassic Park, composer and conductor John Williams is the maestro behind some of the best and most memorable movie music ever. Williams sat down with Variety to discuss his approach and inspirations behind some of his best-known scores. His exuberance and positivity make 92 seem young.

Matthew Van Ness has impressed us with his multi-track vocalizations of the Star Wars and Jurassic Park themes. Now he’s back to sing of all the instruments from another John Williams classic – the theme music from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Close your eyes and imagine Indiana Jones taking flight after escaping a rolling boulder and a shower of arrows.

Because absolutely nobody asked for it, The Critters created a Rube Goldberg machine that plays the main theme from Jurassic Park using precisely placed rubber chickens and bowling balls. Yes, we know they almost certainly did it with CGI, but it’s still hilariously weird.

For the first time since 1980, John Willams’ special concert suite from The Empire Strikes Back is being pressed on vinyl. The disc comes in black vinyl from Varèse Sarabande, Ice Planet Hot Blue from Vinyl Me Please, Imperial Grey Marble at Newbury Comics, and Cloud City Orange at Canada’s Sunrise Records.

After impressing us with his vocalization of Star Wars theme, singer Matthew Van Ness is back with another multi-track a capella cover of a John Williams track, this time taking on the familiar main theme from Jurassic Park, and again performing all of the instrumental parts with his voice. The only thing missing is the dinosaurs.

Brice Dudouet turns the crank on a classic mechanical pipe organ called an orgue de barbarie as it whips through his spirited arrangement of John Williams’ classic Cantina Band, originally played by Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes in Star Wars: A New Hope.