Christian Clemmensen on Outland Outland

Christian Clemmensen is the founder and editor of Filmtracks, one of the longest-running film score review sites. His review of the Outland score is the most detailed critical assessment available online and is the primary source for the wiki's Jerry Goldsmith Score page.

Clemmensen described the score's texture as rhythmically hostile

Clemmensen's central observation is that Goldsmith rejected melody in favor of relentless low-register rhythmic pressure:

"Goldsmith's choice to handle most of the film with churning, unpleasant rhythmic propulsion in the lower regions of the orchestra leads to a very challenging listening experience." — Christian Clemmensen, Filmtracks: Outland (2009)

He emphasized how much of the score lives in the bass end of the orchestra:

"The brooding tone of the lowest registers of the performing group can occupy nearly an entire cue." — Christian Clemmensen, Filmtracks: Outland (2009)

Clemmensen documented the contributions of Morton Stevens and Michael Boddicker

Clemmensen's review is also the clearest published account of why other composers worked on the final soundtrack:

"Since Goldsmith was unavailable for some of Hyams' later requests for changes in the score, two other composers stepped in to make last minute contributions. Goldsmith associate Morton Stevens rearranged the final struggle outside the station during the film's climax, utilizing Goldsmith's themes and tone but producing a strikingly more linear action sound." — Christian Clemmensen, Filmtracks: Outland (2009)

"The two recreation room scenes required all new music from Michael Boddicker, whose music for the seedy environment is just as futuristic in its employment of splashy synthetic rhythms and sound effects as Goldsmith's, but more primal and direct in its personality." — Christian Clemmensen, Filmtracks: Outland (2009)