ABSTRACT
Trevor Jones’s early years in the film industry revolve around his work on John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981); the animatronic films of Jim Henson, The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986); and the television mini-series The Last Days of Pompeii (1984) and The Last Place on Earth (1985). For Excalibur Jones crafted a score that combined original material with extracts from works by Wagner and Orff to create a coherent and powerful musical tapestry for Boorman’s presentation of the Arthurian legend. By contrast, for The Dark Crystal he fused symphonic writing with electronics to create the sound of the narrative world. This period in the early to mid-1980s also saw Jones’s first engagement with television, notably through the two mini-series The Last Days of Pompeii and The Last Place on Earth, which afforded him opportunities to develop his style and approach through an episodic programme type. Labyrinth starred David Bowie, who performs on the film’s soundtrack, and this picture marks the first time that Jones collaborated with an established pop star on a project, something he has done many times since across his career.
