https://www.discogs.com/release/8472671-John-Williams-ET-LExtra-Terrestre-Bande-Originale-Du-Film
I was ten, and completely taken by the cute alien. The film made me cry in the cinema, though I of course never showed anything like that to anyone else. Though I’m not crying anymore, it still is a good film I think, and so is the music.
Somehow I have a French version, and the source is even more confusing to me. I bought it at the photoshop I once worked at. I cannot remember them selling records though. I know that for a while I was selling records in Amsterdam, but here it says it was bought in Haarlem.
This is the early release of the music, so it is different from the one on Spotify. The record from 1982 has music that was not actually in the film, but is based on it, by the performers. Later issues (one in 1997, one in 2002) had more music that actually featured in the film.
John Williams won all four major awards for this music (Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy and BAFTA). John Williams accomplished the same with Star Wars and Jaws btw… he was on a roll!
Interestingly, at one point John Williams wasn’t able to keep the timing in the chase scene at the end of the film. Spielberg decided to change the order, and he told Williams to go ahead, and he let the film follow the music. Something that Morricone also is said to have done in his music for Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns.