Jerry Toner

Whenever he was asked to name his own personal favorite within his long and distinguished oeuvre, Jerry Goldsmith inevitably cited his work on 1977's obscure Ernest Hemingway adaptation Islands in the Stream. A lush, often melancholy score evoking both the serenity and the treachery of the sea, it is undoubtedly Goldsmith's most intimate effort, eschewing the larger-than-life drama and suspense of his best-known soundtracks. Islands in the Stream is above all a showcase for the composer's consummate ability to vividly communicate both the physical and emotional landscape in such simple yet precise strokes – employing little but a lone French horn, Goldsmith's main theme captures the immense loneliness and solitude of George C. Scott's protagonist, while gentle woodwinds suggest the ocean waves lapping the shore of his island home.

Although the film in question is largely forgotten, Jerry Goldsmith's music for the sci-fi opus Capricorn One looms as arguably the most influential and imitated action score of the late 20th century. An exhilarating work that evolves with masterful purpose and precision, its densely percussive arrangements remain synonymous with adventure and suspense decades after the fact. Where followers like Alan Silvestri and James Horner rely almost solely on sensory assault to convey danger and dread, Goldsmith sculpts the music of Capricorn One via complex orchestration and meticulous sound effects, building and expanding his central themes to create genuine drama. Tightrope-taut and brilliantly paced, the soundtrack is more vividly cinematic than its accompanying celluloid images themselves. It's a virtual master class in the art of film music.

1979's The Great Train Robbery has long been one of Jerry Goldsmith's most unusual projects, both in terms of his overall output and in particular as one of his collaborations with filmmaker Michael Crichton. With the exception of The Great Train Robbery and The Thirteenth Warrior, all of the Goldsmith/Crichton collaborations (Pursuit, Coma, Runaway, Congo and Timeline) have fallen into the techno-thriller genre, and stylistically, the buoyant comic energy of The Great Train Robbery lies far afield of the darker-edged work that in general defined Goldsmith's career. For the film, Crichton adapted his own historical novel and cast Sean Connery as dashing Victorian criminal Edward Pierce. Goldsmith's score establishes the movie as a lighthearted romp from its opening downbeat and thereafter cheerfully varies between churning, steam locomotive drive and breezy elegance; the jaunty main title tune is unpredictable and boasts one of the best bridges Goldsmith ever wrote.

FSM returns to the treasures of the Warner Bros. archives (The Omega Man, The Towering Inferno) with a masterpiece by Jerry Goldsmith: The Illustrated Man. The film stars Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom in an adaptation of several short stories by Ray Bradbury, affording Goldsmith the crowning achievement of his work in the anthology format (CBS Radio Workshop, The Twilight Zone), as well as one of his most memorable and original works in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres.

Mungo Jerry are one of rock's great one-hit successes. Outside of England, they're known for exactly one song, but that song, "In the Summertime," is a seasonal anthem known by listeners who weren't even born when it was released. Mungo Jerry was a solid blues outfit as well – in fact, one suspects they were the kind of blues band that purists Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies would have loved, had they ever intersected – and knew how to get the most out of their jug band sound, which helped them survive for decades.