John Williams’ Score For A.I. Now On Vinyl

Stanley Kubrick, who directed 2001: A Space Odyssey, would not live to see the actual 2001. But he would last long enough for an unfinished film of his to see release in that year. Steven Spielberg picked up his project A.I. Artificial Intelligence and directed it himself, inviting his buddy John Williams to compose the score. Not everyone liked A.I., but the general public consensus is that there’s never been a bad Williams composition.

I’ll always wonder what the Kubrick version of this movie would’ve been like, and if it would’ve been an improvement. We can all agree it likely would have been darker — Spielberg can’t help but infuse his brand of sentimentality into everything he does — but the popular belief that the “happy” ending was Steven’s invention is not true. That was actually part of it from the beginning, as weird and tacked-on as it feels.

A.I. is about a mother in the future who replaces her son with a robot duplicate, “programmed to love unconditionally.” But then her real son miraculously returns home and she has no need for the robot anymore, who wanders the rest of the film searching for a goal he can no longer obtain. There have been several movies since about robots programmed to love people who don’t deserve love — “Companion” is the latest — because if AI ever progresses to the point where realistic human bots become a thing, the possibility of their abuse would be inevitable.

That’s depressing, but you know what will cheer you up? A John Williams score. The A.I. vinyl comes in two red and blue colored discs housed inside a cool custom Tyvek gatefold jacket with art paper inner sleeves and a translucent vellum OBI. A high gloss insert is included with original art by Sara Wong and there are also liner notes by Spielberg himself. What more could you want (besides the Kubrick version of the movie)?

Mondo Music is selling the LP and you can get your copy by visiting MondoShop.com. The vinyl is real, the boy is not.