John Williams: Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (2LP, soundtrack, orange vinyl) [WALT DISNEY RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

The 1984 single LP couldn't fit all of Temple Of Doom, so this 2LP set brings in 22 cues across four sides of orange vinyl, including "The Nightclub Brawl", "Saving Willie" and "The Broken Bridge". It opens with Kate Capshaw singing Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" (in Mandarin, no less) and ends on the mine car chase.

This edition

• 2LP set on orange vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Expanded tracklist: 22 cues, up from 11 on the original LP

About the album

Temple Of Doom is the dark one, and John Williams knew it. AllMusic's Jason Ankeny heard a score more violent than Raiders, full of occult menace, and the big set pieces bear that out: "Slave Children's Crusade" builds into one of the most stirring marches Williams ever wrote, while the mine car chase is pure runaway-rollercoaster brass. In between there's "Short Round's Theme", a bouncy little tune for Indy's sidekick that keeps the whole thing from getting too grim.

The original album lost a lot of music to the length limits of a single LP, which bothered fans for decades. This version restores the nightclub opening, the scroll, the bug tunnel, the bridge and the British relief, so the story plays out in order and at full size. Williams conducted the Hollywood Studio Symphony himself. We'd recommend it with dinner, as long as dinner isn't chilled monkey brains.

Tracklist

Listen

Out June 5, 2026 on Walt Disney Records (cat# 8759645), a reissue of the 1984 soundtrack.