Balto's Claws

I don't think I'll ever totally "get" the humor of the people here, so I just ignore a lot of threads with questionable titles. Movies that describe a bowel movement would be the first. Really? I may fit your newbie status with only 54 posts in about a month here but I lurked for a couple of years. So I'm well aware of what I got myself into, just never said anything on my mind.

This is unusual coming from an animation fan.....I don't really have an answer because NONE of the Pixar scores truly interest me. Weird huh? I own almost every Disney film soundtrack but none of the Pixar ones. I have that one album that did a "Best of" with some songs and score and only goes as new as "Up". Outside of that....nothing. Nothing connected to me. The films are good, but the music....nothing there.

Reading a lot of Michael Crichton for fun now.

If he couldn't do as many live shows, that wouldn't bother me as I live nowhere near Boston, nor any place he would make an appearance. I'd prefer him to keep writing music (and slow down). He's entitled for a break.

Watching the preview, I think this is something I would watch regularly. It has the spirit of the old Muppets. @Mike - I seem to remember hearing they didn't recast Rowlf for a long time simply because it was Henson's favorite role, and the character was most like Henson in terms of personality. It wouldn't seem right, so he always was there, but didn't speak in the films or shows following his death. I saw that skateboard thing with Rowlf and Rizzo that was to rekindle interest in the Muppets a few years back, and that was a pretty good impersonation of Rowlf....this one just seemed to be a miss on this preview, even though I'm certain its the same guy.

That did not sound like Steve Whitmire as Kermit...really high-pitched. Actually the only voice that threw me for a loop (meaning really "off") is Rowlf.

They gotta be banking on that 5% of music buyers....I guess at $400 a pop they'll make money. I just don't get why they didn't bother with CDs or even a digital download.

Well if I can ever afford a house, I'll remember to keep those in mind. They look nice. 40hz is good for a 2.0 system and no sub. 70khz...well dogs would love that, or bats. What did they cost?

Pocahontas is the only other one other than Lion King that I wanted from these initial titles. It will be in my cart on August 7th.

$400 - what??? Even the Disneyland boxset that was released years ago didn't cost that much on its initial release...and that was CDs. Like to know where they will find people that will pony up that kind of money for records that will degrade each time they're played.

foobar2000 --> FLAC files ---> USB DAC --> Amp --> Pioneer Bookshelves Plenty good for a small apartment. Can't exactly blast music as loud as I want. Plus I also own the Sony MDR-7506 headset, and if the people that are engineering the music you enjoy so much think they're that awesome, then they're plenty good for me too.

Haven't spun a CD in some time. The convenience of a computer and FLAC (lossless) files will trump digging out a CD any day. @indianagirl - not a problem. Been working the computer audio scene for years now. Lots of snake oil thrown around.

Nope, best to keep it (or any equalizers) flat so its as the music engineers intended it. The only reason you'd want to play around with any DAC or equalizer settings is if you have bad headphones. If you bought those HD600s from Sennheiser, you shouldn't need any adjustments. Film music is usually recorded very well in the first place. Thought I'd add something as well, since you said DAC settings....just keep them at 16-bit, 44khz and enjoy the music. That's the resolution of CDs and there's no point in anything higher for playback. Most people by the time they reach 25 aren't hearing anything higher than 18khz anyway--and that's test tones, not real music.

I was too young to see many of the films from the 70s and 80s I've grown and loved. Its not so much a regret as I wasn't old enough to know any better. I'm naturally very choosy about what I will pay the money to go see in a theater, so I've cut out a lot of regrets/disappointment. Re-release some older films for an anniversary and I'll gladly make up for those I couldn't see on their first run due to my age at the time.

That's a good description of what I have heard. Unfortunately, "gruff" music isn't something I'm going to put in my collection.

Actually, the only one that surprised me is where "Casper" ended up, given how many people say they love "Casper's Lullaby". Maybe one track can't carry a whole score. When I have that album around, I usually seek out the tracks with that theme in it, but still, that's one I think most would remember. Spiderwick Chronicles at one point takes the Casper theme and changes two notes I think...I watched the film once and heard that, and thought, "What was that doing there?" The rest are not surprising. Avatar especially...didn't like the film, and the music never grabbed me at all. @Jay - Wolf Totem is good, but its very new. It would take a long time for me to even consider having Wolf Totem knock something off of the top 10 I submitted because I've been listening to those scores much longer.

@Josh - I don't "get" Goldsmith. I often like to watch the film of the score, and many of this things he scored I have zero interest in watching. The irony of the two I own is they are the only two he did for animated films - Secret of NIMH and Mulan. I like both films, and both scores--very strong melodic material.

Angela Morley's Watership Down This will probably not ever get another physical release--maybe a digital one someday. A lot of stuff from this album reminded me a lot of what Williams might write, and then I later discovered they worked together. Small world.

I'm a sucker for Barry's romantic scores--Dances With Wolves, Scarlet Letter, Out of Africa, Somewhere in Time....even if they are a tad repetitive. Raise the Titanic is a hard listen as the theme is repeated without any changes but I actually find it much better than what Horner gave us to represent Titanic--and that's coming from a Horner fan!

I don't plan on changing mine or doubting my choices. Was actually wondering when this would close so we could see.

No contest - James Horner Jerry Goldsmith - 2 cds James Horner - 15 cds

I haven't the hearing ability to detect all these digital nuances people say exist in newer masterings. I don't hear problems with the new Jurassic Park--I'm aware there is less dynamic range--that I can tell--but I think the newer mastering is wonderful. I guess I'm not as picky as other soundtrack people. Also, I never knew about the edited Desert Chase, though I have the older 1995 album which I guess was the better one. I have no reason to buy the 2008 collection when I own the older CDs and am perfectly happy with what John Williams put together twenty+ years ago.

Not surprisingly, that list only confirmed what some of us stated--the Land Before Time has one of the largest dynamic ranges. I knew when I bought the HD tracks version of the 20th Anniversary of Jurassic Park that it was louder, but there were also other parts of the score that were brought out that made the music more interesting (e.g. Dennis Steals the Embryo). A little loss of DR or some new musical goodies---I like the new musical goodies.

Basically, things done under the Universal label in the late 80s and 90s has a very large dynamic range. A lot of Horner scores fall under this: Land Before Time, An American Tail, Once Upon a Forest. A couple of Williams scores too--Hook and Jurassic Park come to mind as having very soft and loud parts on their original album releases in the early 90s.

Re: the Cincinnati Pops--I own almost all of those, and yes, they are speaker killers too. Greatest range I ever found was the Sound of Music re-recording from them. Re: Jumanji - not a bad score. I like the french horn solos playing the main theme of Alan Parrish. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do we just bring up scores at random? As far as the thread goes, nobody has brought up the one that inspired my username: Balto. Its often the forgotten score of 1995 because he was doing so much around that time. The emotional material using the strings rivals the Land Before Time and An American Tail. "Heritage of the Wolf" is great because it shows Balto's growth from outcast and shamed to be part-wolf, to actually embracing the fact he is different from the other dogs. Also, as far as I can tell, Horner didn't quote anything he previously did in this score and no danger motifs either.