Gurkensalat

Never been a fan of judging stuff from the past by modern standards. Temple Of Doom is what it is, a rip-snorting action adventure. 

Yes, it is. It's among my favourite MG scores.

Just about all of THE INCREDIBLES , is a spoof.

Right, I didn't say that you did anything wrong!
 
I was providing a link for anyone who wants to check it out!

Just because I do not want to live on coffee to go (iPhone) all the time and instead prefer to sit down at home for a larger drink (iPad)? :-)
 
On Topic: started part 3 today and discovered that a complete soundtrack of a TV episode from the Eleventh Hour is commercially available! The Podcast is really informative.

Thanks for the comments, Gurkensalat!
 
I've wanted to offer the podcast on more traditional platforms (like Apple or Spotify) since the beginning in 2013, but unfortunately, there are rights issues involved, especially when I use full musical clips from soundtrack recordings rather than brief, 30-second snippets that would pass as free 'quotes'. So although I sometimes label it a podcast, it is technically a webcast that is only available as streaming, not as downloadable content. Since I don't have the money to pay for rights, and since I want to play full clips, that's how it turned out. Maybe some day, I'll make revised editions where I cut down all the clips to quote size, hence making them eligible for traditional podcast platforms. We'll see!

Thanks a lot for this podcasts which are very interesting. The first episode even motivated me to buy Jumping Jack Rabbits from Wagon Train on iTunes! 
It would be nice, though, to be able to listen to the podcast on Apple podcasts since I mostly do it during biking using my Apple Watch. This embedded thing does not work there and is in general less user-friendly. Others may appreciate it if it would be available on a few of the other main podcast services out there, too. 

Meanwhile I have ordered this album and listened to it. So, I can answer my own question: The MC mix is quite immersive, with the whole orchestra wrapped around the listener in a circle. The strings are in front, the French horns in the left surround, the trumpets in the right surround, for example. I like it very much, since it is very involving and allows more details of the dense orchestration to come through. But I know that it is not everybody's cup of tea, which may be the reason that Neil does not recommend it. In general sound quality is very good for such an old recording, clean and clear with almost no hiss or distortion. Dynamics could be more, but is adaequate. On the whole very recommended, especially for MC fans.  In contrast e.g. to the overpriced Matrix SACD which just adds ambiance in the surrounds and does not offer much advantage to the CD tracks. 

Meanwhile I have ordered this album and listened to it. So, I can answer my own question: The MC mix is quite immersive, with the whole orchestra wrapped around the listener in a circle. The strings are in front, the French horns in the left surround, the trumpets in the right surround, for example. I like it very much, since it is very involving and allows more details of the dense orchestration to come through. But I know that it is not everybody's cup of tea, which may be the reason that Neil does not recommend it. In general sound quality is very good for such an old recording, clean and clear with almost no hiss or distortion. Dynamics could be more, but is adaequate. On the whole very recommended, especially for MC fans.  In contrast e.g. to the overpriced Matrix SACD which just adds ambiance in the surrounds and does not offer much advantage to the CD tracks. 

Meanwhile I have ordered this album and listened to it. So, I can answer my own question: The MC mix is quite immersive, with the whole orchestra wrapped around the listener in a circle. The strings are in front, the French horns in the left surround, the trumpets in the right surround, for example. I like it very much, since it is very involving and allows more details of the dense orchestration to come through. But I know that it is not everybody's cup of tea, which may be the reason that Neil does not recommend it. In general sound quality is very good for such an old recording, clean and clear with almost no hiss or distortion. Dynamics could be more, but is adaequate. On the whole very recommended, especially for MC fans.  In contrast e.g. to the overpriced Matrix SACD which just adds ambiance in the surrounds and does not offer much advantage to the CD tracks. 

Meanwhile I have ordered this album and listened to it. So, I can answer my own question: The MC mix is quite immersive, with the whole orchestra wrapped around the listener in a circle. The strings are in front, the French horns in the left surround, the trumpets in the right surround, for example. I like it very much, since it is very involving and allows more details of the dense orchestration to come through. But I know that it is not everybody's cup of tea, which may be the reason that Neil does not recommend it. In general sound quality is very good for such an old recording, clean and clear with almost no hiss or distortion. Dynamics could be more, but is adaequate. On the whole very recommended, especially for MC fans.  In contrast e.g. to the overpriced Matrix SACD which just adds ambiance in the surrounds and does not offer much advantage to the CD tracks. 

You only think that because the album does such a terrible job of representing what the score has to offer.

Anything but Cinderella liberty

The suite for cello and orchestra from Memoirs of a Geisha has actually six movements and not just three. And I miss the suite from Catch Me if You Can in the listing.
 
I guess, a reason why such suites are not played more often are the costs. 
But I would love to hear a suite from The Witches of Eastwick in concert with
 
The Township of Eastwick The Tennis Game Seduction of Suki and the Ballroom Scene Dance of the Witches 

Images :-)

As I said before, the sound of the Musikverein recording in stereo is congested, but in 5.1 multichannel it blooms and distances every other recording of Williams Music I know of by miles. The LA Studio is nice, but cannot hold a candle to this sound marvel.

Indeed, I was going to mention that. The stereo version sounds very different; the 5.1 version sounds very much like the real deal. Also bear in mind that this is a live recording of the real concert hall acoustics. The ASM album was a studio recording and probably sounds very different (and possibly much better) in the final mix than the actual room did during the performance.
 
I've certainly experienced bad acoustics at the Musikverein, when it was played too loud (or too fast for the volume), or too soft. But the Philharmoniker are at home there and know it by heart, and the JW concerts were some of the most transparent sounding big orchestra concert experiences of my life.

Never heard better live acoustics (and I've been to a few concert halls) ... it was heaven, couldn't listen to recordings for weeks afterwards; just my 2 cents...

I have quite a lot of self-respect and can live just fine with the original CD, which is one of my least played JW soundtracks, together with Minority Report and War of the Worlds (which is why I do not need those expansions as well). On the other hand, soundtracks like Tintin are regularly played and I would be first in line for an expanded edition. Somehow I seem to prefer the "French" sound to the "Irish". :-)

This is not my experience in most cases. There are exception like Amistad or The Lost World, which I did not like as OST, but grew on me in expanded form, but normally it is just more of the same or similar.  Either I like it or not. If I like it, great, bring it on. If not, eh not so much. Indeed with Always and Presumed Innocent the expanded soundtrack did not change much in my perception of the music. Those 2 are really the reason that I am now more selective, since I did not listen to them any more after the first 2 listens just after purchase. Just same old, although Always has a nice alternate that I like, so it is not a total loss.

This is not my experience in most cases. There are exception like Amistad or The Lost World, which I did not like as OST, but grew on me in expanded form, but normally it is just more of the same or similar.  Either I like it or not. If I like it, great, bring it on. If not, eh not so much. Indeed with Always and Presumed Innocent the expanded soundtrack did not change much in my perception of the music. Those 2 are really the reason that I am now more selective, since I did not listen to them any more after the first 2 listens just after purchase. Just same old, although Always has a nice alternate that I like, so it is not a total loss.

I have quite a lot of self-respect and can live just fine with the original CD, which is one of my least played JW soundtracks, together with Minority Report and War of the Worlds (which is why I do not need those expansions as well). On the other hand, soundtracks like Tintin are regularly played and I would be first in line for an expanded edition. Somehow I seem to prefer the "French" sound to the "Irish". :-)

My purchases of the expanded WotW and MR were some time after their release, but in neither case were they important or significant purchases for me (bearing in mind my fandom of JW is pretty casual compared to most here).
 
I primarily got them to free both scores from Williams' meddling and to get the best possible sound quality. I was astonished at how bad the OST of Worlds sounds compared to MM's expansion.
 
There's a limit - no MM expansion is going to make me enjoy a score I didn't like in the first place, but for those cases where I've had an OST for a couple of decades and I like the bulk of it, I'm probably going to get the expansion eventually.

No self-respecting Williams fan can be without this, just sayin'

As I mentioned above, I’m a big fan of the books, having read them multiple times as a kid. 
 
That said, I do think that the conceit of the daemon is one of the richest and most interesting creations in all of fantasy literature. It allows for such depth of character to be explored without ever being dull or dense, and means that the character can have an external “internal monologue” as they’re essentially conversing with themselves. It also allows us to read things into characters that authors would otherwise need to spend pages explaining. If someone’s daemon is a spider, we automatically infer something about their character.