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NEW Audio interview with Mike Matessino about The John Williams Jurassic Park Collection


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3 hours ago, Incanus said:

Welcome! And thank you for sharing the interview! 

 

After listening to the interview I have to say it again: Mr. Matessino you are my hero!

 

The explanation on the administrative "entanglements" this type of release has makes you appreciate the work gone into making this set all the more as they have to go into these convoluted negotiations on the rights and who owns what. Boggles the mind how complex it can get.

 

And it is shocking how quickly the multi-track masters deteriorate. Even the ones from 1993 for JP were in bad condition. I am glad Matessino was there to save them. Without the Live Projection concerts this would not have happened as they were not used for this set but serendipity and damn good luck saved them in digital form. And the story of how meticulous the assembly of the whole 2 score set has been makes you really appreciate Matessino's work and LaLa-Land's dedication to the music of John Williams.

 

Aha! Matessino reveals that the original cue title of The Saboteur was The Menace Dennis!  Oh Johnny you are so funny. :lol:  

 

 

Oooohhh at the end Mike also strongly hints that there will be some great John Williams stuff coming, perhaps next year or so, advising us to start saving money. He mentions specifically his good relationship with the Amblin Entertainment. More Spielberg/Williams collaborations?!!! :D

Indeed. This is a very cool interview, and Mattessino is definately the right guy to do Williams releases. He knows what we want and how to explain to the executives :) that

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7 hours ago, JurassicParkPodcast said:

I don't want this to seem like a flat out plug, but I interviewed Mike Matessino this past weekend about this collection and figured I'd give you all a heads up. Take a look if you want to: http://www.jurassicparkpodcast.com/home/2016/12/12/interview-w-mike-matessino-produced-edited-mastered-the-la-la-land-records-jurassic-park-collection-episode-77

 

I'll try not to lurk anymore and actually be an active participant. I've always liked coming around here. 

 

What a brilliant interview!

 

And it's really surprising that JW's camp initiated this - was not expecting that revelation.

 

It's also very encouraging that MM knows full well what promos/boots are out there, and knows to cater these expansions to supersede them. Sounds like his discussions with JW were pretty frank at times!

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1 hour ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

 

Nice interview. Thanks for sharing!

 

"Soundtrack buyers do have an expensive hobby. And I'm very, very grateful that they exist and that they support all these efforts. I will just advice John Williams fans to save some money. Particularly over the next year or so. There are a lot of things happening."

 

Oh my.

Hallelujah!!!

 

Karol

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8 minutes ago, Selina Kyle said:

Did he say anything about the E.T. Adventure?

 

No specific future titles were mentioned, the interview was entirely about the JP set, and is a fascinating listen.  At the very end he says the quote above.

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Wow, what an absolutely riveting interview! Very enlightened, relevant questions as well. I could listen to Mike tell anecdotes and get super technical all day long!

 

That discussion about the multi-tracks shedding was disconcerting though, considering these scores are relatively young. The Star Wars masters would want to be carefully archived... 

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Mike's preference to call fans "students" of whatever they are passionate about is actually an interesting notion and very spot on I think. Are we not also studying things we have great interest in, to understand them better even if this just means giving music years and years of our attention by listening to it, let alone in the case of film music giving thought to its musico-dramatic aspects and its surrounding phenomena, which can link it to any number of things.

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I liked the bit about the convoluted right issues and how the Falling Car/T-Rex Chase combination could be done because T-Rex Chase was released in 2013. It's a behind the scenes detail none of us would likely consider when looking at the track lists.

 

To add to that: thank the film score gods Universal was willing to part with the rights for the unreleased parts from Rescuing Sarah so that track could be restored to full glory!

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36 minutes ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

I liked the bit about the convoluted right issues and how the Falling Car/T-Rex Chase combination could be done because T-Rex Chase was released in 2013. It's a behind the scenes detail none of us would likely consider when looking at the track lists.

 

To add to that: thank the film score gods Universal was willing to part with the rights for the unreleased parts from Rescuing Sarah so that track could be restored to full glory!

As I said above it boggles the mind to think of these minutiae of purely administrative effort to sort out the rights of each piece of music and how every released iteration of a piece of score affects this. As we already knew it goes down to naming of the new material since no two pieces (even if the music is mostly the same) can have a same name in the database of theirs. So thanks be to Mike and LLL team for sorting things out in the veritable jungle of red tape and the Universal's two branches of being cooperative to let this release happen.

 

It was interesting to hear how Matessino wanted to find a new unique angle to approach writing about both of these films and scores, not just emphasizing the digital CG revolution which began in earnest with JP but more laying out the landscape where they were created and the history of the whole dino/monster movie genre plus shedding light on this phase of Spielberg's (and Williams') career at the same time.

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9 hours ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

 

 

"Soundtrack buyers do have an expensive hobby. And I'm very, very grateful that they exist and that they support all these efforts. I will just advice John Williams fans to save some money. Particularly over the next year or so. There are a lot of things happening."

 

 

Well this indeed great news and reaffirmation that everything is going well with Mattessino and his relationship with camps of both John Williams and Steven Spielberg.  Looking so forward to 2017  for the other John Williams projects such as JFK and The Towering Inferno (coming via LLL) and also that we shall be getting the brand new score to the next instalment of STAR WARS in December, But I'm very intrigued by the above quote about us 'students' to 'save some money' as it could easily allude to a box set of some size. Now it could be our dream box set of the entire 4 Indiana Jones scores or it could be a mega release of the entire STAR WARS series music to date or the first 2 trilogies. Who knows? But Its a nice thought and we are allowed to dream. Aren't we? Plus I'm quite sure that Mattessino would love to do the Original SW trilogy completely over again. And if he can add the 'Lost World Sales Pitch' to convince the powers to be to also include the entire Prequels in the bundle then that would be a home run for all of us here. Wouldn't it? Others would hope for definitive versions of Close Encounters, ET and even a redo of HOOK ( if the better masters turn up) but these are individual projects and don't require that much of a savings,

 

Maybe this qualifys for a brand new thread about 2017.

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, azahid said:

I'm very intrigued by the above quote about us 'students' to 'save some money' as it could easily allude to a box set of some size.

 

It could also just mean more than one two-disc release.

 

Remember, these sets still retail for about $30 a piece, which in today's music market is still quite expensive!

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6 minutes ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

 

It could also just mean more than one two-disc release.

 

Remember, these sets still retail for about $30 a piece, which in today's music market is still quite expensive!

 

Yes, that's possible. But from my experience when ever we have been told about start saving. Its usually is a Big box set.

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I reckon we just follow the logic of Williams' camp wanting soundtracks that tie into live concerts of the scores. 

 

After all, that's the reason they wanted Jurassic Park expanded. Could E.T. and Raiders (with Matessino asking to do all 4) be next off the rank?

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6 minutes ago, crumbs said:

After all, that's the reason they wanted Jurassic Park expanded. Could E.T. and Raiders (with Matessino asking to do all 4) be next off the rank?

 

Regarding Indy, I think it would make sense to do a trilogy box set with the first 3 scores, and release the complete score of Indy 4 with the one for Indy 5 (and possibly Indy 6, too ;)).

 

Else, we'll have a box set with all first four scores, and Indy 5 will be like a lonely child, wandering in the streets, looking for shelter, but ultimately ending up dying of hypothermia...

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1 minute ago, BloodBoal said:

Regarding Indy, I think it would make sense to do a trilogy box set with the first 3 scores, and release the complete score of Indy 4 with the one for Indy 5 (and possibly Indy 6, too ;)).

 

Else, we'll have a box set with all first four scores, and Indy 5 will be like a lonely child, wandering in the streets, looking for a shelter, but ultimately ending up dying of hypothermia...

You should help Mike with his sales pitch on this Indy release. You have it all worked out! And don't forget to hire a violinist to accompany your teary selling speech with suitable heart rending pathos of I Could Have Done More from Schindler's List. ;)

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1 minute ago, Bespin said:

No problem with any future JW Expanded scores... as long as they don't merge them with other composers scores in a boxset.

 

With a big boxset like Superman, you lost me.

Don't forget Lost in Space!

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1 minute ago, Bespin said:

No problem with any future JW Expanded scores... as long as they don't merge them with other composers scores in a boxset.

 

With a big boxset like Superman, you lost me.

 

Moreover, I still wait a solo release of the latest remastering of Superman The Movie.

 

I didn't care that much for Superman II or III, but Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is the real gem of that collection. Great score and highly underrated!

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8 minutes ago, Bespin said:

No problem with any future JW Expanded scores... as long as they don't merge them with other composers scores in a boxset.

 

With a big boxset like Superman, you lost me.

 

 

I've pleaded to both Mattessino and Lukas Kendall to do a stand alone SUPERMAN THE MOVIE 3CD set (This was before the blue box was temporarily OOP and then another pressing was done) However, a new 3 CD set reissue (with the OST edit remastered ) commemorating the film's 40th Anniversary in 2018 would be great!

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Just now, azahid said:

 

 

I've pleaded to both Mattessino and Lukas Kendall to do a stand alone SUPERMAN THE MOVIE 3CD set (This was the blue box was OOP and then a nother pressing was done) However, a new 3 CD set reissue (with the OST edit remastered ) commemorating the film's 40th Anniversary in 2018 would be great!

I think there would be enough source and alternate material to fill that third disc just by itself.

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43 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Don't forget Lost in Space!

 

Of course, with this release, they lost me is space too! 12 CD...

 

But it is perhaps more logical for a TV-Series to group all the scores under a big boxset (when different composers are involved in a season, by example) than for a movie franchise when there is only one composer by movie.

 

LLL did well with the new JP set, combining only the first two by Williams. Great job!

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10 minutes ago, Incanus said:

I think there would be enough source and alternate material to fill that third disc just by itself.

 

Yes. I just remembered that what I had suggested in my pitch (A year ago).

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Another small but noteworthy detail that Matessino discussed was the absence of alternates on either score, which seems to have resulted directly from the fact that Spielberg was away from the recording sessions filming Schindler's List and Amistad. In JP's case they only dialled out music and did few moments of tracking which suggests planets were indeed in alignment and everything went better than expected and director, composer and the film were very much in sync.

 

TLW was the opposite where had Spielberg been present the score might have turned out somewhat differently for several sequences as I don't doubt that if there had been time and communication, Williams would have revised some of his compositions to include the Lost World theme and perhaps lightened the mood of some of the cues.

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If i had heard this interview with the announcement, i wouldnt have complained that much about the toothless rex :P. There is so much work put into this.

 

 

Anyway..Spielberg wanted to read the liner notes... (and as i understood it he read them). i wonder if the document they provided him had teeth or not :P

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2 hours ago, Incanus said:

 

 

I would have liked to hear some discussion on the unused 'The Hunt' cue. Ofcourse it must be detailed in the booklet but I dont have my set as yet.

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8 minutes ago, azahid said:

 

I would have liked to hear some discussion on the unused 'The Hunt' cue. Ofcourse it must be detailed in the booklet but I dont have my set as yet.

Actually the booklet is very scant on this kind of musical discussion, which is one of the things I would have liked to be addressed more on the set since it should be all about the music. But I think Matessino didn't want to do that type of essay and let the music speak for itself. The Hunt (aka The Round Up) is mentioned briefly as unused but no more is said about it. Expect no track-by-track analysis. More space is afforded to the films than to the music.

 

 

5 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Long story short: Spielberg liked The Lost World theme and tracked it in a lot of spots in the film...

That scene also had other music tracked in there though but yes Spielberg loved the theme and then applied it to various scenes to give them more uplifting or adventurous feel.

 

Which ties to what  I was saying on the previous page. If there had been more discussion between Spielberg and JW during the post production, the score might have been revised more.

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7 hours ago, Incanus said:

Mike's preference to call fans "students" of whatever they are passionate about is actually an interesting notion and very spot on I think. Are we not also studying things we have great interest in, to understand them better even if this just means giving music years and years of our attention by listening to it, let alone in the case of film music giving thought to its musico-dramatic aspects and its surrounding phenomena, which can link it to any number of things.

 

I feel very much in line with Mike's statement. I too think of myself more as a student of Williams' music than a simple fan. Of course that doesn't mean I have a doctorate-like approach every single time I listen to his music, but I love to ponder and think a lot about it (especially when I'm not listening).

 

Kudos for the brilliant interview and welcome to the board!

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Great interview, I almost had tears when I heard Mr. Matessino talking about how JP and Harry Potter may have moved and touched a younger audience, like Star Wars touched us back then...  Time passes... sigh...

 

Well, I was proud to hear that he also consider JW as the greatest film composer of all time.

 

Can we start a religion that will acclaim and venerate Mike Matessino?

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12 minutes ago, Mr. Breathmask said:

It's a testament of Williams' timeless brilliance. Somehow, he manages to crank out a score that generates a whole new generation of film music lovers eery ten, fifteen years. That's amazing. It's as true a signew of the man's craft and talent as any and the reason a place like this is still going after almost twenty years. I doubt any composer coUldale challenge such an achievement.

 

That might be the most fanboyish thing I've ever written, but... uh, well... there it is.

It funny that Matessino mentions how he doesn't have such ultimate reverence to JP as many fans seem to have as he "had seen the light" much earlier and JP was business pretty much usual for Williams, continuing to write the great music Matessino had heard since Star Wars.

 

But to a certain generation it is that Star Wars moment in their lives, mine included, and it is difficult to imagine what my life would be like without Williams' music coming into my consciousness through Jurassic Park when I was 11 and in that darkened movie theater and heard the glorious fanfare and saw the helicopter approaching the island. It really opened gates to so many things beyond movies and film music and my life is all the richer for it. So it is no wonder there is a lot of feeling attached to this score which is what those who grew up on Star Wars must feeling for that score.

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