The Eiger Sanction. I need your advice!

[Josh500 1,615]

So I just had a heartstopping experience. I just saw the original soundtrack album (from Varese Sarabande) of The Eiger Sanction on sale for 98 Euros (around 115 USD), used but in near mint condition. 

 

Now, I already own the main theme and two other tracks from this score thanks to the Japanese Filmworks, and I really like what I hear.

 

I hesitated for a long moment, and then decided to wait a bit. I mean, 100 Euros for a single CD! Come on! Still, I really want to have this in my JW collection.

 

So two questions. Do YOU have it, and should I get it for 98 Euros?

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

I have it, and you should definitely get it for a high price, because then a new release will certainly happen very soon.

 

(Seriously, I wouldn't pay that much for it, since I'm sure it's bound to come out again sooner or later. Still voted "Yes" because the poll forced me to answer both questions)

[Thor 7,465]

It's a great score and album, but I had no IDEA it was going for that kind of money now. If you have the money, I'd say go for it. Even if you're one of those who prefer expanded releases (I can't remember if you do), don't sit around and wait for one to possibly happen. Concentrate on what actually exists and can give you joy NOW.

[Bespin 8,478]

Personnaly, I wait for another reissue of it. And I will never buy a used CD more than 20 $CAN (14 Euros).

[Incanus 5,713]

Yes you should get it BUT not for 98 €. Wait for the eventual re-release I say.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Concentrate on what actually exists and can give you joy NOW.

 

I get just as much joy from my pirated digital copy as I would the CD.  No CD is worth that kinda money, certainly not on the secondary market.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

TES is a nice score that mixes jazz sensibilities, with JW's more "indetifiable" sound.

Remember, Josh, that this is pre-SW. It's even pre-JAWS (just!).

You seem to like what you hear, and, as there is no imminent rerelease, and not even a whisper of its whereabouts, and, if you can afford it, then, to paraphrase Moiseyevitch: "you are a smart man, Josh. You will know what to do..." 

[Josh500 1,615]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Now I'm more confused than ever, though. 😂 

 

My heart tells me Get it, it's what you want! My mind tells me, Are you out of your freaking mind? Who shells out that kinda money for a CD!?

2 hours ago, Thor said:

 Even if you're one of those who prefer expanded releases (I can't remember if you do), don't sit around and wait for one to possibly happen. 

 

I'm actually one of those guys who appreciates both. The original soundtrack as well as the expanded limited edition! 

 

[Wojo 2,453]

It's out of print. That's why it's so expensive. Your 98 euros aren't going to John Williams or the label. Just some random person who bought and stockpiled an unopened album to make a profit off a willing patsy. You. 

 

Download the music and wait for a more affordable album to be sold, and buy that one. 

 

It seems you are more enamored with the idea of a legal plastic disc sitting on the shelf to be able to say, "look everyone, I own this plastic disc!" Since that is the case, then you don't need the 98 euros in your pocket. Go ahead and realize that person's investment plans and buy your little plastic disc. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

22 minutes ago, Woj said:

It's out of print. That's why it's so expensive. Your 98 euros aren't going to John Williams or the label. Just some random person who bought and stockpiled an unopened album to make a profit off a willing patsy. You. 

 

Download the music and wait for a more affordable album to be sold, and buy that one. 

 

It seems you are more enamored with the idea of a legal plastic disc sitting on the shelf to be able to say, "look everyone, I own this plastic disc!" Since that is the case, then you don't need the 98 euros in your pocket. Go ahead and realize that person's investment plans and buy your little plastic disc. 

 

Yep

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

I agree with everything that Woj says, but...isn't this, in part, what a capatilist society, is built upon - supply and demand?

Besides, you're not going to find anyone on eBay wanting to trade their TES CD for three kilos of bananas (!).

I've just seen two copies if TES, on Amazon, one for £196, and one for £200, so maybe €98 is a bargain?

[Josh500 1,615]

1 hour ago, Woj said:

It's out of print. That's why it's so expensive. Your 98 euros aren't going to John Williams or the label. Just some random person who bought and stockpiled an unopened album to make a profit off a willing patsy. You. 

 

Download the music and wait for a more affordable album to be sold, and buy that one. 

 

It seems you are more enamored with the idea of a legal plastic disc sitting on the shelf to be able to say, "look everyone, I own this plastic disc!" Since that is the case, then you don't need the 98 euros in your pocket. Go ahead and realize that person's investment plans and buy your little plastic disc. 

 

No.

 

It's a Used CD store that specialises in movie soundtracks. And I'd gladly support them. 

 

And yeah, the reason why it's so expensive is because that guy who runs the shop knows exactly how rare this CD is...

 

[Wojo 2,453]

Then buy the CD. You've already made up your mind. You don't have a wife, you don't have kids to feed. What do you need your money for? Support your friend. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

Many people buy, and pay for, many different things, for many different prices, and for many different reasons.

It's what having TES means to Josh that matters, and not how much the CD costs.

[Josh500 1,615]

4 minutes ago, Woj said:

Then buy the CD. You've already made up your mind. You don't have a wife, you don't have kids to feed. What do you need your money for? Support your friend. 

 

No, I'm still trying to decide.

 

But anyway, feeding wife and kids? Jesus, it's just 100 bucks! Not 10,000 bucks! Where do you live that you can support a wife and kids for 100 bucks, I wonder? 

[Wojo 2,453]

31 minutes ago, Richard said:

It's what having TES means to Josh that matters, and not how much the CD costs.

 

If the cost wasn't a factor, it would not be a part of the second question of the poll. There would not be a poll. 

29 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

But anyway, feeding wife and kids? Jesus, it's just 100 bucks! Not 10,000 bucks! Where do you live that you can support a wife and kids for 100 bucks, I wonder? 

 

Jesus doesn't care. Don't bring Jesus into this. 

 

I don't ask my wife if I want to spend 100 bucks on something that's worth 100 bucks. But one OOP CD would give me pause, especially if I already have the music. 

[A. A. Ron 1,738]

I for one am waiting for a reissue.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

59 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

No, I'm still trying to decide.

 

But anyway, feeding wife and kids? Jesus, it's just 100 bucks! Not 10,000 bucks! Where do you live that you can support a wife and kids for 100 bucks, I wonder? 

 

$100 might be easy to shrug off if you don't have the financial demands of a family, but if you do, whether or not it can do much on its own, as a chunk of money that could go to more vital things, you would rightly question putting it towards a not very rare copy of the fucking Eiger Sanction score. 

 

2 hours ago, Richard said:

 to paraphrase Moiseyevitch: "you are a smart man, Josh. You will know what to do..." 

 

One of the best quotes on here in a while. 

[Tom 4,634]

Do it!  Two reasons:

1) if you are even asking, then you have the money to spare.

2) imagine the horror of others when you tell them you blew $100 on it--feed on their anger and you will grow stronger. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

4 hours ago, Josh500 said:

No, I'm still trying to decide.

I have recently counted, how many CDs I own that are now sold  beyond 100 bucks. The result: 17! But the highest price I've ever spend on a CD was 56€ for 1941 (LLL) and 47€ for Close Encounters (Arista Expansion). Thus I recommend you to wait. You get every CD for 50 bucks or less! I got Dracula for 12€ and Dracula (Varese) for 14€ - both like new. I'm always waiting for something and I never got disappointed. Patience!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I've never spent more than $30-35 on a single disc in my entire life.

[Wojo 2,453]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

 imagine the horror of others when you tell them you blew $100 on it--feed on their anger and you will grow stronger. 

 

My dealer says the same thing. 

[MrScratch 294]

You should definitely buy it, because then we'll get a remastered and complete deluxe version once you do.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Buy it if you want to buy it; if you don't want to buy it, don't.  It ain't that deep.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its a fun score, but not so essential that you need to pay top dollars for it. And eventually a new release will be along. 

 

It can certainly do with an improvement in sound quality.

[Josh500 1,615]

An alternative would be...

 

I also saw Jerry Goldsmith's Innerspace and Explorers (both expanded) for 50 bucks each.

 

 

[Wojo 2,453]

I bought both of those and don't like either. I would not rebuy them if they were $5 each. 

[Josh500 1,615]

25 minutes ago, Woj said:

I bought both of those and don't like either. I would not rebuy them if they were $5 each. 

 

Sure, okay. But that's just you! 

10 hours ago, Woj said:

But one OOP CD would give me pause, especially if I already have the music. 

 

Well I don't have the music yet, except for 3 tracks. That's the thing!

[Wojo 2,453]

[A24 4,326]

8 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 And eventually a new release will be along. 

 

 

I don't understand why they keep doing that. I could have been a millionaire by now. Comic book collectors have more luck! 

 

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yeah, our collections are valueless, money wise.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

13 hours ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

One of the best quotes on here in a while. 

 

Here's another one (hopefully)

 

I must admit: against all better judgement, I like this Pilgrim.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

5 hours ago, Josh500 said:

An alternative would be...

 

I also saw Jerry Goldsmith's Innerspace and Explorers (both expanded) for 50 bucks each.

Innerspace is one of the worst cases of OOP articles! I'm waiting for it for years now. It's not said to be one of his best works, but the expansion is recommendable, since the OST is very poor. Explorers is very cool, the expansion is very substantial, but normally it is not traded that high. Think about it in both cases.

[Josh500 1,615]

2 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Innerspace is one of the worst cases of OOP articles! I'm waiting for it for years now. It's not said to be one of his best works, but the expansion is recommendable, since the OST is very poor. Explorers is very cool, the expansion is very substantial, but normally it is not traded that high. Think about it in both cases.

 

I'm not ready yet to start collecting JG expanded albums.... Alien being the only exception. 

 

Still considering TES, though.

[rough cut 1,714]

I was also introduced to the score thanks to the Japanese Filmworks CD, but none of the other tracks on the OST warrants shelving out 98 EUR.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

How about "all" of the other tracks warranting shelving out €98?

[Jay 37,287]

I don't own Eiger Sanction on disc; It's one of only three JW scores I don't own (the others being Towering Inferno and Dracula) now that I was able to pick up The Reivers and Earthquake.

 

I have not heard the slightest hint that an Eiger Sanction reissue could be coming, but one always could (either expanded, or just he exact OST again).  In the meantime, you could buy this now, and always turn around and sell it back if a reissue comes out.

[Josh500 1,615]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

I don't own Eiger Sanction on disc; It's one of only three JW scores I don't own (the others being Towering Inferno and Dracula) now that I was able to pick up The Reivers and Earthquake.

 

I have not heard the slightest hint that an Eiger Sanction reissue could be coming, but one always could (either expanded, or just he exact OST again).  In the meantime, you could buy this now, and always turn around and sell it back if a reissue comes out.

 

I've never sold a JW CD in my life. I'm not gonna start doing that now (if I bought that CD)...

[rough cut 1,714]

Yes, well I'm not saying it's a bad score. It's enjoyable, jazzy. But a lot of tracks are similar, the same tune in different arrangements. Personally, I prefer a bit more variation in a score as a whole. "Training with George" though... that track alone would be worth dishing out 100 EUR to own on disc, but since Josh already owns it on Filmtracks...

[Josh500 1,615]

54 minutes ago, rough cut said:

"Training with George" though... that track alone would be worth dishing out 100 EUR to own on disc, but since Josh already owns it on Filmtracks...

 

Yes, I do.

 

This piece is one of the very best! It reminds me a bit of Setting the Trap from Home Alone. It has that urgency, that drive, that fugue-like feel to it, and I can imagine Training to be a montage too...

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

I love both TRAINING WITH GEORGE, and GEORGE SETS THE PACE.

 

If you can find it, there's a nifty radio interview that JW did for a BBC Radio 2 show, called

Starsound. The interview dates from 1976, and he discusses THE EIGER SANCTION, JAWS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and MIDWAY. Happy hunting!

[MrScratch 294]

I love the Eiger Sanction score.  It's a disc I can listen to in full which is something I can't say about other similar non-blockbuster scores of JW's from that era.  I found it on vinyl before I could obtain it on CD.  It was a scratched up old record I got from a local record show.  I loved it upon first listen, and the scratchy record really added to John's jazzy arrangements.  I did eventually get the CD.  I forget how much I paid for it, but I think it was $30 or $40 back in the mid/late 90s as it was out of print by then and I had to order it through a specialty record store catalog and it took a couple months for the order to be filled.  It was exciting when I finally got the call that it had come in.  I have watched the movie more than once specifically because I like the score so much, again not something I usually do - for as much as I like JW I do not watch movies just because he did the music.  I also am one of those people that like owning physical discs.  My music collection is records and CDs, not a bunch of intangible computer files.  If you can afford to do so, I say pick it up.  Skip a few lunches, find things in your budget you can cut to justify it.  You will like seeing it on your shelf alongside the rest of your collection, and you will certainly like the music.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

I can't think of a better endorsement.

Well done, Scratch.

[Jay 37,287]

7 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

t's a disc I can listen to in full which is something I can't say about other similar non-blockbuster scores of JW's from that era.

 

Relevant thread:

 

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/17540-your-favorite-non-franchiseblockbuster-john-williams-score-of-the-70s

[MrScratch 294]

I was sort of lumping it in with the pre-Jaws scores of the early 70s. But yeah, it's my favorite non-franchise/blockbuster score of that decade.

I went back and voted in all those polls 

[Josh500 1,615]

I wonder how many of us have actually seen the movie?

[MrScratch 294]

I own it on Laserdisc.

[Josh500 1,615]

I just came across this trailer! This is so seventies, and so James Bond! lol Here you got almost the entire movie in under 3 minutes.

 

By the way, the music in this trailer... Any of it by JW? Like I said, I only know a few tracks, and none of them action music.

 

 

 

Oh man, these days you can find just about anything on YouTube! 

 

 

[Thor 7,465]

On 8/7/2017 at 11:44 PM, Josh500 said:

I wonder how many of us have actually seen the movie?

 

I have, some 7-8 years ago. It's quite decent for a Maclean potboiler, but also with a couple of issues. Here's a post I did over on FSM:

 

Well, I finally got around to seeing this one.

It's a very well-made thriller with a comedy undertone that WORKS - taking us to different locales and exciting setpieces.

I thought it was funny how it started off as an INDIANA JONES precursor....here was the popular college professor that led a secret life as someone more adventurous (an assasin for a government company), with female students falling in love with him. http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/pics/smile.gif And a little bit of James Bond as well, girls being his exact "weakness" or femmes fatales.

Interesting to finally find out what the cryptic title "The Eiger Sanction" means....'sanction 'being the assasination assignment that is given whenever an agent from a competing company is killed. And obviously, this assignment is supposed to take place while climbing the famous Eiger top.

The climbing setpieces were quite impressive, but I wish more time was dedicated to this segment of the film. It just feels a little short and sudden, the way it ends now.

As usual, Williams' music was excellent in context.

The opening main theme is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, of course, the kind of baroque jazz melancholy that I love and made a thread on earlier:

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=51696&forumID=1&archive=0

In the film, it is presented more classical and longer, and I actually prefer that over the recording on the soundtrack album.

Also, Williams has an excellent approach to the humorous "training montage" sequences (in three parts) - easy-going, baroque melody on pizzicato strings, guitar and harpshicord that grow in orchestral force as Clint becomes fitter and fitter. Overall, Williams deals with the action scenes in a very classy, lean style. Quite unusual.

Recommended film.

 

[publicist 4,643]

2 hours ago, Josh500 said:

By the way, the music in this trailer... Any of it by JW?

 

All of it.