E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial La-La Land MUSIC Discussion

[phbart 609]

Utter analog incompetence...

[Jay 37,271]

I don't think its very helpful for you to continually bash the producers of the 2008 Indy set.  The past is the past, a better set will come out some day.

 

Can we talk about how great ET is - especially in the thread for it - instead please?

[OneBuckFilms 319]

I know some have complained about "too much base", but I personally like the punch when the percussion hits.

 

It may not be 100% true to what was there, but it's clearly something a lot of recordings benefit from.

[phbart 609]

 

29 minutes ago, Jay said:

Can we talk about how great ET is - especially in the thread for it - instead please?

Spielberg said JW is E.T., so everything we talk about regarding JW, we'll be automatically talking about E.T., so...

[rough cut 1,714]

Too much hate goin' 'round. Make love not war.

[Chewy 2,372]

Can someone give a clear example of a track that plays at the wrong speed in the 2008's TOD CD? I've never noticed anything

[Wojo 2,453]

I finally bought this set yesterday. I can't risk it selling out. 

[rough cut 1,714]

I'm still waiting for my CD - how did LLL handle the finale insert?

[Jay 37,271]

39 minutes ago, Chewy said:

Can someone give a clear example of a track that plays at the wrong speed in the 2008's TOD CD?

 

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/16688-the-official-indiana-jones-pitch-correction-thread/

 

 

 

35 minutes ago, rough cut said:

I'm still waiting for my CD - how did LLL handle the finale insert?

 

When you say LLL, do you mean MM?

Either way, I'm not sure I understand your question.  Are you asking how he edited it in?  Or are you asking if its there or not?  Or what?  I mean, you didn't think there was any chance it wouldn't be there, did you?

[OneBuckFilms 319]

6 minutes ago, rough cut said:

I'm still waiting for my CD - how did LLL handle the finale insert?

Ahhh... seamlessly?

[Jay 37,271]

Yes, Mike's editing of the Steven's Fix insert into the right spot in The Departure is perfect, sounds better than the analog edit from the original film or 1982 OST.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

1 hour ago, phbart said:

So E.T. Alone from CD2 is played in the waiting line? I think I'll rename it to "Waiting for Botanicus".

 

It was. The last minute. I don't hear anything playing in there these days. It was there until at least the late noughties before boarding the vehicle playing faintly on a loop. So after Botanicus, technically. That is, if you were to catch Botanicus while in line.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I wish I could find the clip from last year's Williams AFI tribute where after they've shown the complete final scene of E.T., they cut to JJ Abrams who just wordlessly mouths 'Wow' to himself.  I'll make a gif of it so I can say "You and me both man!"

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I don't care what Abrams thinks.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I don't care that you don't care?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Can you make a gif of your non-reaction?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 minute ago, The Doctor said:

Can you make a gif of your non-reaction?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

That's not you.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

You're not supposed to use GIFs of yourself!  That's now how it works.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The buzzing in The E.T. Adventure is really annoying. It sounds extremely compressed. I have to turn it down to less than 50% volume to listen to it.

 

It seems like the elements were lost in that Universal Hollywood fire that also destroyed King Kong. It was around that time that the music started to vanish from the ride. Maybe their tapes were fucked up by that point and they couldn't replace them. It's just a theory that I happen to agree with.

[phbart 609]

I think MM went to the ride and recorded the music with his phone. That's the source for Botanicus.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I thought I was going crazy for a minute not finding the horn overlay towards the end of "The Departure" on disc 1 before I remembered that it wasn't supposed to be there for the film version.  Too many versions to keep track of!  

 

Seriously this sounds fantastic so glad it came today.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

33 minutes ago, phbart said:

I think MM went to the ride and recorded the music with his phone. That's the source for Botanicus.

 

I'm sure they did the best they could. Unfortunately, this is a problem with this sort of "hobby" and I hesitate to call it that for lack of a better description. As wonderful as it is, it's music recorded in 1990 for a theme park ride waiting line that doesn't even play in the ride itself anymore. This stuff gets lost and deteriorated and has a niche audience, anyway. We were lucky to get what we did, but like the single Titanic lifeboat returning for survivors, noble as their intentions were, they waited too long.

[nightscape94 965]

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 11:54 AM, bollemanneke said:

Anybody else think that JW made a really bad choice when he programmed the Flying Theme right after Halloween? It somehow doesn't work for me. Wouldn't it have been better had he opened the OST with the flying theme instead of the endless repetitions?

 

Coincidentally, I had the same thought when I was listening to Disc 2 it this morning on my car ride to work.  Probably should have lead off the album with the flying theme concert rendition.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Not really. He opens the album exactly as it should, omitting the main title horror movie music. E.T.'s Halloween introduces the flying theme and segues perfectly into the full piece. It seems even a supposedly beloved original album such as E.T. is not immune from the criticism of JWFan.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I do prefer the complete score with the eerie opening.  It’s part of it!  My affection for the score in film outweighs my affection for the OST.

[Seth 67]

Man, that alternate version of Far From Home / E.T. Alone is really interesting. The high tuba writing is a neat texture, but I think it would have been a little out of place in the film. The music that I imagine was intended to underscore the spaceship's departure is too understated, so I understand why the cue was revised, but it has a such a different emotional undercurrent that I would very much like to see a video replacing the existing music with the alternate (and if I knew how I would do it myself). The music as it is in the film is one of finest stretches of underscore he has ever written--probably my favorite part of the entire score. The last time I watched the film it occurred to me that the score in that sequence plays the perspective of the characters, primarily that of E.T. of course, but I really think that the sweeping brass statements that play under the ship's lift-off are meant to musically delineate the point of the view of the government agents, before shifting back to E.T. as it recedes.

 

I actually have to agree with Jay and anyone else who is a little unpersuaded by the 1982 album. I should admit that I had actually never heard that album before this year, and I don't necessarily feel like I missed out. E.T. is a case where I don't think the most famous theme is the best one in the score (my own favorite is probably what Matessino labels the "Suburbia" theme, or the melody that was expanded into the "Stargazers" arrangement). So the 1982 album suffers a little by having too much of the flying theme, for me anyway. The score as a whole has one of the most satisfying and most clear dramatic arcs he has ever accomplished, so I actually do prefer to hear it in its complete form. It's funny, but the new album has really raised my appreciation of the score; for a long time I recognized its greatness as a film score but found it difficult to listen to as a standalone work (in the 2002 release, which is all I had prior to the LLL set). For some reason it clicked with me this time, possibly due to the fact that I had the opportunity to see E.T. in concert over the summer and really notice how much the music inhabits the film and feels like the whole thing was conceived together, almost like Williams had written the score alongside the film's production instead of after it was cut together. 

 

 

[nightscape94 965]

1 hour ago, OneBuckFilms said:

Ahhh... seamlessly?

 

I agree that on the LLL set the insert sounds about as good as it will ever sound, but when the music comes back in from the insert, and it goes back into the original recorded track, it will never quite sound perfect.  The strings don't match up in a way where it sounds like the same seamless line of playing from the same orchestra.

[phbart 609]

37 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

 

I'm sure they did the best they could. Unfortunately, this is a problem with this sort of "hobby" and I hesitate to call it that for lack of a better description. As wonderful as it is, it's music recorded in 1990 for a theme park ride waiting line that doesn't even play in the ride itself anymore. This stuff gets lost and deteriorated and has a niche audience, anyway. We were lucky to get what we did, but like the single Titanic lifeboat returning for survivors, noble as their intentions were, they waited too long.

Where's the sense of humor in this forum???

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I take nothing more seriously than the E.T. ride music.

[phbart 609]

Must be the ride of your life.

[Faleel 5,326]

12 minutes ago, Seth said:

Man, that alternate version of Far From Home / E.T. Alone is really interesting. The high tuba writing is a neat texture, but I think it would have been a little out of place in the film. The music that I imagine was intended to underscore the spaceship's departure is too understated, so I understand why the cue was revised, but it has a such a different emotional undercurrent that I would very much like to see a video replacing the existing music with the alternate (and if I knew how I would do it myself). The music as it is in the film is one of finest stretches of underscore he has ever written--probably my favorite part of the entire score. The last time I watched the film it occurred to me that the score in that sequence plays the perspective of the characters, primarily that of E.T. of course, but I really think that the sweeping brass statements that play under the ship's lift-off are meant to musically delineate the point of the view of the government agents, before shifting back to E.T. as it recedes.

 

I actually have to agree with Jay and anyone else who is a little unpersuaded by the 1982 album. I should admit that I had actually never heard that album before this year, and I don't necessarily feel like I missed out. E.T. is a case where I don't think the most famous theme is the best one in the score (my own favorite is probably what Matessino labels the "Suburbia" theme, or the melody that was expanded into the "Stargazers" arrangement). So the 1982 album suffers a little by having too much of the flying theme, for me anyway. The score as a whole has one of the most satisfying and most clear dramatic arcs he has ever accomplished, so I actually do prefer to hear it in its complete form. It's funny, but the new album has really raised my appreciation of the score; for a long time I recognized its greatness as a film score but found it difficult to listen to as a standalone work (in the 2002 release, which is all I had prior to the LLL set). For some reason it clicked with me this time, possibly due to the fact that I had the opportunity to see E.T. in concert over the summer and really notice how much the music inhabits the film and feels like the whole thing was conceived together, almost like Williams had written the score alongside the film's production instead of after it was cut together. 

 

 

I think the suburbia is that theme that opens the film version of Michael's Search

 

That Stargazers theme has never been a favourite of mine, probably because it sounds to close to the Susan and Doug theme from Towering Inferno to me.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

You listen to "Stargazers" on the recent BPO album and feel not much of anything?

[Seth 67]

24 minutes ago, Fal said:

I think the suburbia is that theme that opens the film version of Michael's Search

 

That Stargazers theme has never been a favourite of mine, probably because it sounds to close to the Susan and Doug theme from Towering Inferno to me.

Oops! I was unclear. I meant that my favorite theme is Suburbia or the other one.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Suburbia? That's Over the Moon.

[Seth 67]

19 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Suburbia? That's Over the Moon.

Yes, I know. I was using the label from the liner notes. I've never connected the theme that closely with that arrangement. It has always been "Searching for E.T." to me.

[Ollie 1,059]

3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I wish I could find the clip from last year's Williams AFI tribute where after they've shown the complete final scene of E.T., they cut to JJ Abrams who just wordlessly mouths 'Wow' to himself.  I'll make a gif of it so I can say "You and me both man!"

 

 

 

Here’s a link to the show.

 

[crumbs 14,287]

I'm so confused with this E.T. Adventure music. So now it's just the music that played in the waiting line? What about the music that played in the ride itself (which had numerous videos linked in this thread)? Was that just an assembly of music from the film score and not composed by JW?

[nightscape94 965]

I actually never watched that bit of the AFI tribute with Abrams in full cry baby mode.

[rough cut 1,714]

8 hours ago, Jay said:

When you say LLL, do you mean MM?

 

Yeah, LLL is the label and ultimately responsible for the release aren't they? If I knew the guy I probably would've said MM, but it just seemed a bit too personal to me.

 

Anyway, glad to hear people are happy with the editing. Actually, my question was whether or not the version without the insert was included - and where it was placed - but I see it now on the track list. Looks nicely handled.

[crumbs 14,287]

MM answers to no one! LLL answers to MM!

[bollemanneke 3,334]

Dare I say that that adventure music is easily my least favourite track so far? I honestly can't understand what the fuss is about, sounds dead depressing to me for a ride.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

8 hours ago, crumbs said:

I'm so confused with this E.T. Adventure music. So now it's just the music that played in the waiting line? What about the music that played in the ride itself (which had numerous videos linked in this thread)? Was that just an assembly of music from the film score and not composed by JW?

 

The music for the line was definitely composed by Williams.

 

What we know for sure is that the track on CD2 (unofficially referred to as Botanicus) was composed and conducted by Williams in 1990. It played in the waiting line when E.T.'s teacher Botanicus (Spielberg's geeky words, not mine) sends a holographic message urging us to take E.T. home to save his planet. By holographic, I mean it's an audio-animatronic that raises out of a large rock structure with a shitload of smoke concealing this process, which they then shine a green light on.

 

What we also now know is that the last minute of alternate E.T. Alone was played in this waiting line as well. What I assumed was more original music composed for the line was actually an otherwise unheard alternate. Very nice.

 

As for the ride? It is generally assumed that the music for the chase scene was assembled using material from the OST (Abandoned and Pursued and Flying), a synth transition and perhaps part of Botanicus aka The E.T. Adventure on CD2. What happens after that musically is a mystery. I've always believed it was Williams music.

 

Here is a recent recording of the ride. The low light video is absolutely stunning and as you can hear in the brief footage of the waiting line, they now play E.T. and Me. Wrong music! Did they lose the original stuff? You arrive at E.T.'s planet around the 2 minute mark and that's when the fun begins, musically. I think that's original Williams music. King Mark used to agree, but not anymore.
 

 

Now, you'll have to excuse me. I have to plan my next Universal Studios trip.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Listening to CD1 now. A few tracks in and this sounds absolutely great so far. Well balanced and natural. I picked up a few details that I somehow missed on the 96 and 2002 releases.

[Will 2,215]

Just realized what the set left out -- the Film Concerts Live first half closing and entr'acte. 

 

Matessino was clearly aware of those pieces because he mentioned them in the liner notes. I guess he just couldn't get them (or maybe it would just been too much work for too little reward since even many here probably don't care). 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Would these even be available without the stage noises?

 

Just rip the DVD. The new ET is stunning. It sounds leaner, and clearer. Crisp!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

1 hour ago, Will said:

Just realized what the set left out -- the Film Concerts Live first half closing and entr'acte. 

 

Matessino was clearly aware of those pieces because he mentioned them in the liner notes. I guess he just couldn't get them (or maybe it would just been too much work for too little reward since even many here probably don't care). 

A third CD would have been required.

 

@Jay Where can I find the comparison table of the different E.T. releases that shows the details like the horn overlay and the triangle etc.?

[crocodile 7,979]

1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

Would these even be available without the stage noises?

 

Just rip the DVD. The new ET is stunning. It sounds leaner, and clearer. Crisp!

I love crisp!

 

Karol

[Will 2,215]

5 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

A third CD would have been required.

 

Ah, okay, makes sense then. 

[Jay 37,271]

1 hour ago, Brundlefly said:

@Jay Where can I find the comparison table of the different E.T. releases that shows the details like the horn overlay and the triangle etc.?

 

On 10/4/2017 at 1:42 PM, Jay said:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT0E9cHkK-SqctUuLKYjNov1cm3DB7Dol3CCfQqmXPJUbNqwIrwdNTtn4FqV212S-3e_GltYaEDIUM8/pubhtml