Harry Potter - The John Williams Soundtrack Collection 7CD boxset from La-La Land Records (2018)

[Josh500 1,615]

I think the controversy originated because many people didn't quite know what to make of the word "adapted"....

 

 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

3 minutes ago, King Mark said:

 

 the controversy is a few people sticking adamantly that they believed Williams press conference that he only composed 40 minutes of new music and never  backed down

 

That was the same year he said Across the Stars was the first love theme on the series! Did people believe this conniving old man then?

1 minute ago, Josh500 said:

I think the controversy originated because many people didn't quite know what to make of the word "adapted"....

 

 

 

I remember reading posts from a dude with a cartoon harlequin avatar, claiming he was on the inside, saying that Ross did more than people were led to believe. 

[Josh500 1,615]

5 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

I remember reading posts from a dude with a cartoon harlequin avatar, claiming he was on the inside, saying that Ross did more than people were led to believe. 

 

How do we know that wasn't Ross himself? 😂 

 

Perpetuating the myth...

[JoeinAR 1,949]

1 hour ago, Josh500 said:

 

A 2-disc set released by LLL generally costs 30 bucks. A 7-disc set costs 100 bucks. I think the price is more than reasonable! And considering how valuable and desirable this set is for any JW fan, 100 bucks is a bargain.

 

So by your reasoning any LLL release is high priced, right? I'm starting to suspect that your lack of funds is clouding your opinions and judgment.... 

My lack of funds is an ignorant presumption on your part. I am neither rich or poor but at my age I consider the value of anything I purchase.  However I suspect you are the one who simply overvalues things. In no way is this a bargain. I have no doubt the profit margin on this item is exceptional. But being a HP nut there are other driving forces. I have had buyer regret on almost every expanded editions with three exceptions, the Towering Inferno, Superman the Movie, and Star Trek the motion picture. Disappointments include Jaws and E.T. and the Cowboys. 

 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

9 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

My lack of funds is an ignorant presumption on your part. I am neither rich or poor but at my age I consider the value of anything I purchase.  However I suspect you are the one who simply overvalues things. In no way is this a bargain. I have no doubt the profit margin on this item is exceptional. But being a HP nut there are other driving forces. I have had buyer regret on almost every expanded editions with three exceptions, the Towering Inferno, Superman the Movie, and Star Trek the motion picture. Disappointments include Jaws and E.T. and the Cowboys. 

 

 

Regret because you felt better off with the original albums?

[Demondm810 399]

10 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Disappointments include Jaws and E.T. and the Cowboys. 

 

 

[Once 605]

Let's talk (or rather, speculate) about the music. What do you guys think "The Wizards' Consort" is? A collection of source music from the Leaky Cauldron, The Three Broomsticks ect.?

[Demondm810 399]

I have a friend who casually listens to scores. She was interested in this release and asked me to tell her when it’s available for order. But I’m not going to for a week, because she lives in California. I don’t want her to get it before me. 

 

[Holko 9,519]

Every little bit counts!

[Bayesian 1,363]

10 minutes ago, Demondm810 said:

I have a friend who casually listens to scores. She was interested in this release and asked me to tell her when it’s available for order. But I’m not going to for a week, because she lives in California. I don’t want her to get it before me. 

 

 

I live in California and I still manage never to get the new releases before you Eastern seaboarders! Or, going by some recent threads, even before most of those in Europe.

[Demondm810 399]

That’s surprising!

23 minutes ago, Once said:

Let's talk (or rather, speculate) about the music. What do you guys think "The Wizards' Consort" is? A collection of source music from the Leaky Cauldron, The Three Broomsticks ect.?

 

I’ve been out of town, but I wish I could watch the movie and speculate. 

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

What about the source music during the Boggart scene? Or is that not by Williams?

[Bayesian 1,363]

Tell me about it! I'm never all that late to the party either -- usually I'd have my order placed on the evening of the day of or the morning after. And yet... when people start posting pics of their new lovelies, I'll only have recently gotten my LLL email saying it was shipped by employee 2 or 3.

 

Naturally, my grousing is good-natured. But it leads me to think a lot of people hover 'round their laptops or phones when 12 noon PST approaches. Nothing wrong with that and in fact you can bet I'll be doing precisely the same thing this time around.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

34 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Regret because you felt better off with the original albums?

Yes but considering I listened to the Jaws original soundtrack long thab youve been alive. Same with E.T. 

[Demondm810 399]

3 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

What about the source music during the Boggart scene? Or is that not by Williams?

Oh that jazzy music! Maybe!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

The thing I wanted is the teaser and trailer music to POA. I remember the joy this website had at the release of that teaser trailer. 

[TSMefford 1,509]

8 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

What about the source music during the Boggart scene? Or is that not by Williams?

 

Not Williams. It’s called Hot Licorice. Stock music from APM

[mrbellamy 6,278]

 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

2 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

 

 

Way I look at it is, average retail for a new CD is what, $15, 17 USD? So each disc here is slightly less than the going MSRP, and the booklets, etc. are way beyond what you usually get in a standard CD release. Sounds like a good deal for me!

 

 

The manufacturer cost in materials and intellectual costs for a typical Michael Jackson cd was less than $1.50 so the 15.99 minus 1.50 goes to those in wholesale/retail 

[Once 605]

I just watched Prisoner of Azkaban: Live in Concert last month. That's probably why I'm hyper-aware of the source music. The snippets we can hear in the movie sounds amazing.

[Demondm810 399]

I never realized that wasn’t Williams!  Must have totally missed it in another thread over the years. 

[Once 605]

I realize my posts are basically filler at this point, but allow me a moment to gush about the fact that this set includes the very first recording of "Hedwig's Theme"! The recording we all thought was destroyed beyond repair!

 

Gah! Seriously, Accio Patience.

[Jay 37,346]

56 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

What about the source music during the Boggart scene? Or is that not by Williams?

 

Williams had nothing to do with the music coming out of Lupin's record player in the boggarts scene as well as his final scene at the end of the movie.

The record player music for the Boggarts scene is an existing recording of Hot Liquorice by Dick Walter.

 

The record player music at the end of the film is an existing recording of something else I can't remember at the moment.

 

Incidentally, at the Live To Projection concerts, those 2 things are the only music that comes from the speakers rather than the live musicians (other than the noise from the Dursley's TV in the opening scenes)

[bollemanneke 3,342]

17 minutes ago, Once said:

I realize my posts are basically filler at this point, but allow me a moment to gush about the fact that this set includes the very first recording of "Hedwig's Theme"! The recording we all thought was destroyed beyond repair!

 

Gah! Seriously, Accio Patience.

Yes, at this point I'm 500% confident that Matessino will tfind and tackle Jane Eyre and Hook. Nothing is lost, MM just needs to search for it a little.

[Alex 2,835]

Would happily sell my kidneys and remortgage my house to get my hands on this set to be honest 

[Will 2,215]

Like @King Mark, I remain a little uncertain about the Williams/Ross split on CoS. Even if Ross didn't "compose" anything new, I wonder whether stuff like the "Reunion of Friends" finale or "Escape from the Dursleys" would count as "adapted" and therefore could have been done by Ross with no Williams involvement (other than the fact that JW's HP1 stuff was riffed on therein, obviously).  

 

Then again, like KM I find it hard to believe that, say, the "Reunion" finale could have been composed/adapted by anyone other than JW! It sounds like pure Williams. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

2 hours ago, King Mark said:

nah. I believe people mostly download stuff they wouldn't buy anyways so it's not really a lost sale .At best listening to it might make people actually buy it

 

Considering how quickly some special releases used to sell out, and how long that hasn't happened, does lead me to believe that the downfall of CDs has had an effect of how many of these they sell. Either that or a shitload of people just stopped listening to and buying soundtracks about 10 years ago.

 

Consider some of the bigger film music concerts, like Hollywood in Vienna (two concert dates each year, roughly 4,000 people altogether) or the recent (Non-)Williams concert in London (rougly 4,000 people on one date). There you have more people in one spot (and just in Europe, no less, and for events that sold out within minutes and could have sold many more tickets) than buy many/most of these releases. I still find it baffling that the number of people *world-wide* who buy long awaited releases like these *over months or even years* is no higher than the people crammed into a single hall on one evening, people often paying premium prices to get good seats plus hotel and flights.

 

How high is the number of people who do want these release, or even do listen to them, but just don't buy them?

 

Mind you, I'm not hugely opposed to pirate-downloading music, or at least some music. I grew up with it, and I justified it as being the only way to get access to a lot of music when you don't have a lot of money. I still stand by that. I'm also convinced that downloading something you only hear once or twice is fair, as you either wouldn't buy it anyway, or you'd regret buying it. I'm also convinced that sampling music online can lead to buying more music by a certain artist because you find you like it and want to buy more of it.

 

But I also apply a different benchmark to indie releases and niche stuff like the soundtrack specialty labels, who deal with unusually high licencing costs to produce stuff that so few people are interested in in the first place that they usually just barely break even (on average, including releases that sell well offset with releases that actually cost them money). They obviously don't do this to get rich (they're in the wrong business for that) but because they are passionate about getting this music released, as passionate as we are to have someone release it so we can listen to it. They depend on our money to do this. I consider downloading these releases instead of buying morally wrong (sampling is fine, and not buying something because it turns out you don't like the samples or you only listen to them every few years is ok), and also complaining that a release is too expensive (when it isn't, compared to the usual price of these thigns) and citing that as a justification for pirating it instead. If you really can't afford it and want it, go ahead and download it, but keep it to yourself and don't blame it on the labels for actually turning some profit (that partly allows them to finance all the other stuff we want that nobody would ever release because it costs more than it earns).

[mrbellamy 6,278]

19 minutes ago, Alex said:

Would happily sell my kidneys and remortgage my house to get my hands on this set to be honest 

 

I, too, would sell your kidneys and remortgage your house.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I wouldn't.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

1 hour ago, JoeinAR said:

Yes but considering I listened to the Jaws original soundtrack long thab youve been alive. Same with E.T. 

 

Now those are great albums. These kids seem to regard it more as a collecting thing. Like bottle caps.

[tarasis 1]

9 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Considering how quickly some special releases used to sell out, and how long that hasn't happened, does lead me to believe that the downfall of CDs has had an effect of how many of these they sell. Either that or a shitload of people just stopped listening to and buying soundtracks about 10 years ago.

 

 

I know for my I've largely stopped buying the scores because of the increase postage to Europe and that my CD's where always being stopped by customs. I used to avidly buy from Intrada, LLL and Varese but I haven't bought a CD from them in 3-4 years. The increased costs, and the necessity of traveling by train (1 hour each way), plus a 1.5km walk each way to the customs office just robbed the pleasure of getting the scores.

 

I know the model doesn't allow for it, but I dearly wish they could sell these limited releases digitally.

 

I will be picking this up though, one way or another. I need to find a European reseller.

[Richard Penna 3,684]

Before Spotify I'd frequently download scores to see if I liked them, and subsequently make a purchase vs delete decision. I don't remember the last time I had to do that.

 

There is one occasion where I 'obtained' a LE release to decide whether to buy it, and sort of didn't get round to actually buying it. Once the label in question releases something else I want, I'll chuck that release in as it saves shipping costs. If they issue a low quantity alert before then, I'll buy it standalone.

[redishere 697]

I’m a tad late, but I must say I actually like the vocal version of Hogwarts Forever, and I kinda wish it lasted longer!

 

Couldn’t listen to the Platform 9 3/4 cue though: is it different than the one in the recording sessions?

 

Anyway, this collection is worth every cent in my opinion. I really hope the package arrives safe and sound here in Italy, and that delivery doesn’t take too long. This is my first purchase of a LLL release — discovered LLL just a few months ago — but it surely won’t be the last. 

Point is, I’m gonna be glued to my computer this tuesday: hope this doesn’t go out of stock  faster than Buckbeak on cocaine.

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

Anyone know if the booklet contains an analysis of the themes and leitmotifs?

[crumbs 14,306]

6 hours ago, Will said:

@Jay, do you have any idea whether 6m5 Pt. II (presumably an early, rejected version of First Frozen Lake) was recorded -- and, if so, whether it's on this release?

 

I absolutely adore the mock-up I have of 6m5 Pt. II. 

 

Any chance you could share the mock-up? I have no idea what you're referring to with this one.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

2 hours ago, Once said:

I realize my posts are basically filler at this point, but allow me a moment to gush about the fact that this set includes the very first recording of "Hedwig's Theme"! The recording we all thought was destroyed beyond repair!

  

Gah! Seriously, Accio Patience.

I posted about that like 5 minutes after the announcement... That was literally the first track I looked for on LLL's post to make sure it was recovered, so happy to finally be able to hear it clean!

[Nick Parker 3,040]

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

Before Spotify I'd frequently download scores to see if I liked them, and subsequently make a purchase vs delete decision. I don't remember the last time I had to do that.

 

There is one occasion where I 'obtained' a LE release to decide whether to buy it, and sort of didn't get round to actually buying it. Once the label in question releases something else I want, I'll chuck that release in as it saves shipping costs. If they issue a low quantity alert before then, I'll buy it standalone.

 

I'm impressed that anyone does that. Back in high school I downloaded a couple albums,  and wouldn't you know, once I had the music, I had no inclination to spend money on something already in my posession. 

 

Honestly, the same goes for today, like when an album is available on YouTube. It's verrryy difficult for me to buy something I already have access to, and I wouldn't be surprised if others feel similarly. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I don't care if people download it, as long as they're enjoying it. All of these scores eventually become OOP and hard to find anyway. For all the self proclaimed non-downloaders, I'm sure you've pirated music, including the HP scores, so stop kidding yourselves. You're not fooling me.

[crumbs 14,306]

4 hours ago, Once said:

Let's talk (or rather, speculate) about the music. What do you guys think "The Wizards' Consort" is? A collection of source music from the Leaky Cauldron, The Three Broomsticks ect.?

 

I might have missed some stuff here but from quickly scanning through the movie this is all the source music I could identify:

• The first Leaky Couldron piece (when Harry first arrives there after The Knight Bus)
• The second Leaky Couldron piece for shawm, played when Harry reunites with Ron/Hermione (before Discussing Black)
• Hogsmeade music box (D2T10 - Hogsmeade Candy Box)
• Source music for The Three Broomsticks (when the shrunken heads refuse entry for H&H). This might be bundled into the lengthy track D1T22 - The Three Broomsticks [3:51] which only runs ~1:50 in the film (this track might also include the short cue from before The Snowball Fight when Harry first sneaks into the candy store basement via the tunnel)
• A Winter's Spell (D2T11 - A Winter’s Spell)
• That beautiful flute source as Ron & Hermione argue about Scabbers being eaten by Hermione's cat, while walking through the courtyard (might be included at the start of D1T24 Buckbeak’s Fate and The Marauder’s Map)

 

Perhaps D2T9 - The Wizards’ Consort (2:48) is a suite of both Leaky Cauldron source pieces, plus the Three Broomsticks source, hence the non-specific track title?

 

Which just leaves the flute courtyard source unaccounted for, which could fit organically into the score proper (given all the beautiful flute work throughout).

[Jay 37,346]

Anyone balking at the price, remember this quote from MM

 

On 12/12/2016 at 7:10 PM, 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."

[crumbs 14,306]

Yes, they've been very upfront that we should save our money for 2018.

 

Although the quote was two years ago, I have no doubt they were already deep into planning Dracula, Harry Potter 1-3, Superman 1-4, The Sugarland Express and Schindler's List for 2018 (plus ET and CE3K being prepped for 2017).

[Demondm810 399]

Boy he wasn’t kidding. 😂😂

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

50 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

I'm impressed that anyone does that. Back in high school I downloaded a couple albums,  and wouldn't you know, once I had the music, I had no inclination to spend money on something already in my posession. 

 

Honestly, the same goes for today, like when an album is available on YouTube. It's verrryy difficult for me to buy something I already have access to, and I wouldn't be surprised if others feel similarly. 

 

Over the years, the collector in me has taken over. I've replaced the majority of my CDR copies with originals, although in the case of soundtrack releases I usually tend to wait for the expansion for my "real deal" upgrade. So that's a case where I end up never picking up the original album that I had as a copy, but on the other hand, many of those are out of print or hard to find nowadays. My OCD does act up when I have a "CDR gap" in my collection of something that I haven't listened to in years and therefore really have no good reason to replace with a genuine copy.

28 minutes ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

I don't care if people download it, as long as they're enjoying it. All of these scores eventually become OOP and hard to find anyway. For all the self proclaimed non-downloaders, I'm sure you've pirated music, including the HP scores, so stop kidding yourselves. You're not fooling me.

 

See my comment above. I'm not condemning copying in general. My only "unauthentic" versions of the Potter scores are two expanded downloads/CDRs, which I've eached played once or twice. And no, I haven't pirated any of the special Labels releases.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

[Arpy 4,145]

When this set is sold out in a year, or earlier, downloading it through illegal sharing will be the only means to get this score. Ever since the leaks, I've been grateful for those people who took the time to master and arrange the sessions in some fashion that gave us the closest thing to officially released sets. In my experience, it was getting those sessions that held me over all these years so I can't condemn the pirate sites. The general malaise and lack of faith of the studios to release expanded scores over the years is depressing - especially considering the first Potter film is almost two decades old!

 

Obviously this trend is changing - with Williams's approval of more expanded sets, and the brilliant mastering of MM, but I regret that all these years have gone by where we would've benefited from a C&C set from the get go, not years of agonizing waiting, hoping, fearing, campaigning for more, and spending more money!

 

 

[Datameister 2,041]

I feel like I never posted in this thread for some reason, but I can't be bothered to check.

 

Regardless...holy shit. I mean, this release isn't exactly a surprise, but still...to know that it's actually happening and will soon be on my shelf and hard drive is pretty frickin' awesome. We owe huge thanks to Mike Mattessino and the gang.

 

And for what it's worth, I think $100 is totally reasonable. I'm super grateful that we've already gotten to listen to a lot of the unreleased music for free over the years, but my approach has always been to just use those sorts of opportunities as a stopgap until we're given an opportunity to pay for legitimate copies.

[Dr. Rick 1,155]

$100 for 7 discs and 8 hours of music is a no-brainer, especially when you compare to 3 or 4 discs and 3-4 hours for the LOTR:CRs which were somewhere in the $60-$70 range each if memory serves correctly!  I’ll be getting this as well as SL on Tuesday without question!

[artguy360 1,843]

I am fortunate enough to be able to afford these collector's releases. For me, buying these sets is totally worth it and I believe in supporting the people who put in the work to make these things happen. 

[Matt C 452]

@Jay Does the set credit the session musicians that performed on the three scores?

 

It's not a make-or-break deal for me, I'm just curious.

 

17 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Why would you buy a set that has pitch issues, is unchronological and incomplete to boot? How did you justify that purchase? This is a beautiful presentation, one that will never be improved.

 

I'm not anal retentive about the Indy scores. They sound just fine to my ears and while they're not C&C, Temple was what I wanted and it was nearly complete anyway. 

[Jay 37,346]

5 minutes ago, Matt C said:

@Jay Does the set credit the session musicians that performed on the three scores?

 

No.