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Do Johnny's OSTs make for better listening?


Unlucky Bastard

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In our modern binge on expanded releases, sometimes I feel like returning to the original soundtrack releases. Especially if a particular artistry is applied to the OST presentation.

Not because I've been influenced by the thunder god, but because I like seeking out different experiences in music. For years, all I knew of Star Wars was the 2-CD 1997 release, but I was eager to hear how Williams presented it himself on album. The result was intriguing.

Of course, he can be hit and miss. Raiders of the Lost Ark makes for an interesting listen in its OST, but it has too many miscalculations to be considered my go-to album, but I still love owning it.

And now with announcement of Jaws 2 from Intrada, I see people claiming that they plan to sell off their Varese OST. Really, guys? Not only is that thing a fine album, it's a collector's item and a significant part of the score's history.

I find these expanded releases can sometimes bring out the revisionist historian in many film score listeners. As soon as an expanded and remastered version is released, the kneejerk reaction from some people is that they think their existing CD is now obsolete and worthless. That ain't so! You might regret offloading it.

I've never allowed an expanded release to replace an OST. I rather think they compliment each other. They make for fun comparisons and I can't bear to part with the vintage cover art.

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And now with announcement of Jaws 2 from Intrada, I see people claiming that they plan to sell off their Varese OST. Really, guys? Not only is that thing a fine album, it's a collector's item and a significant part of the score's history.

The new Jaws 2 set contains the LP program, though.

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As does Superman

Superman does not work as well IMHO, at least in its CD presentation, the tracks seem too separate, they don't feel like one fluid experience.

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My answer is "it depends".

Some of the OST programs Williams assembled are great summations of their score, with great musical flow and nothing "essential" missing from all he wrote for the score.

Some are not, missing important highlights or putting climactic pieces earlier than they should be heard.

So yea, it depends.

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Just like to add that many non-Williams OSTs are frustrating because they're not necessarily presented how the composer wanted on album, but the composer was limited by the reuse fees and only had a limited amount of music to choose from.

For example, Independence Day is a score that felt very stripped down in its 50 minute program because it created too many gaps in its narrative. But the 2-CD expanded version made the score feel like it all made sense.

I only keep the OST as a nostalgic keepsake and it remains special to me because it was the first score I ever bought.

The new Jaws 2 set contains the LP program, though.

Maybe so, but it's still a different item to the old CD. It's merely a replica of the original CD release, not the actual CD.

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First thing , for me a great album lenght will always be 30-40 minutes...

Concerning JW disco, only a few of his soundtracks came out first as double LP... Star Wars, Superman, Empire... well, this is history.

Then, except for the Star wars trilogy, I never got an appetite for expanded sets. They can be fun to discover... but enjoyable to listen? With usualy all the bonus and source music? Are you kidding me?

Star wars is maybe the only example of expanded sets that became almost the standard version sold at large for the great public. All the rest remains rarities, often printed in limited editions and made for very few aficionados.

Some expanded sets may offers greater representation of the movies... but hey, just watch the movie if you want to hear all the music!

To all major labels: please never stop reissuing original albums.

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John Williams's albums, with some exceptions, contain too much filler. For most of his scores, a 20-25 minute release would be ideal.

Lol

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Usually, his original albums are very well assembled and make an intuitive sense.

On the other hand, there is always a bit of music that doesn't go to the album and it will drive you nuts for over a decade before you get it. (Last one that comes to mind is the first half of the jungle battle from Indy 4).

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AOTC's album (Target version) is by far the best for the Star Wars Prequels.

For me though I think it depends on the film if I want all the music for it or not... IE: Star Wars a dead give away is one I do want all the music.

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AOTC's album (Target version) is by far the best for the Star Wars Prequels.

That's the one with "On the Conveyor Belt" in bonus?

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Even when he put the end credits in the middle of the album on SpaceCamp and Jurassic Park?

That's an absolutely fantastic idea. It's like a mid climax of a symphony. More of that, please!

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How about when he decides to leave off a theme he used throughout the score of an entire film from the OST, such as Peter Pettigrew's Theme from Harry Potter 3 or the Chamber Theme from Harry Potter 2? (at least in that case it appears in the concert arrangement track, but not a single actual film cue that uses the theme was included).

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Peter Pettigrew's... Theme? Really? :sarcasm:

Yes, he has a theme. Have you never seen the film?

Yes, that's the rat. Remember I can't listen to a soundtrack without seeing the movie first!

Pettigrew_to_Wormtail.gif

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Well next time you watch the film, you'll notice a theme plays just about every time he's talked about, and it even plays at the end of the end credits, too!

Isn't on the OST once.

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I generally don't like ost presentations.

I want the complete score and I choose what I will listen to and what not.

i don't like others to make the decisions for me, even if it's the composer.

I had mentioned it again, I remember how frustrated I was at the E.T. 1982 ost when I got it!

Not to mention A.I., perhaps the worst album presentation of a Williams score.

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Even when he put the end credits in the middle of the album on SpaceCamp and Jurassic Park?

I bet those make more sense as programs for LP or casette tape then CD

Well next time you watch the film, you'll notice a theme plays just about every time he's talked about, and it even plays at the end of the end credits, too!

Isn't on the OST once.

It's a crime! A crime i tells ya!

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Peter Pettigrew's... Theme? Really? :sarcasm:

Yes, he has a theme. Have you never seen the film?

Yes, that's the rat. Remember I can't listen to a soundtrack without seeing the movie first!

Pettigrew_to_Wormtail.gif

More of a motif than a proper theme, but yeah it's all over this scene if you don't remember:

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It's not so much about what he left out, but what he put in. The albuns flow very well

Exactly. I don't care if there's an unreleased Beethoven symphony left out of the soundtrack. What matters is only what the existing album sounds like, and how it flows. Williams' album arrangements have NEVER disappointed in that area, and that's a pretty good track record.

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I've never listened to an OST again once the expanded version comes out

Not once?

Although I have the OST and LLL editions of First Knight, recently I had an itch to hear the score, but looking at the pair of them I thought bugger it, shorter album it is.

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It's not so much about what he left out, but what he put in. The albuns flow very well

Exactly. I don't care if there's an unreleased Beethoven symphony left out of the soundtrack. What matters is only what the existing album sounds like, and how it flows. Williams' album arrangements have NEVER disappointed in that area, and that's a pretty good track record.

Oh come on. The Catch Me If You Can OST is terrible with the random existing source songs Williams had nothing to do with wedged in between the score tracks, for one example.

The man's scores over 100 films; not every OST is a perfect masterpiece of sequencing .

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I think 15 or 20 years from now the whole "complete and chronological" thing will be seen as a bit of a fad.

People will return to the original album presentations.

It's not going to take that long to run out of scores to complete and chronologize, and then the niche labels will fade. The market will move on.
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I think 15 or 20 years from now the whole "complete and chronological" thing will be seen as a bit of a fad.

People will return to the original album presentations.

Haha, good one Stefan!

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Well next time you watch the film, you'll notice a theme plays just about every time he's talked about, and it even plays at the end of the end credits, too!

Isn't on the OST once.

It's a crime! A crime i tells ya!

It is! That's my favorite bit from the score.

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