Richard Penna

Interesting... you have to wonder where rumours like that come from. Several I've heard revolve around Williams being unhappy about material produced by someone else - they have the whiff of a fan trying to manufacture sympathy for their idol.

Fully original and completed COS > CMIYC

I have no idea whatsoever what the plot of Flux was.

DoD and CMIYC The former is such a lack of fresh ideas and reuse. The latter prevented him completing CoS properly.

Fair enough - the original statement goes under 'popular opinions'. I'd counter with the 'unpopular opinion' that the statement is just fan validation.

Very unbalanced assessment there. Gia had to score R1 in a last minute replacement rush with obviously clear directives and limitations from Williams, and Powell's score has been overwhelmingly positively received across the board, apart perhaps from some who don't like his use of synth percussion. From a film perspective no one else has had the opportunity to write for SW, so in fact that's an extremely limited indication that nobody can outwrite Williams for SW.

I wouldn't mind so much if they were encapsulated in interesting stories but they just weren't. Oddly, the one where Chib shouted at the audience for buying plastic DW merch and destroying the planet has what I thought was one of the more interesting stories/monsters. Whatever the story was with the mental health one, I can't remember which means it wasn't strong. Of Whittaker's last episodes I really liked the one in the storage place, and guess what, no messages. But Flux also had no messages that I can remember and that was one of the dullest sections of DW I've ever seen.

The messages became problematic in Chib's era when they started to completely dictate the stories, i.e. that one about mental health, where I can't even begin to remember what happened in the episode. He forgot Who is meant to be fun and exciting. If they're ingredients in an otherwise interesting and fun story, go for it.

I think your last point is key. IMO the only thing a label like them has to do is high quality audio. Attractive packaging is nice to have and highly subjective in its quality and expectations.

It's certainly different perspectives and I respect that you and others put significant stock in the quality of the liners and artwork. I'd prefer effort were put into the highest quality mastering of the music and not needing to overly worry about designing and approving an elaborate booklet.

Comments on lack of cleaning up an archival marketing image are one thing, but complaining that they are lazy for keeping the same booklet design for a reissue? Knowing that approvals are one of the most problematic and time consuming elements, and that a reissue like this can be a good revenue stream for something more costly coming up? (imagine the last few releases have helped fund The Patriot....) Some major perspective needed here.

The ripping begins.... I'm #349

Oh that definitely happens sometimes, yes. I'd suggest that it's a bit of a minority of cases though that a full, intended score works great for listening, right out of the box, context-free.

I'd have thought the opposite would result from your above point. Once you disconnect the score from the film, and particularly for those who haven't seen the film, a huge sequence may suddenly feel disconnected and too abstract, whereas if you cut that down to the main areas of interest (i.e. primary ideas, thematic statements, etc) then it often plays far better in isolation. You can't play a film in your head if you've never seen it, and even the best composers will rarely produce music that's interesting in isolation for the entire film.

I'm going to agree with Thor on one element here - a curated album made in whatever way the composer wants should be available, if that's what they want. In many cases that's the ideal way to understand and process a score. But it should be accompanied by the complete score. No ifs, no buts, no waiting a few years to "allow listeners to appreciate the curated representation of the work". That way those who like the album are happy, and those who watch the film and instantly love the score can instantly buy the entire thing.