Richard Penna

Listening again, you've actually got two distinct parts of this cue - the piano and string wanderings at the start (which just annoy me - it's not my style at all) then the strings come in for the section used in the film, then back to more piano faffling. The beginning of the strings sounds like it's composed to merge with the very ending of the piano section, hence it seems to me to be a whole composition and they just recorded the elements separately. But yes, please please please include the string section by itself

The only Indys I have in jewel cases are the LC and DoD OSTs. I quite like digipacks - they're far less fragile and still give you a nice cover to look at. I'm about to get a ton of them in the RoP box.

Is that inferring you don't have KotCS at all?

While I wouldn't expect the full film version of Viktor's exit to feature on an expansion (it's an edit, no two ways about it) I'd absolutely expect active consideration that they would include an orchestral version of that cue without all the bits they added after. I'm glad someone else finds the plucky strings as annoying as I do. It's not difficult to use A.I. remove the plucking where Victor finally reaches the outside but heck... we shouldn't have to. I suppose the only thing that might stand in Mike's way might be if the cue was put into the film at a point where the elements were available separately but only the full album mix was stored (similar to the stems not being available now for Ripples). That or Williams loves his Jazz so much that he vetoes an orchestra-only version.

Given that Mike did Hook and got it approved by KK and co., I find it hard to believe credentials are a problem. I still think there are two problems here - (1) a reluctance to release something expensive (to them) that won't have a guaranteed significant return and (2).... only nerds understand or care what's wrong with the existing OT releases. Same with the Indy box - in a relative sense absolutely no one knows what's wrong with those. There are less obvious issues with the prequels, assuming they exist as digital sessions or tapes that can be transferred like any other 00s era project. In a purely musical sense I don't see what makes them so hard to conceive and assemble as an intended score plus alternates, other than a deep-down expectation that given "it's Star Wars" no one's allowed to make any mistakes or leave anything off.

DME has a Project Manager? What's his excuse for the DoD car crash?

Oh I knew about all the inserted bits yep. I just couldn't remember whether Williams had done one of his needless track shufflings. Ahhh... order restored and Thor is a happy bunny. It's not in film order

Maybe $20-25 per film, 6 films (focus on the OT/PT for now) = ~$120-140. A massive deluxe box set with a fancy book about the score surely isn't going anywhere for less than $200-300, possibly more. The question may be whether Disney would recognise the diminished manufacturing costs and lower the price, or decide that Williams and SW fans will pay anyway. Either way, I'm only buying RotS.

I might be misremembering but isn't the original album fairly close to the entire score in film order? See above comments - it may (and does indeed) feel curated but almost nothing's missing nor subject to Williams' usual meddlings. In that sense there's very little curation at all.

I think they should go digital. A 20-disc box set will be expensive and niche and cause all sorts of complications with fitting tracks on and the inevitable scratched CD in the process.

Opposite for me actually - I really liked Omaha Beach and most of the rest other than the standard patriotic stuff (proud brass and strings aren't my thing). I've found it drifted more from my tastes in more recent years. I still think Omaha is a superbly crafted piece but it does drag on a bit. The whole album is an example for me of fine craftsmanship but not having enough variety in its sound to hold interest. In the listenability and variety respect, The Thin Red Line is a vast improvement in Zimmer's near-perfectly curated album.

Fair enough, and I agree that sometimes buying a CD and all the associated shit doesn't feel needed. Certainly there's a release that's sort of on my list at the moment that I don't want physically (I want a handful of tracks) but there's no way to get it other than buying a piece of plastic. Certainly in other cases such as Sleepy Hollow, Doug's definitely got some issues with his editing, but isn't mastering just a choice that's made by the engineer? It doesn't strike me as lazy, especially if they're doing more work on top of just transferring the tapes.

Have you ever considered contacting Doug with your comments/suggestions about mixing? Mentioning them on a public forum is one thing, but when you're openly admitting to pirating it and considering just not paying them (for a score that musically you liked) just because you don't like a few aspects of it, I dont really see what you're achieving other than clearly hating basically everything Doug does.

HTTF is a nice piece slightly dethroned by the OTT ending where the orchestra and choir are absolutely belting out. I'd prefer a more straightforward orchestral approach without choir.

I like the film - well directed and acted. The score is a mixed bag for me; some highlights such as HTTF but overall the score has too much of a monotonous sound for me to enjoy as an album. I'm not a fan of patriotic brass and strings to start with, but an hour of it tires me. No doubt orchestration enthusiasts go nuts and it works well in the film, but I don't find it works as well for listening.