The Five Tones

Seems like yesterday I was having a pleasant email exchange with Lukas Kendall about some detail of the FSM release, hearing it and thinking "this is the modern era of remastered scores." On the fence to order the LLL, will wait to hear more on the podcast. The monochrome cover is appropriate for such an unsentimental, quasi-minimalist score. Fugue-era JW.

Ordered. Started with the vinyl late 70s, before I was old enough to see the film. Dubbed onto cassette for the 80s. TikTok still has nothing on JW for viral sounds. Whatever the composer approves and Mike Matessino restores and renders pristinely, I'm there. Already have the Backlot digital score release but wow, what a boxset, appropriate to the occasion. tl;dr what a disaster .

I'm offering a theory that Siedah Garrett sang the lead vocals on Jedi Rocks. Has this been suggested before? The nasal timbre of the vocals was a sound she often did, and I wouldn't likely have made the connection if I wasn't just now randomly revisiting the Brand New Heavies album Shelter, which came out the same year as the Special Editions. Not a stretch to imagine, given she was in Quincy Jones's circle like Jerry Hey, and only a phone call away. And maybe she had the riff in her head from the Shelter sessions. Admittedly, it's a generic bit of phrasing... but it sounds like her. I wouldn't blame her for doing it uncredited! [EDIT: Táta Vega is another obvious possibility, also in Q's and Hollywood circles, though the production may not have had the budget for major label artists, uncredited or otherwise.] Listen to the clip that made me think this (only took me 28 years):

I purchased the 2025 mix of the score in 24/96 on Qobuz. Sounds fantastic to me (and I've owned all the versions going back to the original vinyl). Does anyone have any comment on this as a hi-res release, and are there other examples of JW scores (original or remaster) being released in 24/96? I will def buy the Intrada set when it comes out, for the new mix of the OST.

Ordered. Big milestone score, only gets better with time (I've survived on the Columbia/Legacy release for thirty years). As a kid I watched Burgess Meredith narrate the suite in the July 1980 Boston Pops concert on PBS and was enthralled. Happy to see this out so close to Sugarland Express, which was a revelation. Fairly gulped when I saw the price with shipping (80 CAD)... had to do it, though.

So ordered. Finally!! As an older fan, this has been near the top of the list forever. Looking forward (back to my eternal slumber for now).

Congratulations, Ricard! You all deserve to celebrate. I've been coming here since 2000 (not as much as I'd like in recent years, though) and it's impressive how the site has developed as the hub for a vast, interconnected community but also as the definitive resource for all things John Towner Williams. As the nearly 92 year old maestro might say, long may you reign!

Unusual for me to have an odd/sealed bunch, especially considering the last item (Hook) arrived over a week ago. Hoping for some holiday time to properly rediscover these.

Oof. Ordered! Nice pairing, on top of the improvements.

Ordered, 10 minutes after the midnight email!

I love when MM references the intertextual in JW's scores, e.g. the above in context with Lost World (I think?) I was watching Jaws with one of my kids within a day of listening to the podcast, and this made me think about how music was used there too. There are many great unscored moments, the human to human dramas but also the death of Quint, which in a way might reflect his own pathetic human struggle and pulls away the myth around Quint's Tale, the Sea Hawk-like music, "Spanish Ladies," etc. My set arrived a few days ago and I've listened to the score presentation. Sound is as fantastic as I'd expected, if maybe slightly less of a revelation than MR. Listening now, AI, MR and WotW really feel like a musical and sonic trilogy. In some places, WW also feels like a continuation of the darker parts of RotS [EDIT: yes, @lemoncurd, I hear PoA too], and some of that quasi-operatic minor-mode and elegiac writing undermines the more abstract, brutalist content that potentially makes the score unique in this period of JW's work (or any period). There's a lot of Dies Irae bleeding out here and there. Blatant Rite of Spring/Jaws in the Intersection Scene, nice balance including the woodwinds but again it doesn't feel brutalist rather than a shot of a well-known syrup. The latter parts of Prologue/Closing Montage have a starry night flavour which references SW in a less overt way. I haven't seen the film since 2005 but do plan to revisit it. I appreciate having both the Freeman and no-Freeman options. I do like where JW stretches in tiny ways, e.g. in the last 23 seconds of Red Planet, the rising string glissandi from CE3K (referencing composer Iannis Xenakis) juxtaposed with the hammered two-note chord that opens John Adams's Harmonielehre (which Adams also brings back in Doctor Atomic, coincidentally in 2005). Truly spooky, and the improved sonics make it pop. Epilogue is still my favourite cue, for several reasons, including that it focuses on three trumpets played quietly which is a kind of a twist for JW in a blockbuster. It's really all about the tuning of that opening minor chord that is a drama of its own (that we aren't necessarily aware of on a conscious level); it's straining against the human convention of the equal temperament tuning system in a way that could suggest the breakdown of society after its destruction. On top of that, towards the end JW lets the three trumpets' lines drift in different directions and land on other unrelated minor chords (so JW) and interesting dissonances before returning to the original chord again. And in the last 90 seconds, after playing an elegy that is somewhere between the Epilogue from the re-recording of The Fury and Cybertronics from AI, there are the strings in the background, hanging on the two-note chord! JW at his best. There are lots of other great bits more in that "trilogy" vein, as well. But returning to this score, I was struck that (as with MR) it's not nearly as monochromatic and modernist out of context as I remembered.

Ordered. Haven't seen the film since 2005, but definitely admired the score as part of JW's dark sci-fi run of the period. Didn't love the OST CD as much as I'd wanted to, so hoping as with MM's expanded MR release for a proper experience of the music in its full range of colours and dynamics.

Many thanks Max!

CD arrived from Amazon on Saturday. Such a historic event and I'm so happy about it as a fan and amazed at the achievement, even if by the time I got down to listening to the music I had a hard time not comparing it to everything that's come before especially recently with the Dudamel and Mutter releases. As a general response. And having that composer/musician perfectionist response (i.e. wasn't there time to retake all the mistakes?). And if I'm being honest, having that biased reaction in hearing American music performed by continental European orchestras, no matter how great or interconnected with the repertoire style-wise, still not quite an ideal fit. Shouldn't really matter on this occasion, right? The trick is to take what is a nostalgic viewpoint on all of these classic gems and get into the moment. Still, the editing out of nuanced transitions, retouching of details here and there and adding concert endings compared to the recordings during the film scoring sessions inevitably throw me off, no less now than in the 80s or 90s, etc. All that said, I'm still chiming in to say "Bravo, Maestro." I really appreciate the noise free presentation, and the sound of the orchestra and the hall is quite superb. (I was listening to the maestro's music on a tuned audiophile system starting in 1980 so I've been paying close attention a long time!) I really heard those echoes of Korngold in Hook. I was most moved by CE3K and Luke and Leia. The Imperial March was *impressive* and both it and the Raiders March were suitably stately. Looking forward to watching the video at some point. Oh, and was an HQ square cover image for the CD posted anywhere?

Similar. In ROTJ it's more exposed in the mix and has a gesture-like LFO effect - could've been Minimoog, Oberheim, Roland Jupiter, Prophet 5, so many period instruments. In River, it feels a little like the breathy pads of the peak 80s a la Peter Gabriel - Synclavier, Fairlight or even Yahama DX-7. Great mood setting opener! Also, he really nabs you with that deceptively simple main theme. The 4-3 suspension resolved, stoic, sometimes harmonized with the flat seventh degree, bluesy, contemporary, unwavering within a changed harmony. Perfect music for a family... with a little interval nod to another: Luke & Leia. The second family theme with its parallel minor seventh chords is quite noirish, and adding to what I wrote above about disaster specifically Earthquake, "The Hotel" has that "City Theme," 5-7pm, hard liquor on the rocks feel (I've no recollection of what actually happens in that scene after 35+ years!)