Richard P

Yes, there's definitely more raptor quotations elsewhere - I'd say it feels like the most quoted Williams theme? Listening again to the two finale action tracks and I think there is a certain messiness to them which probably led Davis to omit them from the OST. However, there are a number of action cues Williams has done where it feels like his typical set piece structure isn't there. I'm thinking of the werewolf material from PoA and Clash of the Cranes from Tintin. But then when you get an absolute masterpiece like The Quidditch Match or almost everything from LC and you get a superbly structured twofer of Tiny Pecking Pteranodons and Billy Oblivion. Hence I suspect it might be that the films' needs made it difficult for both of them to write something that was musically as coherent as it could be, as we know Davis is capable (few will argue how well structured The Matrix is).

My exact thought - he looks like a nice chap, with absolutely none of what Rickman oozed just by looking at you. But as you say, we haven't seen his reel. Overall they're going to struggle to recast Hagrid, McGonnagall, Ollivander and maybe the odd other actor, but I didn't think either Dumbledore was right, and Radcliffe/Watson/Grint weren't exactly irreplaceable performances.

I typically listen to scores locally (custom edits, etc) so Spotify for me is very much an indication of where my pop tastes are (I don't listen to scores that much in the car). The exception this year is Djawadi (lots of Fallout , HotD and GoT). last.fm shows Olivia Rodrigo as my #5 by several hundred plays, so I'm not sure where Spotify got Bergersen from - I like a small handful of his trailer music tracks.

That's 83 days of continuous listening to Williams. Not many score-related people on my wrapped this year as I don't really listen to scores on Spotify. But I apparently spent 58 hours listening to Dua.

It's an annoying site becuse it pauses when you leave the tab and my usual way to get the files doesn't work. Definitely best to wait until Friday.

Just a general recent history here, of people who have made mistakes with Williams and other major composers not being overly popular. It's a really interesting revelation certainly.

I've heard those bonus tracks and they were bizarre selections for bonus material - that track is indeed just 4 1/2 minutes of Frank's theme. iirc the other two were more source type material and overall it was an extremely unexciting discovery. It's quite astonishing sometimes how, when a composer is given a chance to include a handful of aditional tracks for some deluxe release, they often pick really quite baffling material.

Well, if the orchestrator misread JW's sketch and got the melody into their head, they might automatically repeat that mistake for further statements. But JWFan demands blame! We must know which orchestrator committed unacceptable treachery against the maestro!* * Hah, yeah right. It happens, and resulted in an interesting variation for this score.

I occasionally peruse his reviews to see his discussions over what themes are used where (so I don't have to) but other than that, he's far too biased for his overall views on a score to be taken seriously.

Hah, of all possible explanations, I didn't see that one coming So either no one noticed during recording, or they did and decided they liked it. I assumed for 23 years that Davis changed it.

I still need to read the liners! I was distracted by getting everything ripped yesterday and both packages are still sitting on my desk next to me.

Clem's verdicted is in, and it's 4 stars. His analysis is pretty interesting to read, even if he reminds us of Zimmer's "plagiarism" approximately 400 times during the review and bangs on about the wrong themes being reprised (!!!). The guy hates all things Zimmer and RCP so no surprise that he gave Zimmer 1 star less, but it's nonetheless amusing to read someone try to explain why HGW did a better job

I agree with Thor that the first volume of season 1 is really strong, and well curated. But the idea that there's nothing worth hearing in the other releases is ridiculous, and something I will forever tease him about I found the season 4 album particularly strong - it's set in the American plantations, so a bit of a cultural shift. There is of course some French and Caribbean influence in 2/3 as well, but I dont like those albums as much.

Listened again today and I found it a lot more engaging this time. Sometimes it just takes tuning your ears into the sound. Not sure about this being the type of score for a 2024 film though. This works because it's not competing with other elements, whereas if you introduced dialog (especially) into the mix, I'd find it extremely OTT for my tastes.

I have a semi-serious suggestion - if you're a professional such that touches and fixes like this are basic things, have you considered actually writing to Intrada to offer your services, instead of just posting on their FB group? Complaints from a random customer are one thing, but a professional with a demonstratable portfolio of work is another matter. If they agree with you that your changes are worthwhile improvements over their current output, they could perhaps decide to run their artwork by you as a second opinion. After all, we've had multiple JWFanners consulted on various releases. Every business or professional learns somehow (yes, preferably earlier on in their tenure) - maybe the multiple sources of criticism (a lot of it warranted, some not) are indications that some here who are professionals (or enthusiasts) in their field could try to constructively (and most importantly privately) discuss with Intrada what they think they're doing wrong, instead of just tearing each release apart publicly. The latter does absolutely nothing towards fixing the 'problem'.