Josh500

Good choices! 

Well, that does look terminal, all right! 

Well, that does look terminal, all right! 

Well, that does look terminal, all right! 

Well, that does look terminal, all right! 

I also have the japanese Filmworks CD! I fell in love with Training With George, it is one of my top JW cues of all time.
 
In 2014 I stumbled across the OST for about $US 20.
 
I am extremely excited about this release.

Not to mention Earthquake and The River! 

Yes we actually talk about that MCA Filmworks compilation during the Legacy podcast. It introduced me to do many unheard Williams gems back then, including Eiger and the Midway Yorktown March.

____
 
I actually know 3 tracks from this soundtrack for almost 30 years, from the Japanese Filmworks, released in 1993! 
 
 
And these 2 tracks have always stood out for me. Vintage John Williams, in top form. "Training with George" is somewhat reminiscent of "Setting the Trap" from Home Alone, I've always felt... Same kind of urgency, drive, spirit. 
 
 
 

And I still haven't seen the movie, although from all accounts, it's nothing to write home about. Still, I'd like to see it at least once... 

Yeah, that was my first exposure to this too. Not the Japanese version, but the Euro version of Filmworks (I think I may have gotten it in 1995, though, not 1993). It was one of my earliest film score CDs, and I remember my shock upon hearing the EIGER theme on it, and its similarity to a tune I had composed on the piano a few years earlier.
 
In the late 90s/early 2000s, I acquired the Varese CD through a Japanese soundtrack collector I used to trade with at the time (he was also the one that got me the Japanese CD of TEMPLE OF DOOM). In the beginning, I listened to it a lot on my headphones while tending a museum desk at a museum that hardly had visitors. So I always associate the music with that context now, bizarrely.
 
And then, as this old FSM thread attests to, I finally got to see the film in 2009. I've seen it once or twice since, but it's probably 6-7 years since the last time.
 
My EIGER story, condensed!

Roger says
 
 
http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8767
 
 
 
 
August 10th update:
 
Roger's full blurb:
 
http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8773
 

Doug's full blurb:
 
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12305/.f
 

 

War Horse
A.I.

You're contradicting yourself in this single pararaph. You're telling us that you have always associated "masterpiece" with status, something prestigious, etc. - but that's your personal opinion. That's not the official definition of the word "masterpiece." 
 
Anyway, I might consider The Phantom Menace to be a masterpiece (I actually do), while you might not. Does that make it a masterpiece, then? For me, yes, for others, no. In the end, what it boils down to is that it's all about personal taste and opinion. Oh, and the word "masterpiece" here can be considered a synonym for "what I consider to be outstandingly great, superb, and magnificent"! 
 
 
The Cowboys and The Witches of Eastwick? 
 
I wonder why these 2 were included. 
 
 
What makes this one of all John Williams scores so special for you? I like it, but I haven't delved very deeply into it yet, I'm afraid. I like the opening (the fluttering piano piece), a few incidental cues in between ("Max Lives"!), and the touching, emotional piano piece that plays toward the end... But that's pretty much it. 

Earth without John Williams's music would just be "eh"... 
 

I know that many people think like that, and that's their right by all means, but I don't agree at all. A work of art should be judged for what it is, regardless of who created it. That's what I strongly believe in. 
 
Otherwise... Let me give you an example. Let's take the score of Home Alone. This probably isn't in your Top 10 John Williams scores, so you don't consider it a masterpiece. But if a lesser composer, say, Patrick Williams had written Home Alone, the exact same score, you'd all of a sudden consider it a masterpiece? Because all of Patrick Williams's other scores are just forgettable trash? That doesn't make sense at all. Either a work of art is a masterpiece or not, regardless of the name of the composer. 
 
Consequently, I submit that John Williams has written dozens and dozens (perhaps as many as 50!) masterpieces during his long, long career.... Not just what somebody considers his Top 10.
 

Well, you probably shouldn't sell your ears. Your soul, yes, but not your ears...
 
 
Yeah, not just John Williams, but we all know that British girls are special...

Well, you probably shouldn't sell your ears. Your soul, yes, but not your ears...
 
 
Yeah, not just John Williams, but we all know that British girls are special...

Earth without John Williams's music would just be "eh"... 
 

Well, it's a matter of definitions. The word "masterpieces" is sometimes used to denote an author's best works within his oeuvre, or in other cases to denote the best works in a certain medium, independently of the author. In this second case, I would maybe say that his most recent masterpieces are "War Horse" and "The BFG". 

I'd pay anything, including my soul. 

It happened only once, didnt it?  
 
I didn't mind that... It wasn't necessary, but then who cares. 
 
If we ever got a 9-CD Complete Star Wars Prequel John Williams boxset  I'd be willing to spend 200 bucks on it!! 

Earth without John Williams's music would just be "eh"... 
 

1993 Schindler’s List
2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
 
Of course, Williams has scored many truly great and excellent scores in between and afterwards, but I think Williams has written 10 scores that can be regarded as genuine ‘masterpieces’ and of those, Schindler’s List and the first Harry Potter scores are the last two. 

The real question is why the others weren't