GoodMusician

I realize I was too vague: there were multiple backlot fires at USH. I'm speaking specifically of this one in which original reports were that original film stock dating from as early as 'I LOVE LUCY' up to films from 2001 went up in the fire, they THEN came back and did a second statement saying "No, it was COPIES that burned" which just seemed like playing PR to me. They had to admit to the film stock burning because of the color of the smoke which indicated certain chemicals which were present. And I wasn't speaking of LEGEND's score burning up but rather potentially film stock. Universal has been very hesitant to give much of a list of anything lost in the fire, again, claiming "nothing lost was irreplaceable"

Don't forget this was a universal film and a large collection of theirs burned down in that backlot fire. Also don't forget the production issues with Legend. The 007 stage the forest was built on burned down during lunch. They hadn't finished or were nearly finished--forget which--with the Jack being forced to Dance by Gump scene and when they were on lunch the whole sound stage burned to the ground. The shots at the end of Lilly and Jack (depending on the cut) running away towards the sun was on a swing set because they had lost the main forest so there were certain things they just couldn't film. Further, if i'm not mistaken, when you watch the "directors cut" what you're seeing is a scan of the interpositive of the cut shown to test audiences. There's a title card that shows before it plays explaining it. So it had ALREADY been tinkered with. The original cut is missing or gone or not to be released--my guess is lost in the fire.

The discussion of Lily Awakens alternate is interesting to me... but I disagree. There's the directors cut and the uk cut and they have differing ideas. -One has Lilly awaken and then they kiss and then its a montage to the end. -The other she awakens and has a conversation with Jack and eventually sings for him. It seems like there was some reworking going on as far as how the cut would be, if there would be a song, etc. Like a revision of the section because bits of each half are used depending on the cut. The Freeze is just a change to the way the track was presented on the album, yea. They cut the repeated section of the synth at the end / opening of the next cues. There's actually more to it than what you played (I edited it slightly out in that track you played...) The Unicorns is an extension insert with some repeated measures again. It does sound like it was re-recording of the section to be patched in if needed--edit dependant I'm sure. Fun talks about the score! I learned some interesting things i didn't know about the time frame in Goldsmith's life and a little more about the production. Thanks for sharing!

Interested to give this a listen! Hopefully my order shows up eventually lol....

yea, I mean the sound quality on the new tracks is more than most have ever had. The Dress Waltz "alternate" I think was kept separate for that reason of the quality but its not really an Alternate. I wouldn't say that. Yes, its mostly a reprint of the two releases with some EQing but the new tracks are definitely worth while and sound pretty darn great! Plus having more LEGEND music is always ideal hehe

Technically speaking the Silva release had the Directors Cut "film" version of the opening (the shorter Jack fanfare with the longer sustain). And you're right, both are missing an insert used in the Director's cut (maybe UK cut too, I'd have to check) as Jack stakes out their hiding spot amongst the lillies up to the Goblins reveal. And what I wouldn't give for them to find the material like the alternate 'The Ring' and such... I know it's for a shorter cut of the film but its gorgeous

They are two different performances. You can see how they otherwise match. The OST variant has the opening synth 2 octaves higher than in the silva release. The silva Release's take also shortens the frantic moment (Jack's theme) for a longer sustain before the flute accent as Lilly spins around angrily at about 00:13 into the cue.

Unfortunately there's not much else to say. Disc 1 is inessence the SILVA release with some EQing done to it. The only difference is "The Unicorns" they pulled from the OST instead so it omits the alternate intro. The new tracks on it sound really good without going back to the originals. "Darkness Arisen" is suppose to score when Darkness appears to the Goblins asking if they killed both unicorns. "Playmates" is 3 unreleased / unused cues. The first is when Brown Tom fights off the goblins to protect the mare using his frying pan, the 2nd cue in the assembly is the part where Oona chases Lilly through the Hall of Columns, and the last cue is for as they set up the mirrors. None are used in the film or had been released before. Disc 2 is the OST with VERY minor EQing done. The Alternate Faerie Dance is a true alternate (the version intended for use in the film but the footage was not completed due to a major fire that burned down the entire set and They must have lost what they had as all that exists of it is this video: "The Dress Waltz" alternate is NOT an alternate, but rather the full cue as the presentations previously omitted the ending heard as Darkness exists the mirror.

I'm a bit bothered I hadn't thought of this... even the orchestrations are overall pretty low excepting some small part which, doing even some medium playback adjustment doesn't sound overly fake... Granted, the main characters whod be singing it didn't have high voices which is why I don't think this had occurred to me... plus it was released on the album unadjusted...but I think its a possibility at least!

This will give you some information, but I can elaborate more if you'd like and it seems like my overview was spot on for what this release was. EDIT: Except they unfortunately used the OST 'The Unicorns' on both disc 1 and disc 2, effectively omitting the Silva alternate section from the release.

I honestly adore this score and have studied it in as about much depth as one can... looking at the track list and track lengths I'm hoping for a few things and based on how it looks / the track list, I'm guessing Disc 1 is the Silva release (with remastering and 2 new tracks) and Disc 2 is the OST (with remastering and 2 new tracks). Disc 1 -"Main Titles" and "The Goblins" (disc 2 presents 'The Goblins' isolated unlike the Silva release) -"My True Loves Eyes" and "The Cottage" (same on both releases really) -"The Unicorns" is a combination of two tracks: 'Jack Surprises Lilly' and 'The Unicorns' both of which have alternates. IF Disc 1 is the SILVA and Disc 2 is the OST, then this will present BOTH versions of 'Jack Surprises Lilly' but neither will have 'The Unicorns' alt. 'Jack Surprises Lilly' (track 07 on the OST) has a different opening than the Silva release (track 03). One's more energetic while the other has a sustained moment. 'The Unicorns' has a section of about 15 seconds that's a repeated / choirless section that was on a boot sourced from the DAT tapes around the 3:45 mark in the combined track. It would make this compiled track over 8 minutes which it isn't so I think it's not included. -"Living River" / "Bumps and Hollows" / "The Freeze" - This is three tracks (per the names). Typically, the ending of "Bumps and Hollows" into "The Freeze" (approximately 45 seconds) heard on the DAT boot is omitted on the released albums. It's mostly synth swells and repeated throbbing synth so It seems to be omitted for that reason. -"Darkness Arisen" is out of order (it should be after "The Armour / Oona's Secret") Good to finally have THIS in original quality!!! Its only been on the DAT tape boot. It would be heard when Darkness speaks with the Goblins to confirm they killed the unicorn(s) plural (but they hadn't killed the mare). -"The Fairies / The Riddle" There's an alternate or more probably an extension to "The Fairies" in the film which seems to have been lost which is really disappointing tbh... maybe one day we'll get lucky and they'll find the tapes. The Silva also has a different ending to "The Riddle" than the OST so we should be getting both of these if they did what I suspect. -"Sing The Wee" i kinda wish we knew more about how this was to be heard in the film (or that it existed in one of the cuts). -"Playmates" now THIS track intrigues me! Best I can tell it is THREE omitted cues. It's firstly a cue for when Brown Tom fights off the Goblins with his frying pan (and thinks he got shot). It sounds (based on the sample) like it THEN goes into "Hall of Columns" next BUT there's about 30 seconds left which makes me think it's also the cue for when they set the mirrors later in the film (only about 30 seconds). This TRACK ALONE will up the amount of new music by three cues I suspect!!!!! -"Forgive Me" not much to say but it seems to be complete -"Faerie Dance" there are technically 2 main version of this cue, then an alternate additional solo violin mix of 1, and lastly the mixing of the voices heard in the film. I'm hoping that the alternate at the end of Disc 2 is the Film alternate and not just the alternate violin mix of the album version heard on the DAT boot but they're the same length so I'm thinking maybe not... but we'll see! -"The Armour" not much to say but seems complete. -"Oona / The Jewels" are the bookends to "Hall of Columns" which is in the new music on Track 08. -"The Dress Waltz" this confuses me... it was one of the biggest points of contention I had with the boots which is this misunderstanding that there was an alternate. It's not so much an alternate composition as an alternate presentation. You see, after this beautiful waltz queue, Goldsmith goes a bit nuts with the throbbing / crashing synth sound as Darkness steps out of the mirror. This "extension" is omitted / faded out on the albums and is often marked as an alternate when included. Based on the track length noted on Disc 2, I'm thinking it's going to JUST be the full track (with that new section) although I will be HAPPILY wrong if its a true alternate! -"Darkness Falls" is a combination of a few tracks again. 'Darkness appears' which is right after "The Dress Waltz" which is just gorgeous (the film uses a choirless version which is just as haunting). Next you'd then have 'Setting the Mirrors' which is a new cue I think is on that new track, then the rest goes through to the destruction of Darkness. *If anyone is interested, the music used in this section of the UK cut / Directors cut is a mix of music from Psycho II (also by Jerry Goldsmith) and music from Slugs The Movie by Tim Souster). -'The Ring' is another cue I wish we would get lucky and find the masters for because the film has a very beautiful version that reminds me almost of a finale to one of the Williams's disaster films but then goes into this beautiful harp rendition of "True Loves Eyes" that feels very 'Poltergeist' and is just gorgeous. The alternate version we have is a bit bigger and is a rendition of "Bumps and Hollows" instead. -"Reunited" as with the alternate version of the previous track, there seems to be an unreleased alternate for a vocal-less continuation of "True Love's Eyes." It then picks up with the version we hear on the albums just after the vocals. Another cue I fear is lost to time... I'm glad we have the alternate as it includes the singing and such but so sad that the score wasn't preserved better :-/ All in all, I think this'll be a great upgrade on what we have! It includes 4 new tracks (by my count 5 new cues and one expanded cue possibly new cue!?)

so many things I want to say about that...

Has there been much discussion on the state of the elements from the Film Recordings (not the OST)? I ask because it seems the common practice of that studio at the time was to do downmixes of instrument groups for later mixing into a mono film mix (think JAWS, TOWERING INFERNO, FAMILY PLOT). Listening to the two samples (one being 'Main Title' on JWFan and the other being 'Anna on the Stairs from that podcast) it seems clear to me at least in some cases downmixes had to be used. The strings, for instance, in both of those are mixed LEFT and slightly Left of CENTER respectively. It's not a deal breaker for me but I am curious of the disposition of what was found for the FILM mixes.

I once did a film edit of this scene and If I recall you're exactly right, the music is tracked from later. The hard part was the stretched notes and extensions near the end when they're in the water. Those were tough.

There's a video where Jackson explains he'd intended it to be an old woman who says is... intended to be played by Faye Wray. But she passed away just before filming began. So it sounds like the decision to use Denham is... almost a "well, we had to use someone."