Quppa

JPC has just resumed shipping to Australia (and probably other countries) in case anyone else hasn't been able to order yet.

No love for Australien from JPC, it seems ('Derzeit keine Lieferungen in das ausgewählte Land möglich'). Hoping it will be available at other stores.

This popping can be heard, however:

Leaving aside CD2's apparent 128kbps MP3 source, there are at least 3 popping artifacts on CD1 (~2:27 in track 2, ~1:37 in track 3, ~2:23 in track 8) that were carried over from the original album that would be nice to have fixed in a hypothetical future release. Also, does Immolation sound like it's clipped at around 1:15-1:30 (with the chorus) to anyone else (again, this is the same on the original album)? Quite distracting for a lovely piece of music.

It was a surprising assignment from the beginning, but I'm still extremely disappointed by this. Can Zimmer be replaced on Bond as recompense?

I suppose this means the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's 'Bond 25' album is also delayed (can't find any mention of it on Decca's website). The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's Skyfall LTP concert in early April has also been cancelled rescheduled

Fantastic - one of the expansions I've been hoping for. Is there a reason for such a small gap between the announcement and release date? I was fortunate to hear Keith Lockhart conduct a Far & Away suite some years ago and I was glad he picked it over the usual suspects.

A Bond-related titbit from this Thomas Newman interview:

The earlier Rolling Stone article only mentions that Eilish co-wrote the song with her brother, but I hope Zimmer & co will at the very least produce something like Thomas Newman's Komodo Dragon track from Skyfall. That is, of course, provided that Eilish's song is amenable to the task - I think even John Barry would have struggled with Die Another Day (which I happen to like) or Another Way to Die (not my favourite!).

Arnold reiterating that he was never approached:

I went into Spectre with high expectations based on the cast and crew and was disappointed, but maybe my low hopes for this troubled production will be exceeded. Searching for silver linings here: I'm kind of glad David Arnold wasn't asked back as a last minute replacement - better he be involved from the outset, and ideally working in tandem with the title theme writer(s). Zimmer didn't return to Mission: Impossible or Spider-Man, so here's hoping we'll get someone more appropriate to usher in the post-Craig era.

I saw the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's performance of Home Alone last night and thought they did a great job. I was worried about 'Setting the Trap' based on previous comments, but it was well executed. 'Making the Plane' was more of a struggle. I think the highlight was hearing the choir in the second half - it would have been even better if they could have somehow slotted in the full version of 'Somewhere in My Memory' (we also got 'Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas' as the encore, which was lovely - it's my least favourite of the 5 (?) songs Williams wrote for the 2 movies, but it worked really well as a live performance). I hadn't realised how sparsely scored parts of the film were - definitely a contrast to some other LTP concerts. The conductor always - understandably - encourages the crowd to 'participate' by clapping throughout the performance, but personally I'd rather just listen to the music.

Regrettably there was no announcement They only advertised Home Alone (13/12) and Skyfall (23/04).

I'm enjoying the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's ROTJ concert this evening. Jabba's Baroque Recital wasn't performed live during the film, but they had two people playing it outside the concert hall beforehand (amongst other pieces arranged in a similar style). I'm hoping they'll announce The Last Jedi dates at the end.

Well, I'm counting myself lucky that the London concert is still going ahead in some form - I'd be feeling much worse if I'd made the trip to Vienna for no reason at all. I suppose a trip to the US in the near(ish) future is my best bet for seeing him conduct.