Yavar Moradi

I was going to bring up the 1994 one but then said nah, that one’s actually not crappy at all! Yavar

Yeah the only hope at this point is Disney somehow also buying Sony itself, lol... Yavar

I don't know what that comment means, exactly. Both great scores in my view, and I actually hear quite a few similarities between them. They were, after all, composed and recorded only a year apart from each other. Parts of Inchon sound like the Klingons showed up and it's awesome. Botnick had no involvement with that as far as I know, so no. I think I read many people commenting that that release had very similar sound to the leaked sessions, but I haven't done any such comparison myself. That would indicate that a controversial new remix was not undertaken on that title though. Yavar

Except there was nothing actually *wrong* with the 2020 set, any more than the 2013 or 2006 editions. Those all sounded way better than Intrada's original 1988 expansion! So by your logic, Intrada is obligated to send this new 2024 "fix" to all purchasers of those previous four editions of theirs, which all neglected to check/use the Len Engel "safeties" as a source? Yeah, sounds like that would be a great business decision for them. At a certain point you've gotta let go of the entitlement and realize you aren't obligated to purchase this new version, but them offering an improvement when they become aware of an opportunity for improvement is better than NOT making that improvement available. If you remove the business incentive to put out a new release by kneecapping them with the expectation of them freely replacing all copies of 2020 purchasers, then golly they're just not going to bother offering this new and better sounding version. Surely you can realize that? Hell, even if this new 2024 edition didn't cost them anything to produce and manufacture, the shipping costs alone of sending out your proposed free copies would be astronomical if concentrated on Intrada. People who feel screwed are going to just have to get over it, but I suspect there are fewer people in that boat than you think and most previous purchasers are either happy enough with the version they have, or are mega Inchon fans like me and are just happy to have the score in better sound. New cover art to distinguish this version from the last version would have been nice, yes. You may not know who's going to get this but I'm guessing Intrada has some idea, since their previous four expanded editions of this score sold really well for them. (Actually I think their 1988 edition sold the worst, but every edition since then has sold better than it did!) When it's Jerry Goldsmith, it seems that it hardly matters if the film is hardly known. I suspect besides "JG purists" there are also some people out there who simply missed out on the 2020 edition and will want to grab this one since the score is rather unexpectedly available on disc again. But even if you're right and interest is limited to "JG purists"... I think that's a lot of people. Yavar

For what it’s worth, my Goldsmith Odyssey cohosts are planning to record a short Inchon Redux Soundtrack Spotlight episode this evening. I know David is planning to feature some before/after comparisons on it, so anyone on the fence can probably hold off and check that out after it’s edited, to decide whether a re-purchase is warranted for them. I confess I didn’t understand the need for a 3CD set in 2020 or now. One disc with the complete score in chrono film order, and one disc with the original album program + any unique edits from the 2006/1988 expanded program(s) would have worked just great for me. But at least it’s at a $30 price point. Yavar

… and they fixed it, and sent out replacement discs to anyone who wanted one. So… good example of Intrada responding to fair criticism with excellent customer service? Yavar

I guess I'll have to revisit that because I respect your taste. I do remember really liking Hiddleston in it, and really being disappointed by Eccleston's villain character. Agreed on early Pixar though. Until they got to Cars, they just COULD NOT MISS. For me the messy heavy-CGI third act kinda lost me, similarly to Shang-Chi. But I do still have warm feelings towards the first Captain America, even if The Winter Soldier outclassed it in almost every way IMO. Even though I didn't mention it in my list, I actually quite enjoyed Hawkeye. It just struck me as a little less fresh/unique compared with the rest. But it was arguably the most consistent of all the Phase 4 shows, even if it didn't hit the highs of Loki or WandaVision. Glad you liked Moon Knight as much as I did! Did you ever try Ms. Marvel? Yavar

That's the price of extreme fame and popularity, I guess. It's equally creepy to me in the opposite direction, when people feel the need to dump on her or denigrate her as an artist just because she's so popular. I wasn't whining in the slightest; it just struck me as a weird and unnecessarily negative comment made against someone who is anything but a Britney Spears manufactured pop star type. This is my favorite Taylor Swift song I think... very poetic: Yavar

Holy cow! Just like Jaws! Yavar

Very unexpected, but awesome! As many people as possible should own this masterpiece of a score. Yavar

So you had a major issue with something and you can't even be specific about what the issue was or which release it pertained to?

*MCU option for the year. There are THREE Marvel movies coming from Sony this year, lol... I think these are rose-colored glasses regarding the early years of the MCU. Most of Thor 1 felt very tired to me. Much as I liked it overall, the original Captain America felt like a more CGI version of the superior The Rocketeer from the same director. Thor 2 was even more blah than Thor 1. The Incredible Hulk was incredibly blah. Iron Man 2 was pretty darn blah (and frankly I don't even think Iron Man 1 has aged all that well). Meanwhile, since Endgame, I found the following films and Disney+ shows to be incredibly fresh and engaging: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (everybody who saw this when it came out seemed to love it and consider it quite "fresh", even though the third act is too CGI-heavy for my taste) Spiderman: No Way Home -- This film was an EVENT for people, maybe not quite Endgame level but pretty high up there and beloved. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever -- I honestly think this is a far more interesting and less bland film than the original Black Panther, which really suffered from the main character already having had his arc in the generally-mediocre Captain America: Civil War. WandaVision -- Utterly brilliant, fresh, and original until the final episode which was a huge letdown boss fight (but a large part of this was due to Covid interrupting filming before the final two episodes). Loki -- Everyone seems to agree that both seasons of this show were excellent. In fact I think it's collectively better than the Thor films (where Loki was always the best part of them)... and it's not even close. Moon Knight -- Pretty weird and totally engaging thanks in large part to Oscar Isaac's bonkers performance, IMO. Ms. Marvel -- An utter delight, full of color, engaging cultural stuff, and unique visuals. Iman Vellani is easily a shining star in the "new MCU". Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 -- Just superb, IMO. Even some of the misfires were *interesting* ones that in many ways felt fresh, like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. When that show was bad it was really bad, but when it was good it was unlike anything else in the MCU. Well I thought Logan was an absolutely fantastic film, but uh... you realize that wasn't part of the Feige-led MCU, right? Why are you counting it as a Marvel film if you aren't counting the three Sony Marvels this year? Yavar

The fact that on previous editions of Inchon, Intrada opted to go back to the original mastertapes rather than Len Engel's old "safety" mixdown? I'd say that the decision makes perfect sense. I would have probably done the same thing. It's very rare (if not outright bizarre) for the earlier generation source(s) to not sound better. That's three titles. You and others are acting like EVERY Intrada release has some major error, and it's really tiresome the way folks smell blood in the water or something and just gang up on Intrada, while acting as if LLL is somehow the epitome of perfection. No complaints about all the versions of Die Hard they produced, as better sources were found to yield better-sounding albums? Not going to personally attack MV and Matt there for the sloppy issues with the original expansions of things like Home Alone or Hook (which we only know recently from Mike Matessino were largely the fault of Didier Deutsch)? Yeah, they fixed the missing mixing bowls on The Challenge, but even they occasionally put out releases with errors that don't get fixed. If Intrada had been the ones to expand The Mask of Zorro and left off the big "W" on the big opening page, somehow I have a feeling that many people here would be chalking it up on their Intrada shit list as another "fiasco". Now The Last Starfighter again has to do with which elements were used, and it seems a somewhat similar situation to Inchon in that the earlier generation elements for whatever reason just did not have the same punch. And were there any quality control issues with either edition of The Last Starfighter, or was it just people's taste about the mix? As it is it seems like some people were really happy to get an edition from the original master tapes, whereas others were very grateful to get the punchier edition taken from a mixdown. The issue with Sleepy Hollow was the gaps that showed up on the original album presentation, right? The 2CD program of the complete score was totally fine right? And then once the issue was pointed out to Intrada with the original album program, they fixed it and sent out replacement discs for free. So what's your complaint? As for Hollow Man, it's a fair point that there were some issues with that release even though I was very glad to get it, overall. Part of that has to do with what elements Bruce Botnick had on hand to provide to Intrada for the release. Similarly to Looney Tunes DE on Varese, there were a few alternate (sometimes film) versions missing on the material he provided. But my criticism of Intrada here would have more to do with not making a careful A/B comparison with the existing original Varese album, which contained at least one important unique alternate which Intrada omitted from their release. So yeah, I'll grant you this release wasn't perfect but calling it a "fiasco" again is over the top to say the least. Yavar

Maybe the execution was just at fault? Maybe if James Gunn had done The Eternals it would have clicked with audiences just as Guardians of the Galaxy unexpectedly did. Yavar

Actually if this is 3CDs like their last version, Disc 1 will be the original LP album program: So you'll be all set. Seems like a good time to brush up on this really good score! Yavar

I think it’s both extreme to describe Inchon as a “fiasco”, as well as acting like every Intrada release not worked on by Chris or Mike has issues. But starting out by acting like Intrada never works with Chris or Mike (or even Jim Titus) was already evidence of the criticism being as sloppy as Intrada is accused of being. Not saying they’re perfect. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. I hope they’ll revisit The Mummy some day — but it was hardly Intrada’s fault if you have issues with that. They employed none other than Bruce Botnick to do that program (I’m pretty sure he both supplied the masters and handled the new stereo remix that some people liked but many hated), so if you’ve got issues I think you’ll have to take it up with him. Yavar

Musical legends on both sides. Why the need to denigrate Taylor Swift, an artist who writes most of her own songs? Yavar

The latter statement seems pretty true, but work on this film began quite a while before Marvel had a string of misses. I don't think the Deadpool/Wolverine team up was born out of desperation in any way, but simple good business sense (and also it seems like Ryan Reynolds was the primary impetus and person pushing for Hugh Jackman to come back to the role again...he's been setting it up for at least half a decade lol!) Yavar

They do hire Mike and/or Chris on some releases. They both were involved with Take Her, She’s Mine for example: https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/6920147-odyssey-soundtrack-spotlight-take-her-she-s-mine-1963 Of course they hire Mike on all of the Williams scores they do, plus a few additional ones here and there when Mike has time (he’s a pretty busy guy!) As for Chris, I think he works for Intrada on an even more frequent basis. He’s largely responsible for the Battle Beyond the Stars restoration sounding so good, for example. Doug often gives him a shout out in the product description when he works on a release. Here’s Chris and Doug talking about working together on the recent MacArthur 2CD: https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/14140529-odyssey-soundtrack-spotlight-macarthur-1977 As for artwork, my impression is that Intrada stays with Kay Marshall out of loyalty more than budgetary considerations. She was their longtime designer Joe Sikoryak's assistant. (How many releases did LLL have David C. Fein do the art direction on, over the years? Remember Bad Girls and The Edge?) Intrada has employed Jim Titus on more than one occasion, actually. I personally found his cover for Black Patch to be something of a rare misfire. Yavar

You really made me hopeful of finding a new Goldsmith score, but this credits Lyn Murray at the end: And all Fromtier Gentleman episodes feature Jerry’s theme at the open and close, but he only scored the first three stories. Yavar

I know about “Storm” of course, but are any of the rest of those radio episodes Goldsmith-scored? Yavar

That’s why two great long running podcasts joined together a few years ago to make this! Yavar

I agree. It was my second favorite score of the year, actually! Well, you're right... but musicals aren't really the passion of most of the IFMCA, I don't think. I wonder how close it was to getting on the top 10, but I'm not at all surprised that Williams/Goldsmith/Barry/Hisaishi/Herrmann/JNH/etc. titles took precedence. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised Laurence Rosenthal made it, and kinda shocked that not one of the eight fine Horner releases did! (If I had to guess I'd say votes were probably split between Zorro/Sneakers/Battle Beyond the Stars.) If I was going to bump something to include The Sound of Music, for my taste it would be The Rock, but Zimmer/Media Ventures fans are legion. And it was a very well produced album so it deserves kudos IMO... it's just not my favorite kind of film music, personally. Yavar

Yeah that was a pretty minimal upgrade, I agree. I’ve heard “The Tanks” from this new source and I can tell you quite honestly that even though I’m not a big audiophile I can hear a marked improvement. Yavar

Not a matter of recording budget -- listen to the alternate takes from an earlier generation source! They sound MUCH better IMO. It's just that the original "hot" album master is all that has survived the ages for this score, alas. (Who knows why that doesn't sound better? But it's hardly the only example of this.) Maybe some day the better sounding original masters will be found, and we'll also get the complete score. Them finding two of the reels still gives me a bit of hope. Yavar