Tom Guernsey

Having given both the prior expanded edition and this new release several listens it still doesn’t quite gel for me I have to admit. Not sure what it is. Feels like one of those scores with many great moments but that it doesn’t quite hang together in between. Having originally ditched the original album from my library I imported the remasters version and actually enjoyed it considerably more in that way. Guess it gets quicker to those highlights more effectively. Plus I quite like the song (from the original release of course). I’ll keep trying. It’s Michael Kamen, he’s usually worth the effort. Although soon to be supplanted by the recently acquired Lethal Weapon set...

Absolutely terrific. I found a different one that I really liked on deviantart but now I have to reconsider. Agh! And there aren’t even some bonus tracks where I can just put different art on each track (which I do quite frequently when there a choice as good as this...).

#knowingfanboycomplaining A shame that there isn’t a remixed version of the original album.

Heh, well I thought I'd still share my thoughts (albeit edited now as something went wrong with my original post).

A bit late to this party, but hey, why not?! I really love this version of the CE3K, not necessarily in preference to the original, which still sounds terrific, but Gerhardt's extended concert suite is a proper tone poem for this score, covering the majority of the thematic material. Shame there aren't more arrangements of Williams scores that condense them down into something resembling a proper symphonic form. I think ET could easily be adapted in a similar way, progressing from gentle to epic (and without that crappy edit to omit the bit where the bikes actually take off during the concert version of Adventures on Earth, surely JW's most heinous editing choice for a concert arrangement, particularly as he usually alludes to the bikes taking off when he talks about it beforehand... But I digress, it's also a shame the extended CE3K suite/symphonic poem never gets performed at concerts as presumably it's not generally available for orchestras to rent. The existing suite is fine, but hardly does justice to the score.

Absolutely loving it so far... and yes, the more natural sound field is a significant improvement. It sounds like JP has kinda realised that the somewhat over-processed mixing style he has employed on some of his scores (particularly the more, shall we say, symphonic ones), doesn't show them to their best advantage. Only complaint (there must be one), the "Deluxe Edition" banner on the artwork. Otherwise cool. Love that JP is so up for answering the nerdiest of nerdy questions. Can you imagine any of our other favourite film composers doing that?! I suspect Jerry would have told everyone to eff off... bless him.

I recant! I’ll definitely give it another go later. Must be my faulty memory and lack of familiarity.

I can never get into that score. It’s one of the few Jerry scores that just seems to happen and I can’t recall a thing about it. Will have to try it again in case I’m sorely mistaken!

Glad it’s not just me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great score and I enjoy it immensely. Technically it’s probably Basil’s greatest achievement but I don’t get as much out of it as most people. I’m not sure Willow could really be deemed better but I enjoy it more, although Krull would probably be a better comparison in terms of era and style, plus Krull is probably a greater technical achievement even if Willow is perhaps more affecting.

Regarding The Abyss, I’ll have to try replacing the tracks which have alternates. I’ve only listened to the alternates once so didn’t have much of a feel for them being more engaging than the final versions. I have to admit that it’s one of those scores that never excites me as much as I want it to. The finale choral sections are terrific but a lot of the earlier music doesn’t seem terribly interesting with that very repetitive style of Silvestri action music. In many ways, it’s a watery CE3K in terms of having a mixture of dissonance and military material leading to a hyper romantic finale but without the variety or quality of Williams’ writing (although comparing it to one of JW’s best scores is perhaps a bit harsh!). However will give this another go and see if I can get more out of it. It’s another one of those cases where I can’t decide whether to keep the original album in my library as I found it difficult to produce even an approximation of the original album from the expanded tracks. However I’ll definitely be putting together a programme with the alternates together to see how that comes out.

Glad I ordered this. Can’t wait!

I'm going to be boringly diplomatic and say that I enjoy them both for different reasons. Mouse Hunt is perhaps more fun and mischievous, Stuart Little being more sweet and sweeping. Both great scores though, I miss Silvestri scores of that quality. I enjoyed the Witches more than most people seemed to, but I still can't really remember much about it... another film with mice. Very specific.

Stuart Little (Alan Silvestri) - If you can get over how sickly sweet this score, it's really terrific stuff. Some of Silvestri's most memorable and charming themes, but with the unexpected delight of the Boat Race, which I think is one of his most thrilling action cues.

Hard to disagree with @crocodile’s assessment. The lack of the strong, unifying themes of the LOTR trilogy is a key weakness. I’ve listened to all of the Hobbit scores several times and the Misty Mountains theme is still the only one I can recollect and that’s not even by Shore (although it’s a pretty great theme and is incorporated very effectively). The comments about single disc versions feels pretty accurate. They are hard work at double disc length (hence me banging on asking for anyone who has managed to produce a one disc album edit of each as I think it might help to get to know them better) and almost kinda weird to produce two versions of each score both of which are quite long. Still, it’s Shore in Middle Earth, so feel worth persevering with... And what @Richard Penna said!

So a week breather... phew ;-)

Be still my beating heart... can't wait. Does that mean it's the day as Black Friday releases too?! Is that going to be the most expensive day all year?!

Extreme Prejudice (Jerry Goldsmith) - Kinda cheesy, but actually much more enjoyable than I thought it would be based on its reputation. Sphere (Elliot Goldenthal) - Typically fine mixture of drama and horror, not quite the level of Alien 3 but a great work, would be good to have more of this one sometime.

Another vote for Waterworld... I almost wonder if maybe this pole should have been "best... excluding Waterworld". But yeah, the Postman and Wyatt Earp are worth runners up. I remember being hugely unimpressed with the Postman originally but it's actually a pretty great score. Here's hoping we get a bit more of it sometime. Wyatt Earp is a terrific score though and a close second to Waterworld, but the latter just has some wonderful moments. As Thor said, the swimming cue in particular is just magical.

I don't own the Debney, but I can almost imagine what it's like, pleasant and tuneful, but unmemorable. I'll have to try the Koutselinis score then, always up for a bit of fake-Horner!

John Debney? Not sure if I have that one. Or if it even got a release. He’s usually reliable if not always inspired.

Seem to have ended up having a dog racing/outdoor adventure themed week of listening, who knew there were quite so many films and scores about dog racing and/or adventures?! As a result, I ended up giving both Call of the Wilds a listen, at least the one by John Powell which is great fun, although I still can't say I remember it hugely after it's finished, enjoyable though it is and the one by Lee Holdridge, which is a bit more serious and less frenetic than the Powell (perhaps inevitably), and which features a descending four note motif that in a major key sounds like Jerry's Supergirl theme and in a minor key sounds like Last of the Mohicans. Random. Then of course there's Horner's Balto, which for me probably has the most memorable thematic material, although a close second would be Joel McNeely's Iron Will, a score I always enjoyed and kinda wished he'd written more like. Admittedly it's a pastiche mashup on a theme (or two) of John Williams, but no less enjoyable for that. Funny that the two most memorable are the two that probably borrow most heavily from elsewhere. Also listened to Eight Below and Togo by Mark Isham - there's a scoring niche for you. Eight Below is enjoyable although I couldn't quite get into Togo somehow. Will have to give it a further listen. Guess I should stick on Bruce Broughton's Homeward Bound scores next...

I don’t know them well enough. I think it’s a general thinning of textures rather than huge changes. That link probably gives a good idea. If nothing else, the Chailly album is well performed and recorded.

For what? Where the orchestration is different? I think the changes are quite pervasive albeit relatively subtle... some useful information here: http://classicalmusicguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=21275

I really like the Mahler editions of Schumann's symphonies whereby Mahler which are essentially slightly re-orchestrated versions which lighten the textures somewhat - Schumann was a bit heavy handed with his instrumental doublings. There is an excellent recording of them performed by the Gewandhausorchester conducted by Riccardo Chailly. I'm sure it's sacrilege to recommend such a version, but Mahler's refinements really work.

For additional music, the prequels (with a leaning to 2 and 3, given that TPM is substantially released, albeit in not exactly the ideal presentation), however for remastering, Empire. Sure, Jedi isn't great, but the Arista set contains pretty well all of the music and sounds pretty decent. However, on the Arista set, Empire has a couple of truly horrible edits, notably in the end credits and during a long note during the Carbon Freeze... I can't actually imagine how they got through quality control, especially given the attention lavished on this set otherwise. While the Special Edition fixes the horrible edits and presents the full score, it replaces these problems with sub-par mastering.