QuartalHarmony

No chance, unless Copland put on a brunette wig and a very convincing British accent. And baked him some cookies.

The tracks from Superman which cover the Kansas part of the story, which Donner filmed in a very Norman Rockwell style was matched perfectly by JW channeling Copland wonderfully. Leaving Home would be my top recommendation, but Death of Jonathan Kent and Growing Up are pretty good examples too. Mark

Did they say… (checks notes) seven LPs? That’s insane, even by 2024 standards.

Oh, you won’t find any obsessive types here. No, sirree. Nothing to see here. You don’t need to see our identification. Move along.

For the love of all that’s good and holy, NO-ONE tell Mattris this. We’ll never hear the end of it. In italics.

Related by Eric Tomlinson in conversation with Chris Malone. See page 11: https://www.malonedigital.com/starwars.pdf

“[Len] was an ‘analog’ man, saying there is no purer sound, and he refused to go digital, to which John Williams (along with the likes of Jerry Goldsmith) heartily agreed.” Is this the first time we’ve had evidence of JW having an opinion on recording technology? I suppose there was the ‘VU-VU’ anecdote about pushing the recording levels on the brass to get a bit of analogue distortion ‘bite’, wasn’t there? Mark

Sounds a bit too much like hard work, but I’ll consider it…

Didn’t realise it was compulsory…

Do you mean you waited until the last minute of play at the SuperBowl before switching over to Heidi? Please tell me you also rigged up some way of having the final score scroll across the screen just as Klara starts to walk.

Nice one, DG! I do hope JW has that framed and hung on the wall in his downstairs cloakroom.

Not sure what you mean by 'understand' it, but I've enjoyed it since I first heard it, though I can appreciate that it might discombobulate fans of JW's usual orchestral work. Very happy it was included on the original album, and happy too that the film version wasn't, since I don't think it's as good. I love the extended version on the LLL release - Mike's soloing is first class. It might depend on how one feels about jazz and, specifically, what is sometimes (slightly demeaningly) called 'smooth jazz'. Personally, I like jazz a lot, including Daves Grusin and Benoit, whose style is what is being aped in BBH. I might put together a playlist of all of JW's 70s/80s pop/smooth jazz tracks. There are some lovely ones on Earthquake and Eiger - care to direct my attention to any others? Mark

Burning a CDR? That’s a bit too much effort for DME, surely?

Ah, now that takes me back:

Yeah, this is one where I would need convincing to buy an expanded version. The OST is very short, of course, but (not having seen the film), I'm not aware of any stand-out cues or themes that aren't already covered by it. If there is an expansion, and assuming it's in the usual price region, I'd need to have a close listen to any samples to be persuaded that I'd definitely be getting something extra that was worthwhile. Mark

The tech geek in me was delighted to see the tracks were recorded with Dolby SR. Another reason it all sounds so good. Mark

*googles Kendhang* *nods vacantly whilst trying to look intelligent* “Mm, yes”

Indeed: the HL score for Parade of the Ewoks specifies (in addition to the usual orchestral hardware): Low Logs (soft mallets) Conga Bell Tree Toy Piano Tuned Cowbells Tambourine Chromatic Wood Blocks

You’re welcome (and thank you, Jay, for digging out my post). I should perhaps say that that’s all I spotted: if anyone hears any other piano additions elsewhere (it’s a long cue/track, after all), do please say so.

No, it’s obviously a song.

21 years later... Is that a new record? Just goes to show no thread ever really dies.

I certainly do! Aside from any more objective considerations, it was recorded less than 48 hours after I saw the same (world class) band play the same (timeless classic) piece under the same (awesome, let’s be honest) conductor. Difficult not to think of it as special. Mark

I'd like to hear that - can you give track number and timestamp of both please?