BraveheartDC

Apple Lossless (ALAC) for archiving purposes, then 256 (VBR) AAC for computer/iPod. Really don't buy CD's anymore, however.

Am I missing something? Why even bother with this? Why not just use tracked music from the films? I think if Lucas can chop up and reuse pieces of William's score in the movies I don't see the problem doing it on this ride.

Um, no. But very much looking forward to this nonetheless. Agreed, they're much better than the LOTR books. IMHO, anyway. Step away from the keyboard. Seriously, drunk posting: NOT COOL.

That's not funny. That's not funny at all.

I have it on good authority that, in order to increase the number of females roles in "The Hobbit" and make the film more appealing to women, Jackson is going to have the famous dragon voiced by Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson. Jackson apparently is also bowing to members of New Zealand's environmental community and changing the name of the beast from "Smaug" to "Lightning The Gold-Hoarding She Lizard." Several prominent environmental activists have expressed concerns that the name "Smaug" might tend to promote and glamorize toxic pollutants.

iTunes just isn't built to handle classical music very well, and there's no easy solution. It's not just in the names of "Artist/Album Artist/Composer" field...it's the "track names as well." Just a mess w/ classical music. Film music fares better. And I find the "Album Artist" field to be less than helpful organizationally. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for example, was composed by Williams, but conducted by William Ross. I'll be damned if I'm putting that score under any "Artist" name other than John Williams, for organization purposes if nothing else. Same issue w/ the Gerhardt recordings. And of course, there's always the question of who to put as the artist in classical music. This is not a big deal when its Johan Fritz conducting the West Frankfurt Volunteer Firefighters Philharmonic, but artists like Yo-Yo Ma create more of a dilemma. To keept it simple, I almost always put the composer as the "Artist" in classical and film music. Not entirely fair to the conductor, to be sure, but what they don't know won't hurt them.

Agreed on both counts (especially w/relation to Jedi. Some parts of it are brilliant, but, like Lucas, it feels like Williams just ran out of ideas by the the third film)

I don't see how there can be any doubt that Empire is the best Star Wars score, if not one of William's absolute best. The original Star Wars score being a close second (for sentimentality if for no other reason, in my case), but Empire thematically brought it all together. It's some of the most beautiful, and wholly realized, soundtrack music ever recorded, as far as I'm concerned.

About as good as the other two scores in the prequel trilogy, but I don't know what Williams was thinking w/ The Throne Room in the credits. What a wasted opportunity (nothing against The Throne Room).

Um, no. But very much looking forward to this nonetheless.

Amazing, for once there's a myriad of free options for Mac (I use MAX) but limited ones for Windows.

The brilliant John Barry's death made me re-visit his stunning "Out of Africa" Soundtrack, one of the first in my collection. This in turn led me to look for an expanded edition, which I thought surely must exist, and I was surprised that the only alternative was a slightly expanded Varèse Sarabande Re-Recording Any opinions on the Varèse, and does anyone know why one of the most acclaimed soundtracks in history has never been given an official expanded edition? (ala Dances w/ Wolves, twice).

When I first bought the SW OST, this was far and away my favorite cue. I played it over and over. In fact, it's the first piece of film music I can ever recall getting attached to. Truly magnificent, and, in terms of its placement in the film, tonally perfect. It weaves together the tragedy of Bens' Death, Luke's shocked surprise, his reaction, and the events that followed, perfectly. The piece truly tells the story.

Yeah. I think the interviews (like this and those on the Indiana Jones CD's) are a waste of space which could easily be included in liner notes or made available on the internet. They don't add much at all. We can, however, be thankful there are no trading cards....

Agreed. I just don't think there's much more "there" there.

Really? What bit rate is it at? Obviously the entire audio track is compressed, but are you saying the fan credit audio is more compressed than soundtrack for the rest of the film? This would seem unlikely....but interesting (and disappointing) if true. I agree w/ you about the alternate "Breaking"...

Does anyone know if the music accompanying the "fan club" credits at the end of the Extended Editions are anything more than cobbled together cues from the score as presented in the films? (and complete recordings?) It seems to me I read there's some stuff in there that never made it to the CR or OST.

Just got this set, and it is wonderful, as expected (though I do find it a bit dissapointing, albeit understandable, that you have to flip the DVD) Does anyone know if the annotated score is available online for download yet, as with the other releases? Also, this may be nitpicking, but aside from "Bilbo's Song" it seems that NONE of these releases have any of the music which plays over the "fan club" credits on the extended DVD's, which would seem to make the releases a little less than complete (I imagine, however, that all these cues are available elsewhere on the discs). Otherwise, this disc represents the completion of the finest presentations of one of the greatest soundtracks in modern film history.

Well, the addition "featuring Annie" in "Days Of The Ring (or King)" pretty much gives that away, doesn't it? Yes, there are a few instances where the tracklist doesn't match the timeline of the movie, but as this release gives us Shore's music how it was conceived, not how it ended up in the film, this is hardly surprising. Seems like a few scenes were switched around just before delivery date, and this is how it was recorded. Good, give me Shore's original compositions, not the edit jobs presented in the movie! Agreed. Just thought it was a bit unusual not to sequence the entire thing in film order...but we really won't now what they've done until we hear the music. In any event, this release completes the most superb modern soundtrack presentation released to date, of what is certainly one of the finest scores in motion picture history. Howard Shore has created something only matched by William's SW score (OT) in scope and depth, and in many ways he has created a more unified, sweeping work. What makes listening to this music so heartbreaking is that he knew the entire story going into the FOTR score....an advantage Williams didnt have. So pieces of FOTR that are beautiful and hopeful when listened to in one sense, take on an entirely different meaning and tone when you consider the bitter sadness and suffering so many of thses characters, especially the Hobbits, will endure (and I'm thinking particularly of the Shire music here). To my mind, heart and ears, only ANH and Empire come close, and in such different ways. While Williams was able to create many magnificent scores post Star Wars, I feel that Shore will always been remembered for LOTR, and will never come this close to greatness and perfection again. Williams, no doubt, is the superior composer by any reasonable definition, but Shore exceeded himself with this, and really did create something extraordinarily special. The Lord of the Rings music, like the films, no longer belong to Peter Jackson, or Howard shore. With this release, they belong wholly to us, the fans now, and we are fortunate to be their caretakers.

Interesting tracklist. The last two track names are confusing me a bit. And where is "Into the West"?

There was a Gremlins sequel. And it was...subversive.

Impressive, most impressive. You've only just begun to realize your potential.

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Return-Co...8879&sr=1-4

Amazon has ROTK CR for pre-order @ 59.99. Not as bad as I thought, considering it's 4 (5 if you count the DVD) discs.

Drew Barrymore (now, not then, of course).