Goldfingers

James really knocked it out of the park with this one. It’s my second favorite PP score after Hook.

The Hook Ultimate Edition is nominated for Best Archival Release!
 
http://filmmusiccritics.org/2024/02/ifmca-award-nominations-2023/

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It's hard to determine the significance of the different pieces in the Smee's Concertina Medley. 'Low Below' is recognizable, but as for the rest, I don't know. And it's challenging to ascertain where each of these parts should have been used in the story.
 
Initially, Smee was intended to always have a concertina attached to his waist. There are several scenes where the concertina was supposed to appear, such as Hook's preparation scene before his first appearance, his speech, the negotiation with Tinkerbell, Hook's dinner, the lesson scene, the baseball scene (the script mentions that Mr. Smee was supposed to play 'Take me out to the ball game'), the final battle, and Smee's escape, during which one of the mermaids plays the concertina.
 
The concertina serves as a means to add excitement to Captain Hook's life. Smee plays it at his request to create an epic atmosphere or to intensify the drama of the scene that Captain Hook is experiencing, often punctuated by a humorous moment when Hook interrupts the action to address Smee: 'Smee! Appropriate musical under scoring!' or 'Smee! Where is the musical accompaniment for this most dramatic moment of mine?'
 
In the movie, the concertina disappears from Smee's character. I am certain that the concertina held by Tickles, played by David Crosby, is the same concertina that Smee was supposed to carry. There isn't a single scene where Tickles is seen without his concertina, but it is never heard being played.
 
I believe they abandoned the idea because it potentially disrupted the scene by diverting attention from the action and limiting the possibilities for orchestrating the scene afterward.

It's hard to determine the significance of the different pieces in the Smee's Concertina Medley. 'Low Below' is recognizable, but as for the rest, I don't know. And it's challenging to ascertain where each of these parts should have been used in the story.
 
Initially, Smee was intended to always have a concertina attached to his waist. There are several scenes where the concertina was supposed to appear, such as Hook's preparation scene before his first appearance, his speech, the negotiation with Tinkerbell, Hook's dinner, the lesson scene, the baseball scene (the script mentions that Mr. Smee was supposed to play 'Take me out to the ball game'), the final battle, and Smee's escape, during which one of the mermaids plays the concertina.
 
The concertina serves as a means to add excitement to Captain Hook's life. Smee plays it at his request to create an epic atmosphere or to intensify the drama of the scene that Captain Hook is experiencing, often punctuated by a humorous moment when Hook interrupts the action to address Smee: 'Smee! Appropriate musical under scoring!' or 'Smee! Where is the musical accompaniment for this most dramatic moment of mine?'
 
In the movie, the concertina disappears from Smee's character. I am certain that the concertina held by Tickles, played by David Crosby, is the same concertina that Smee was supposed to carry. There isn't a single scene where Tickles is seen without his concertina, but it is never heard being played.
 
I believe they abandoned the idea because it potentially disrupted the scene by diverting attention from the action and limiting the possibilities for orchestrating the scene afterward.

It's hard to determine the significance of the different pieces in the Smee's Concertina Medley. 'Low Below' is recognizable, but as for the rest, I don't know. And it's challenging to ascertain where each of these parts should have been used in the story.
 
Initially, Smee was intended to always have a concertina attached to his waist. There are several scenes where the concertina was supposed to appear, such as Hook's preparation scene before his first appearance, his speech, the negotiation with Tinkerbell, Hook's dinner, the lesson scene, the baseball scene (the script mentions that Mr. Smee was supposed to play 'Take me out to the ball game'), the final battle, and Smee's escape, during which one of the mermaids plays the concertina.
 
The concertina serves as a means to add excitement to Captain Hook's life. Smee plays it at his request to create an epic atmosphere or to intensify the drama of the scene that Captain Hook is experiencing, often punctuated by a humorous moment when Hook interrupts the action to address Smee: 'Smee! Appropriate musical under scoring!' or 'Smee! Where is the musical accompaniment for this most dramatic moment of mine?'
 
In the movie, the concertina disappears from Smee's character. I am certain that the concertina held by Tickles, played by David Crosby, is the same concertina that Smee was supposed to carry. There isn't a single scene where Tickles is seen without his concertina, but it is never heard being played.
 
I believe they abandoned the idea because it potentially disrupted the scene by diverting attention from the action and limiting the possibilities for orchestrating the scene afterward.

It's hard to determine the significance of the different pieces in the Smee's Concertina Medley. 'Low Below' is recognizable, but as for the rest, I don't know. And it's challenging to ascertain where each of these parts should have been used in the story.
 
Initially, Smee was intended to always have a concertina attached to his waist. There are several scenes where the concertina was supposed to appear, such as Hook's preparation scene before his first appearance, his speech, the negotiation with Tinkerbell, Hook's dinner, the lesson scene, the baseball scene (the script mentions that Mr. Smee was supposed to play 'Take me out to the ball game'), the final battle, and Smee's escape, during which one of the mermaids plays the concertina.
 
The concertina serves as a means to add excitement to Captain Hook's life. Smee plays it at his request to create an epic atmosphere or to intensify the drama of the scene that Captain Hook is experiencing, often punctuated by a humorous moment when Hook interrupts the action to address Smee: 'Smee! Appropriate musical under scoring!' or 'Smee! Where is the musical accompaniment for this most dramatic moment of mine?'
 
In the movie, the concertina disappears from Smee's character. I am certain that the concertina held by Tickles, played by David Crosby, is the same concertina that Smee was supposed to carry. There isn't a single scene where Tickles is seen without his concertina, but it is never heard being played.
 
I believe they abandoned the idea because it potentially disrupted the scene by diverting attention from the action and limiting the possibilities for orchestrating the scene afterward.

It was never kept hidden. It's precisely the reading of the novel that ignited my passion for deleted scenes and this particular scene. Everything has been there from the start. It involves singing, dancing, and the scene is depicted with meticulous attention to detail with dialogues that didn't make sense as pure dialogues, it was clearly from a song. Some details leads me to suspect that Terry Brook must have had access to a working version of the film rather than just a script.

Here is the script of the scene, so you can understand its length and the events that unfold. 
The version on the CD is shorter than the potential film version that could have existed.
 
 

The main idea of the interview was mainly to promote the new CD to a public who are fan of the movie but not specially into soundtrack spheres. I hope they will produce a bit more for those who may not have had the chance to order it now.
 
It was the first time we attempted it live. There will be a new interview in mid-January, and perhaps another one in February. I'm not revealing the guests yet.

The main idea of the interview was mainly to promote the new CD to a public who are fan of the movie but not specially into soundtrack spheres. I hope they will produce a bit more for those who may not have had the chance to order it now.
 
It was the first time we attempted it live. There will be a new interview in mid-January, and perhaps another one in February. I'm not revealing the guests yet.

The main idea of the interview was mainly to promote the new CD to a public who are fan of the movie but not specially into soundtrack spheres. I hope they will produce a bit more for those who may not have had the chance to order it now.
 
It was the first time we attempted it live. There will be a new interview in mid-January, and perhaps another one in February. I'm not revealing the guests yet.

The main idea of the interview was mainly to promote the new CD to a public who are fan of the movie but not specially into soundtrack spheres. I hope they will produce a bit more for those who may not have had the chance to order it now.
 
It was the first time we attempted it live. There will be a new interview in mid-January, and perhaps another one in February. I'm not revealing the guests yet.

The main idea of the interview was mainly to promote the new CD to a public who are fan of the movie but not specially into soundtrack spheres. I hope they will produce a bit more for those who may not have had the chance to order it now.
 
It was the first time we attempted it live. There will be a new interview in mid-January, and perhaps another one in February. I'm not revealing the guests yet.

And then I listened to all the rest, then next day to a combined chrono bonus track program (with the disc 2 ones put in), and then finally to the main program again while reading along with the booklet.
 
 
 
 
 
For me Disc 3 wasn't exactly a HOLY SHIT OH WOW experience. From the songs, I had a rough or good idea what Childhood, Low Below and Stick With Me were or could be, that left Never-Song, Mothers and Believe - the first of which is an okay bit of throwaway with some not bad wordplay, the other two have great melodies which then both felt stronger in the score after hearing these, but unfortunately the singing just puts me off them completely, Mothers especially.
 
I fully expected one of the booklets to include the lyrics like the HP one, but they don't. The release is dedicated to Leslie Bricusse but doesn't highlight his actual contributions? I don't know what kind of rights fuckery it would involve, but surely if Bricusse was so involved in this release he wouldn't outright deny it himself? As it is now, listeners who are not fluent in Pyrate are just thrown into Low Below to fend for themselves until they find @Goldfingers' post up above!
 
The booklet also illuminated something I wondered while/after listening:  the musical aspect wasn't all envisioned as such from the start, but made up as they went along and aborted before it was finished. So what we get on this release isn't exactly a vision of a fleshed out musical that could have been, but sketches for 2/3rds or 3/4ths of a possible musical, only like half of which were properly "finished", recorded and filmed, only like half of which actually remained in the movie (don't quote me and "fix" the maths, you get it). But it did set my mind to thinking what could have been if it was envisioned as such from the start with more preproduction time: the Never-Feast could have been a huge centerpiece party scene with choreographed dance and song, with Peter wandering around bumping into everyone then suddenly joining in by the end; Mothers could have been reprised at the end with changed lyrics as Fathers; Childhood could have been reprised by Peter and the Lost Boys when he leaves...
 
Also, this being my first real deep encounter with the score, and seeing so many bonus stuff in the tracklist, it was just the teeniest bit disappointing that maybe apart from Banning Back Home (which is the same thing but more of it), the Cornucopia insert (which is kinda the same thing restructured), the short Farewell extension and the obviously marked added choral part, none of the alternates really jumped out at me like "Ooooooh neat, this is completely different!" That could just be down to me not being familiar enough with it all, and of course I'll do proper comparisons when making my edit to really find out what's different, and obviously it's not anywhere near a knock on this release, it's just the reality of the score already being mostly perfect as first envisioned.
 
 
 
And I think that's it. That's all the "negative" stuff out of the way.
 
 
 
Childhood is good and reinforces what could well be called the score's main theme, Stick With Me is really fun, and Low Below is insanely fun!  Also I grew to like When You're Alone a lot more after hearing how much it pops up in the score.
 
Now that I have it in hand and see that the printing made it just a bit more red (in the lettering and logo especially), I like the cover a lot. All the rest of the set looks great too! When crumbs made his custom cover we were shooting some ideas about what could make a good one and we both ended up on the amazing matte painting of Neverland (which he didn't end up using in the end) so I was really happy to see it in disc 1's tray! The credit that says Titus got clean paintings from ILM is real cool! I like how close it is to the HP ones in style, I love the colours, the decorative pattern and the recurring 45° rotated square motif all throughout. Eat your hearts out, other labels with your awful clone tool hackjobs.
 
I love the track by track, has a really nice flow to it and it's simple enough that you can keep up with the music instead of being bogged down in the details. Though even though I agree that the actual release booklet should just focus on the actual release, it does make me hunger for cue list spreadsheets and multiple-hour-long history podcasts... The last section with the more technical details is really nice too. And the first one with the movie context too!
 
 
 
Oh yeah and there's a score too! It's fucking awesome. A pretty heavy listen, it does a lot in its considerable length, when it starts it feels like it's Always-scaled but by the time we get to the third act it's more Return of the Jedi-scaled. I rewatched the movie on black friday, that helped a lot with appreciating the score, I had a better overview and idea of the whole thing and already had highlights and themes in my head. I love how much the movie allows the score to be the driving force, it pulls back and lets it blast out unedited in so many scenes!
 
I love all the themes, I love the Home Alone/HP sound, I love the choir, I love the pirate instruments, I love the darkness, I love the playfulness, I love the melancholy, I love the recording, I love the orchestra, seriously, they're goddamn insane! So is JW for writing all this! So far the pieces I was most familiar with from Hook were the S/W II pieces and going from that Lost Boys Ballet recording to this one with what feels like a doubled tempo was mindblowing.
 
I love Banning Back Home, it's so fun! Immediately makes me think of "how to surf the net" instructional VHSes or something.
I love Wendy's Entrance! So much awe and magic from the first orchestral cue.
I love The Stories Are True with Low Below and Hook's theme coming in to imply something deeper going on  that Peter can't remember.
I love Tink's Arrival! The bit in the movie where all we see is Peter looking at something and JW does all the special effects work all by himself describing the little light darting here and there, coming closer!
I love Flight to Neverland building and building to the Childhood climax.
I love everything in Pirate Town/Presenting the Hook. After my video, hearing the end without choir was very strange!
I love Draw Your Sword! Those scared Childhoods, those drawn out dark Low Belows!
I love Peter's Challenge really describing his fear and the kids' and Hook's disappointment!
I adore From Mermaids to Lost Boys! That opening with the choir!!! The first Believe! The mad Tinks, the wild Childhoods that remind me of theme statements from The Cowboys' Drums of Manhood/The Execution!
I love the mythic grandeur of Face of Pan as the hero of old is revealed!
I love everything about The Banquet/Never-Feast! The revision is much more refined and better structured, I can't imagine having to live with the other one for 30+ years when you know there's something better! Even if maybe the tempo slows down a bit too quickly.
I love Stop That Clock, from the creative ticking to the sad ending.
I love Home Run! It's every inspirational 90s sports movie's finale distilled into one!
I adoooore Peter Remembers and the Flying Sequence, it was a really affecting part of the movie and JW's a huge part of why it works.
I love how You Are the Pan takes Face of Pan to an even grander level.
I love the final battle! From the thorough creative exploration of so many themes in such varied action settings to the Korngoldian swashbuckler style, everything.
I love Farewell Neverland! No skimping on the emotional resolution after such a long powerhouse, and this has everything!
I love Exit Music! Such a bittersweet ending!
I love that God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Take Me Out to the Ball Game are in here! I can just imagine Jay telling Mike and JW "trust me guys, you DON'T want to give Holko any fuel!" I love the concertina medley too! Spielberg really needs to get his shit together and look past his personal feelings and just release all the proper deleted scenes, not just those tiny peanut fragments! More Bob Hoskins can never be bad.
 
So yeah. I'm happy.

It was never kept hidden. It's precisely the reading of the novel that ignited my passion for deleted scenes and this particular scene. Everything has been there from the start. It involves singing, dancing, and the scene is depicted with meticulous attention to detail with dialogues that didn't make sense as pure dialogues, it was clearly from a song. Some details leads me to suspect that Terry Brook must have had access to a working version of the film rather than just a script.

Here is the script of the scene, so you can understand its length and the events that unfold. 
The version on the CD is shorter than the potential film version that could have existed.
 
 

Totally agree. It was Burton's sensibilities run amok, and I felt like that even as a 17-year-old fan. And the dialogue by Daniel Waters had everyone quipping like the Valley Girls in his 'Heathers' script. It was just weird.
 

If it had been a full-blown musical, the artificiality of the sets would've blended right in I think and been a non-issue.

I'm not saying that Spielberg's intention should be obvious. Spielberg clearly wanted to create something stylized, and he has expressed regret that the result didn't match his vision. However, the film is imbued with aspects reminiscent of a theater production in many ways. Some might could say that it's an over-analysis, but when you consider all the elements that indicate this, the intention becomes clear. The intention to integrate songs is part of this. 
 

The intention was for the sets to be big and obvious.  The film's opening scene announces this from the beginning, placing the focus on the theatrical aspect, just as Spielberg presents his version of the Peter Pan play. The set-up resembles a cinema (Spot in the middle of the audience as a projector) except that the screen is a theater stage.
 
Hook is the sequel to Peter Pan, which was originally a play. The first scene in Neverland is literally a curtain opening when Peter rips open the parachute.
Spielberg didn't randomly choose a Broadway and London theater concept designer. Critics and the audience criticized him for the cardboard-cutout sets in Neverland, but that was clearly the intention.

The issue was that Spielberg had a very limited amount of time to prepare for the film. When he agreed to direct Hook, the release date was already set, and the sets were under construction before the script was finalized. The film was rushed and had ambitious goals that couldn't realistically be achieved within the given timeframe. Additionally, Spielberg didn't have the level of control that he would have preferred (about the casting I mean). Ultimately, he had to compromise and focus on delivering what was expected of him for the film to meet its scheduled release date.
 
 
One of the most enduring pieces of misinformation concerning Hook. It's incredible that some people actually believed this, even though Spielberg denied it during the film's promotion.

He flies to the Lost Boys in preparation for war. I don't know what was exactly filmed. Probably a very short special effects shot that serve to transition to the Lost Boys preparation shots we have in the final cut. 

The battle is not exactly after that scene. There is a deleted scene between that moment and the battle with Maggie and brainwashed Jack in captain costume.

He flies to the Lost Boys in preparation for war. I don't know what was exactly filmed. Probably a very short special effects shot that serve to transition to the Lost Boys preparation shots we have in the final cut. 

The battle is not exactly after that scene. There is a deleted scene between that moment and the battle with Maggie and brainwashed Jack in captain costume.

It was never kept hidden. It's precisely the reading of the novel that ignited my passion for deleted scenes and this particular scene. Everything has been there from the start. It involves singing, dancing, and the scene is depicted with meticulous attention to detail with dialogues that didn't make sense as pure dialogues, it was clearly from a song. Some details leads me to suspect that Terry Brook must have had access to a working version of the film rather than just a script.

Here is the script of the scene, so you can understand its length and the events that unfold. 
The version on the CD is shorter than the potential film version that could have existed.