MrScratch

Just listened to the Legacy podcast, MM ponders how Williams came to score Eiger Sanction, JW’s working relationship with Eastwood, where/how the jazz elements of the score originated, etc.
 
Why doesn’t MM ask these questions to JW himself when preparing the album?  Is JW not up for interviews when approving these releases?  Listening to his old scores must bring back so many memories.  Would be great to get some insights/anecdotes from JW himself about these scores.

Not particularly, but I actually have 49 of his soundtracks now.  I’m getting more acquainted with him.  

So do you like him more now?

Thanks! That's an improvement over what I had.
I like this album cover, a lot.  Simple, yes, but still bold with that main title lettering on the solid black background.  When I was a kid I could hear the wooshes of the main title credits in my head as I blasted this record on my Dad's old record player.  I'd like this cover better if the small white lettering was gone.

Attached the scan from Album Art Exchange.

Not sure if this has been posted previously.  A fun little romp.  
 
 

Oh man, I am behind on these...
 
I’d never heard Peter & The Wolf or JW’s conducting of the Nutcracker before.  I made it a few minutes into Peter & The Wolf just now on Spotify and I got bored with it. I might have liked this as a kid, but it’s not my cup of tea today.
 
Swing, Swing, Swing is one of my favorite BPO albums. It’s great from start to finish and it was my first introduction to some of these classic tunes.  I always found this recording of “Swing, Swing, Swing” to be pretty sloppy, the BPO is not up to this piece like whatever studio ensemble played on 1941.  But it is still a fun listen.  I would love to know what the BPO players thought of this piece as they were performing it.
 
The song “America, The Dream Goes On” is a real stinker - one of very very few Williams pieces I outright dislike.  I used to own this album and never listened to it.  I don’t like corny patriotic songs and ATDGO is the worst.  This is the only BPO album where the Williams track is the worst piece on the program.

Oh man, I am behind on these...
 
I’d never heard Peter & The Wolf or JW’s conducting of the Nutcracker before.  I made it a few minutes into Peter & The Wolf just now on Spotify and I got bored with it. I might have liked this as a kid, but it’s not my cup of tea today.
 
Swing, Swing, Swing is one of my favorite BPO albums. It’s great from start to finish and it was my first introduction to some of these classic tunes.  I always found this recording of “Swing, Swing, Swing” to be pretty sloppy, the BPO is not up to this piece like whatever studio ensemble played on 1941.  But it is still a fun listen.  I would love to know what the BPO players thought of this piece as they were performing it.
 
The song “America, The Dream Goes On” is a real stinker - one of very very few Williams pieces I outright dislike.  I used to own this album and never listened to it.  I don’t like corny patriotic songs and ATDGO is the worst.  This is the only BPO album where the Williams track is the worst piece on the program.

Oh man, I am behind on these...
 
I’d never heard Peter & The Wolf or JW’s conducting of the Nutcracker before.  I made it a few minutes into Peter & The Wolf just now on Spotify and I got bored with it. I might have liked this as a kid, but it’s not my cup of tea today.
 
Swing, Swing, Swing is one of my favorite BPO albums. It’s great from start to finish and it was my first introduction to some of these classic tunes.  I always found this recording of “Swing, Swing, Swing” to be pretty sloppy, the BPO is not up to this piece like whatever studio ensemble played on 1941.  But it is still a fun listen.  I would love to know what the BPO players thought of this piece as they were performing it.
 
The song “America, The Dream Goes On” is a real stinker - one of very very few Williams pieces I outright dislike.  I used to own this album and never listened to it.  I don’t like corny patriotic songs and ATDGO is the worst.  This is the only BPO album where the Williams track is the worst piece on the program.

Time for a re-release with a new cover:
 

 
 
They should be. It would be odd to perform rearrangements for no reason. Especially for Peter, which is so dependent on its orchestrations. On the other hand, when Karajan recorded Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in the standard orchestral version created by Ravel (the original is for piano solo, but the Ravel version is the one everybody knows), he apparently augmented some of the orchestral effects (was it anvils? additional bells? I don't recall), but nothing about it is listed in the credits (at least of the version I have).
 
Incidentally, I don't think I've heard Peter since childhood.

Why would JW almost quit because JJ came back to direct 9?  Seemed like they got along fine.

Never owned this album and never heard it.  I listened to one song on Spotify just now... hard pass on this one.

Damn you for making me choose between these two.... I will mull this over.

Damn you for making me choose between these two.... I will mull this over.

I gave “On Stage” a listen on Spotify this evening, I recognized a number of tunes.  An enjoyable album for what it is.  While listening I couldn’t help but think: what if Williams had included a 10-minute “Thomas and the King” suite on this album?  The Boston Pops players’ revolt of ‘84 would have been much uglier.

Let's say your boss tripled your workload and for reasons having to do with his own lack of foresight.  Would you be cool with that?  

Mostly that! I voted for the Oliver Stone set as it probably has a marginally higher chance of becoming a reality as none of those scores have yet been expanded and aren’t big budget franchise movies so wouldn’t be of much interest to the studios who own the rights. Having said that I think they are different studios which is probably the major complication there.
 
Otherwise a “definitive” original trilogy  would be great. If only to fix the sound of Empire and Jedi (I’m thinking Superman level improvement if the tapes exist). However as they’ve had pretty decent releases between the Anthology box and the Special Editions I’d probably plump for the prequels or Indy scores. I honestly don’t recall any particularly interesting music missing from the SW sequel trilogy and beyond Force Awakens didn’t excite me in the way the originals or prequel scores did.
 
A collection of his early stuff would be interesting and I’d definitely try it. However, for that my preference would actually be some re-recorded suites as I don’t imagine many have particularly great sound and a well curated suite would probably cover them well. 

Definitely the Original Star Wars Trilogy, remastered C&C + OST by MM
 
That Universal Collection is a close second just to have all that unreleased stuff.
 
Then the Indy box, I’m mostly happy with the expanded releases we got despite some of their issues.
 
Then a C&C Star Wars Prequel box, I  am content with what is available and what’s been leaked.
 
Then an Oliver Stone box, I’m content with the OSTs.  I like BOT4OJ but not crazy about the other two.
 
Lastly, a Star Wars Sequel Trilogy box.  I really dislike these movies and am largely indifferent toward the scores.
 
Any of these would be an instant purchase for me though.

Yes, I was disappointed in this score when the movie first came out.  And no, the expansion didn’t change my opinion.  Outside of the Main Theme, The Hunt, Rescuing Sarah and The Raptors Appear this score doesn’t do much for me.

Disappointed by the music?  No.
 
Disappointed with the idiotic dinorama packaging?  Extremely!
 
 

Part 1:
I’ve seen all but BFG, Book Thief, Warhorse, Tintin, Geisha, Terminal
 
Part 2:
I’ve seen all but Stepmom, Amistad, Seven Years In Tibet, Rosewood, Nixon, Far & Away, JFK, Stanley & Iris 
 
Part 3:
I’ve seen all but River, Monsignor, Heartbeeps, Midway, Missouri Breaks
 
Part 4:
I have seen only Earthquake, Sugarland, Cinderella Liberty, Images, Poseidon, Cowboys
 
Part 5:
None from this group
 
* I have attempted to watch Seven Years In Tibet and Reivers but didn’t make it very far into either one
 
* Actually, after submitting my vote I realized I did watch Daddy-O via MST3K.  

I gave “On Stage” a listen on Spotify this evening, I recognized a number of tunes.  An enjoyable album for what it is.  While listening I couldn’t help but think: what if Williams had included a 10-minute “Thomas and the King” suite on this album?  The Boston Pops players’ revolt of ‘84 would have been much uglier.

Love that Kunzel album, he nails Planet Krypton and Wrath of Kahn, and with Nimoy redoing his great voiceover.
 
And Kunzel knew that The Bicycle Chase and The Departure were better than Williams’ Adventures On Earth concert piece.
 
The only thing I dislike about Kunzel albums are the silly synthesizer and sound effects.  But this is a discussion for a different thread....

Love that Kunzel album, he nails Planet Krypton and Wrath of Kahn, and with Nimoy redoing his great voiceover.
 
And Kunzel knew that The Bicycle Chase and The Departure were better than Williams’ Adventures On Earth concert piece.
 
The only thing I dislike about Kunzel albums are the silly synthesizer and sound effects.  But this is a discussion for a different thread....

Williams will score this movie, and I hope he does.  Since this is so personal to Spielberg, we might get a really special score from JW.