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La-La Land's "1941: Expanded Edition" - Discuss!


Jay

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Heard La-La Land's 1941 set? Discuss here!

The original thread can still be used for "Ordered!", "Low Quantity alert", "Mine arrived!" type posts. Please use this thread for all discussion of the actual content (music and packaging) of the release . Thanks!

Really curious to hear what everyone thinks of this wonderful release!

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How many of you guys have it already? Show of hands!

No. Let's just discuss the content here, thanks

It sounds great.

As if it was recorded a few months ago.

I know! The sound quality instantly blew me away. What are your favorite tracks?

I've been playing "Swing Swing Swing", "The Tank Approaches / Finale", "In The Mood", "Encounters", and "Hollis Is Captured / Kelso Lost" the most so far.

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The score sounds terrific and now it is great finally to hear the build up of the music to the track Here We Go which basically sets the whole score into a different larger than life and energetic gear that last through the score up to the final seconds of End Credits. :)

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Can't get enough of it. Put it through the new big speaker set up and it was mind blowing. So much depth! And it's funny, as much as I wanted no cannons in the march section, it feels weird when they're not there!

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I know what you mean! I've been listening to both versions about equally, I'd say. Something feels "missing" with the no-cannons version, yet the cannons feel "obtrusive" in the cannons version. It's interesting!

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The cannons exist are present on the album presentation, right? On the 2nd disc? If that's the case then it's fine.

Karol

Yeap. They are there.

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The cannons exist are present on the album presentation, right? On the 2nd disc? If that's the case then it's fine.

Karol

The finale track of Disc 1 is the full "End Credits" cue with no cannons. The final track of Disc 2 if the full "End Credits" cue with the cannons as they are placed in the film. The original OST presentation, fully preserved at the start of disc 2, includes both the full "End Credits' cue and an edited version called "March from 1941" that have cannons, but they are placed differently than the film version.

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Me too - I'm really enjoying the listen so far. "Swing, Swing, Swing" is especially cool. Not only is the orchestration way different (it includes horns, flutes, and strings), but there are entirely new ideas and a new mix. I like the Close Encounters reference in "The Encounter" (which surprisingly isn't mentioned in the liner notes). Great release so far!

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The score has the classic JW sound of the 70's and hints of things to come, the action music sometimes reminiscent e.g. of ToD in its busy style.

I also love the film version of Swing, Swing, Swing. Even back in the day when I first saw the film I marveled at how the music was choreographed to the fight/dance scene. ;)

The music is full of all those small musical nods and gags, usually quickly referencing some song or a traditional piece to elicit a smile.

The Rakes of Mallow for the USO fight scene. What could fit there better than an Irish jig for a drunken brawl? :lol:

I love how Williams plays with the Elgar styled patriotic hymn music in Birkhead's Pitch and You Have Been Chosen that transforms the absurd speeches even more absurd in their pomposity.

Another gesture I love is the tongue in cheek stereotype of Japanese where Williams strikes those outrageously typical chords whenever they appear.

And despite this diversity the music is very uniform in direction and sound, the main thematic ideas, the march in particular, tying things together. You can just imagine Wild Bill Kelso cavorting around trying to save his homeland from the Axis menace whenever you hear that theme. :)

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THe score has everything a JW score of that era should have

HOWEVER, I still think the thematic ideas themselves (including the March) are somewhat weaker than JW scores that have become true classics

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Yet again the film which has not become a classic has made many people forget the whole score. I for one think the march is absolutely terrific and the supporting motives are very recognizable and identifiable.

Oh and just love the track Kelso in Barstow! Despite the humor inherent in the march the finale of the track is just pure Hollywood and Glory! :)

P.S. The nod to CEO3K reference in Encounters is awesome! And shows how both director and composer were aware and confident of the popular appeal of both Jaws and CEO3K to introduce them in this way in their movie. Williams seemed to think that the Jaws reference needed not to be so strong as he left it more buried in the orchestra but as they edited music from Jaws into the film Spielberg must have thought a clearer reference was needed.

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What I'm saying is you can put the 1941 March in the league of the Midway March, but it's nowhere neat the Superman,Raiders and Star Wars Main titles march

it's good for what it is

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Yeah it has never attained that level of recognition I'll give you that.

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Well, but it is instantly memorable.

Karol

That it is. But not whistled by the nations all over the world. Although I have never been too concerned what nations whistle at any current moment.

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I think the only thing nations whistle is SW main theme, the Imperial March (though they often conduse it with the funeral march for some reason), shark ostinato (not a lot to whistle here), Raiders March, Jurassic Park fanfare (maybe) and Hedwig's theme (also maybe). That's not a lot, if you think about it.

Karol

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I like the Close Encounters reference in "The Encounter" (which surprisingly isn't mentioned in the liner notes).

Mike purposely chose not to "give away" the CE3K theme cameo in the notes in case anybody read them before listening. However, if you read the notes carefully, you can see he does reference how the theme would have lined up with the way the movie was edited at the time he scored it.

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The Rakes of Mallow in the brawl is a great reference to Victor Young's score for The Quiet Man.

I love the march from this film, always have. It's actually fairly popular with concert bands, at least in the US. There is a really great band arrangement of it available.

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Its arrival yesterday coincided with getting my driver's license (yeah, I'm a young 'in), so I've been listening to it in the car constantly. It's a wonder I haven't been pulled over yet! :lol2:

The packaging looks great (fits in with Home Alone; I guess this is their Williams template?), the liner notes are very informative (and don't overlap with Jay's interview, nice work on that), and everything I wanted to hear was here. The only slight bummer is that the cymbal crash that opens 'Kelso Lost' in the film and on the iso is apparently an edit. I kinda liked how it just jumped in with that crash. Ah well, no biggie. Everything's magnificent. I'm hoping to get Explorers today, so not a bad weekend for film music purchases, eh?

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Got mine yesterday, and it sounds great! Sounds like it was just recorded.

After listening to the isolated score for so long it is a bit jarring not to hear the expected source tracks intermixed with the score. I think I miss them!

Does anyone know what the track list would like if I inserted the included source cues as well as some of the missing songs from iTunes?

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Got mine yesterday, and it sounds great! Sounds like it was just recorded.

After listening to the isolated score for so long it is a bit jarring not to hear the expected source tracks intermixed with the score. I think I miss them!

Does anyone know what the track list would like if I inserted the included source cues as well as some of the missing songs from iTunes?

This post here from Jason shows where some of them go: http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20657&st=0&p=748184entry748184

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Got mine yesterday, and it sounds great! Sounds like it was just recorded.

After listening to the isolated score for so long it is a bit jarring not to hear the expected source tracks intermixed with the score. I think I miss them!

Does anyone know what the track list would like if I inserted the included source cues as well as some of the missing songs from iTunes?

This post here from Jason shows where some of them go: http://www.jwfan.com...84

Thank you very much!

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Just finishing a full listen and wow, what a fun score this is.

Before this I was only familiar with the march, from the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration. And while it was catchy enough I always thought it was kind of goofy (and for a while I think I even assumed it was just some random patriotic "song" like the 1812 Overture or Stars and Stripes Forever).

So, I welcomed this new release to give the actual score a chance for the first time. All the reviews said it would be an eye opener, and it was.

In context of it's measured development throughout the score, I appreciate the march a lot more now. I wouldn't have guessed how serious much of the underscore is and how it works to counterbalance the aforethought "goofy" march. That more serious material fits right in there with Raiders, The Mission, and the militaristic bits from Superman (I really dig Williams in that mode).

Donna's theme (I think it's called) I really like in particular. It gives a wonderful sense of flight, reminding me of the main theme from The Mission.

The Rakes of Mallow always brings a smile to my face. Swing, Swing, Swing is fantastic as is the classic In the Mood. I've been wanting to get into more jazz and swing, so this release comes at a prime time (as well as the imminent expiration of Checkmate which prompted me to snag that one as well).

While I still don't consider it one of the greats, for me 1941 has now been elevated from footnote status to a significant favorite.

One I'll be listening to a lot more in the future I'm sure.

And I just noticed all the "spooks" hiding out in the title on the cover! :lol:

Here I was thinking it was curious how they decided to play it straight with the artwork and how it didn't fit so well for a comedy. Hah!

Icing on the cake, that.

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Did anybody's booklet have a faint (but noticeable) blue bar about halfway between the bottom of the picture and "Music compsed and conducted by John Williams"? Not a big issue, but I'm curios.

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After listening to the isolated score for so long it is a bit jarring not to hear the expected source tracks intermixed with the score. I think I miss them!

It is funny but the iso score is something we had a long time that you got used to all the small nuances it had. I am half expecting Kelso's squeaky toy sound to appear in the track The Capture of Hollis/Kelso is Lost. :lol:

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Did anybody's booklet have a faint (but noticeable) blue bar about halfway between the bottom of the picture and "Music compsed and conducted by John Williams"? Not a big issue, but I'm curios.

Yeah, mine has that also.

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Hooray! Mine arrived today!

Yep, blue bar here too. Not too bothered by it, it's the music I'm more interested it, but I can see why people might take issue with it.

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Yep, blue bar here too.

?

Did anybody's booklet have a faint (but noticeable) blue bar about halfway between the bottom of the picture and "Music compsed and conducted by John Williams"? Not a big issue, but I'm curios.

Yeah, mine has that also.

Oh okay. Just saw that.

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Having now relistened to the whole set and read the liner notes I award La-La-Land a big gold star for this release! Such a comprehensive and beautifully executed release. The soundquality is top notch and the music presented in all its zany glory! :)

P.S. My copy also had the faint blue bar in the bottom half of the cover. Which is really not even a small deal.

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Jason, I didn't know about the CE3K reference, that's why I added "Spoiler Alert" to the title of the thread.

And sorry I haven't been able to reply to your latest emails. I will do so later this week.

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Did anybody's booklet have a faint (but noticeable) blue bar about halfway between the bottom of the picture and "Music compsed and conducted by John Williams"? Not a big issue, but I'm curios.

Yeah, mine has that also.

Honestly, I was considering asking for a replacement. It's an unfortunately blemish on an otherwise beautiful package.

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Having now relistened to the whole set and read the liner notes I award La-La-Land a big gold star for this release! Such a comprehensive and beautifully executed release. The soundquality is top notch and the music presented in all its zany glory! :)

Yes. And if only we could have such a release of Harry Potter 1-3, Star Wars prequels 1-3, Indiana Jones 1-4, Jurassic Park 1+2, Hook, and A.I.! :)

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Matessino is the man for the job as he has shown time and time again.

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