La-La Land Records' HOOK (2CD Expanded) Discussion thread

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

:thumbup:

[Incanus 5,714]

:thumbup:

Indeed. Warmly seconded.

[Josh500 1,615]

:thumbup:

:thumbup:

[TownerFan 4,983]

Mr. M. said it best that the problems with this Hook set were NOT entirely La-La Land's fault. They did their best to locate all the necessary elements they needed. They went to Spielberg, Williams and even Shawn Murphy but couldn't find everything. Hence why they had to resort to the music only portion from the film stems of the movie for quite a few pieces. So don't blame them for that.

I agree. I'm sure they did all the best. However, if I was in their place, I would have put an asterisk on the back cover (or on the press release) saying "Taken directly from film stems". This way would have been nicer, imho. Of course they mentioned the issue during the interview with Tim Burden a few days before the release, so it wasn't completely out of the blue, but maybe it should have been explained more clearly.

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

Hey Guys! La-La Land released an expanded Hook!

It's more then we had (legally)!

Got great Sound!

They worked for Eons on this thing!

MV and the rest of the La La Crew are heroes!

YAY!!!!!!!

(someone had to say it! )

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ :cheer:

[Josh500 1,615]

Hey Guys! La-La Land released an expanded Hook!

It's more then we had (legally)!

Got great Sound!

They worked for Eons on this thing!

MV and the rest of the La La Crew are heroes!

YAY!!!!!!!

(someone had to say it! )

Yes.

But I'm gonna add one thing, because some people seem to take this for granted:

Thank you, John Williams for writing this wonderful, awesome, freaking mind-blowingly good score!

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

Hey Guys! La-La Land released an expanded Hook!

It's more then we had (legally)!

Got great Sound!

They worked for Eons on this thing!

MV and the rest of the La La Crew are heroes!

YAY!!!!!!!

(someone had to say it! )

Yes.

But I'm gonna add one thing, because some people seem to take this for granted:

Thank you, John Williams for writing this wonderful, awesome, freaking mind-blowingly good score!

:up: :up: :up:

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Incanus 5,714]

Oh so young and already so cynical. Life is too short so rejoice BloodBoal! Rejoice of this release!

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

Oh so young and already so cynical. Life is too short so rejoice BloodBoal! Rejoice of this release!

All in favor ( MEN IN black reference) " Nod your head" :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Ok, I haven't received my Hook yet (hopefully later today!) so I can't comment on the music yet. But I do have a few brief comments on the last few pages of this thread. First, like most people here I am thrilled that this got released at all. Kudos to La La Land for doing this. In return for your hard work on this, you have my hard-earned dollars, and rightly so. You guys rock! However, I also understand the frustration from those fans who were holding out for a complete release. The frustration has nothing to do with La La Land's hard work and efforts in making the current release happen. Rather it's to do with the fact that, because of this release, it is highly unlikely that Hook will ever get another official CD release. As far as the Hook score getting a complete release goes, this is it. This is as good as it's ever going to get. And that is a crushing disappointment to many. I'm sure LLL did a great job, and I can't wait to hear it. However, this release has effectively dashed all hopes of a complete score ever being released (at least for the foreseeable future). So let's all have a big group hug and go easy on everyone. I say "Splunge" (which means "well done La La Land, great CD, I love the extra music, but also let me be sad and disappointed that I will never get the rest of it. Or perhaps It's a great-idea-but-possibly-not-and-I'm-not-being-indecisive!"...)

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Rather it's to do with the fact that, because of this release, it is highly unlikely that Hook will ever get another official CD release. As far as the Hook score getting a complete release goes, this is it. This is as good as it's ever going to get. And that is a crushing disappointment to many. I'm sure LLL did a great job, and I can't wait to hear it. However, this release has effectively dashed all hopes of a complete score ever being released (at least for the foreseeable future).

I disagree. If recent history has shown us anything is that labels are nor re-releasing expanded/complete scores. Die Hard was re-released last years, Predator has been released twice now. Poltergeist was also recently redone.

LLL did the best they could do with the elements they had, and Williams' input was probably unavoidable for some reason.

Maybe in a few years better elements turn up, and LLL or another label will take another shot at it.

[Jay 37,363]

If something will make money and can be licensed, it will be licensed and released.

[Incanus 5,714]

Well pretty much the only thing bugging me is that I don't have this set yet so I can't comment on it more specifically.

[publicist 4,643]

Maybe in a few years better elements turn up, and LLL or another label will take another shot at it.

Just release the duel music on some other album, like FSM does regularly when they find new elements. The rest sounds fine as it is.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

free flac downloads on their site would suit me as well...

[Mitchell 0]

The sound quality of The Ultimate War is spottier than the rest of the album but is is better than what we had before. I'm going to take out the loops and put the tracks together to have a nice long John Debney sized Battle cue (when I get the time.) I prefer my cues to end where the composer intended them to end and not before. If I had my way and we had the missing insert, it would connect to Farewell Neverland and I'd end the score with a cue the length of a Brady Bunch episode.

Other than the loops and sound of The Ultimate War, I have no complaints.Wuould I like the food insert? Absolutely. But the transition back into The Never-Feast is less than masterful and IMO that is why Williams cut it. The Never-Feast cue flows extremely well the way we have it. The film version could have been included as an alternate though.

On a side note: To anyone who's heard the Tim Burden interview, I wonder what La-La Land's other upcoming milestone is?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The similarities have always been there, but I've never specifically noticed what a dead ringer Don't Try And Stop Me is for The Witches of Eastwick score.

[Score_Fan 36]

Mine came in today! I have a few minor quibbles, which are :

The transition in from mermaid to lost boys - rufio's entrance is just...bad. I wish it had been kept separate, or had a better usage.

I won't complain about the missing cues - I kept them from footwarmers, and I just dvdripped Pick Em' Up, however I find it a trife unnecessary to have done that.

Other than that, perfect.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Got mine today. Listened to it twice. I don't have any complaints about Ultimate War, other than that rather severe volume dip at the end of Part I. Otherwise, this set is awesome, and I am perfectly pleased with it.

Perhaps because I had always read the OST was poor and the Bootlegs had terrible quality, I never really listened to Hook at all until about a week ago when I listened to the OST in preparation. I think I am probably enjoying this a lot more than most, not really noticing the missing cues due to my lack of familiarity with the score, as well as getting to experience basically the whole score for the first time, with no real prior experience to taint that. I must say, though, having rewatched the film a few days ago, the original soundtrack wasn't that terrible. Aside from the unforgivable missing sections of The Ultimate War, it was a pretty satisfying product, and now I have that.

And, having not been that familiar with the score, I gotta say, "Remembering Childhood" is magical! The Ultimate War, moreso the section on the OST, has some of WIlliams' best action writing ever.

[Red 75]

I got mine today. Diving into the first disc right now.

[Joe Brausam 214]

I got to listen to this all the way through today....

Apart from the sequenceing of "The Face of Pan", "Follow That Shadow", and "Wendy Tells Peter the Truth" (all easily fixable) I'm 100% satisfied with this album. I can see why some people are upset, but seriously, this is great!

[Incanus 5,714]

My copy arrived just few moments ago.

A few initial thoughts now that I am listening to the 1st disc:

The sound quality is pretty awesome and dynamic, better to my ears than on the OST.

The whole package, art work and liner notes are excellent. Quick leafing through the booklet reveals awesome art direction of Jim Titus and I am happy to see that Daniel Schweiger has placed info on his sources for his analysis/essay at the end of the work, giving the writing solid background info.

One curious thing is that Schweiger omits any commentary for Stick with Me song transformed eventually to Hook's theme when he discusses the themes and their relation to the song material Williams wrote with Bricusse before the filming of the planned musical version was abandoned.

Now I just sit back to enjoy all this wonderful music!

[Incanus 5,714]

The Ultimate War sounds despite the obvious fluctuations in sound pretty damn awesome in complete form!

The No More Hook section at the start of Farewell to Neverland sounds like it is rather awkwardly faded in at the beginning. It would have been perhaps better left as an independent track. I know how Williams hates short tracks but it would have been more effective without direct segue to Farewell to Neverland.

Also the Rufio material on disc 1, on the From Mermaids to Lost Boys track might have been more natural on its own. As it is it comes in far too suddenly before the previous cue has had chance to stop, making an abrupt transition.

The alternate Prologue/trailer music is quite awesome. It is nice to hear a fresh take on the material and a welcome surprise.

Finally we have Banning Back Home film version as well. Somehow this anomaly in the tone of the score has always been close to my heart, a musical portrait of Peter's yuppie life (indeed originally named Yuppie Sounds on the sheet music) in America that sets it apart from the magical orchestral atmosphere of the rest of the score. The film version has been ingrained in my mind after watching the film so many times and it is wonderful to hear it for the first time as pure music outside the film.

Presenting Hook (Film version) is just brilliant, the additional material for the pirates and unused section for Tinkerbell augmenting the piece greatly, completing the musical narrative of the sequence.

Wendy Tells Peter the Truth is another delightful piece combining the alternate darker Portrait of Wendy (Looney Wendy in the sheet music) which casts the Childhood theme in a slightly more unsettling variation before continuing with the other section of the same scene where the male choir sings wordlessly the Low Below pirate theme as Wendy reveals Peter his identity. Absolutely terrfic to have this pair of cues after so many years of listening to the bootlegs.

And of course the Exit Music soars poignantly, the Believe theme or what I still call Neverland theme sounding nostalgic and sweeping, providing the set a perfect ending.

[Jilal 569]

Special thanks to Jason LeBlanc?

[Jay 37,363]

=D

[Jilal 569]

Why?

[Jay 37,363]

Yeah and you've got a special thanks on this one. You didn't receive an advance copy?

My comped copy hasn't arrived yet I wanted to get it right away, so I ordered one the moment it went on sale. Besides, my freaking name is on this thing! I need a backup! (Actually, I'll likely give away the extra one at some point after it sells out like with 1941)

Are there any edits in the section available from the OST that weren't on the OST?

No, but all the OST tracks that contained multiple cues were re-made from scratch (presumably using the full session cues), so some of the segues sound different. This is most noticeable in Granny Wendy and Hook-Napped.

so the ultimate war part I has film loops but not the inserts? something fishy here.

Since i read jason's interview with the producer, where he said he had watched the film several times and were replicating the film score that bugged me.

Do you think they used the OST track and edited it to replicate the film?

I don't think so, because starting at 1:01 in the track, the LLL set uses the same take as the final film, while the OST used an alternate take. I can't explain the loop at 5:26 though.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Special thanks to Jason LeBlanc

:worship:

[Josh500 1,615]

What? Jason gets a Special Thanks on this album????? WOW!!!

Why?????

Does this mean we can blame all its faults on you now?

[Jay 37,363]

I provided some information that ultimately wasn't used, but I think the best thing I did was recommend John Takis to help out with the project. His contributions absolutely improved the set in numerous different ways.

[King Mark 3,631]

I got my mine in the mail today

The overall sound quality of this c.d. is great

Only the Ultimate War sections and Williams editing decisions are the problem

[Richard Penna 3,688]

I got mine today too.

Listening in a much quieter environment, this is a very enjoyable set, and I found I was able to appreciate the complexity of the mickey-mousing sequences, even if they're not always emotionally satisfying.

And despite the sound flaws (the volume changes are pretty bad), the Ultimate War absolutely rocks.

[King Mark 3,631]

I forgot to say...I got a perfectly uncracked and scratch free jewel case

[Richard Penna 3,688]

Me too.

[Incanus 5,714]

Josh will be very relieved. You two ordered straight from LLL right?

[King Mark 3,631]

yes

[Richard Penna 3,688]

yes

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

His contributions absolutely improved the set in numerous different ways.

So maybe it's possible to thank also John Takis here in this thread for the brilliant album!Thanks!!

[Incanus 5,714]

His contributions absolutely improved the set in numerous different ways.

So maybe it's possible to thank also John Takis here in this thread for the brilliant album!Thanks!!

Yeah. I had a feeling John had his hand in this. So thank you to both Jason and John!

[Jay 37,363]

John Takis' name is clearly listed on the back cover of the booklet as a "Production Assistant" along with Frank DeWald

[Incanus 5,714]

John Takis' name is clearly listed on the back cover of the booklet as a "Production Assistant" along with Frank DeWald

Indeed it is. But I meant that I had a hunch he would be working on this before we got the info that he did. And I was extremely happy that our resident Hook expert did have a chance to work on this.

[Jay 37,363]

Hey I'm just as much a Hook expert!

But yes, it is great that we both got to be involved in different ways

[Incanus 5,714]

Hey I'm just as much a Hook expert!

But yes, it is great that we both got to be involved in different ways

Yes of course Jason. I meant no disrespect to you or your expertise.

[Kamdan 0]

Was there any reason why Leslie Bricusse's unused lyrics weren't included in this release?

[crocodile 8,012]

Same as with anything else: legal, probably.

Karol

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

How can one assemble (detailed timing) the Williams intended version of the end credits?

[jacksparrow900 32]

if you take the second part of smee's plan and mixed it at the end of when your all alone it flows perfect.

[GoodMusician 56]

I was thinking Jason, that loop...remember in the french interview, the guy talks about how he and his (son/grandson/nephew I forget who) had all the available material and used the 'film as a guide.' Do you think maybe it's a remnant of that assembly? Wasn't he the one, ultimately, who edited it? And although you and I (in a general sense) are familiar with it, Williams may not have caught that slight loop knowing that he uses such a technique when writing?

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I mentioned that. it would be a disgrace if true, really.