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Complete box set: Any idea for a John Williams Anthology?


Bespin

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It is perhaps still too early to talk about this, but it must be done sooner or later, I mean to group all John Williams albums together in a coffret.
 
For my part, I find that it would be interesting to do a Television and Film music coffret with the replica of all the original albums, all pre-digital tracks remastered from the original Master analog tapes.
 
Any other ideas?
 
Here is my suggestion for a first coffret of 50 CD, covering the 1960-1992 era.
 

John Williams

The Original Soundtracks Anthology (1960-1992)

50 CD

CD1-1960 Checkmate
CD2-1962 Diamond Head
CD3-1966 How to Steal a Million
CD4-1966 Not With My Wife, You Don't
CD5-1966 Penelope
CD6-1967 Fitzwilly
CD7-1968 Heidi
CD8-1968 Valley of the Dolls
CD9-1969 Goodbye, Mr. Chips
CD10-1969 The Reivers
CD11-1971 Fiddler on the Roof
CD12-1971 Jane Eyre
CD13-1972 Images
CD14-1973 Cinderella Liberty
CD15-1973 The Cowboys
CD16-1973 Tom Sawyer
CD17-1974 Earthquake
CD18-1975 The Eiger Sanction
CD19-1975 Jaws
CD20-1975 The Towering Inferno
CD21-1976 The Missouri Breaks
CD22-1977 Star Wars
CD23-1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
CD24-1978 Jaws 2
CD25-1978 Superman: The Movie
CD26-1978 The Fury
CD27-1979 1941
CD28-1979 Dracula
CD29-1980 The Empire Strikes Back
CD30-1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark
CD31-1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
CD32-1982 Monsignor
CD33-1983 Return of the Jedi
CD34-1984 The River
CD35-1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
CD36-1986 SpaceCamp
CD37-1987 The Witches of Eastwick
CD38-1987 Empire of the Sun
CD39-1988 The Accidental Tourist
CD40-1989 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
CD41-1989 Born on the Fourth of July
CD42-1990 Always
CD43-1990 Stanley & Iris
CD44-1990 Presumed Innocent
CD45-1990 Home Alone

CD46-1991 Hook

CD47-1992 JFK
CD48-1992 Far and Away
CD49-1992 Home Alone 2 – Lost in New York

 

CD50
+Singles and rarities:

 

- Midway March
- The Men Of The Yorktown March

- If We Were in Love (by Luciano Pavarotti)
- If We Were in Love (Instrumental)

...


___

A second coffret covering the 1993-20.. era, would contain 35 CD for now:

John Williams

The Original Soundtracks Anthology (1993-20..)
CD1-1993 Jurassic Park
CD2-1993 Schindler's List
CD3-1995 Sabrina
CD4-1995 Nixon
CD5-1996 Sleepers
CD6-1997 Rosewood
CD7-1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
CD8-1997 Seven Years in Tibet
CD9-1997 Amistad
CD10-1998 Saving Private Ryan
CD11-1998 Stepmom
CD12-1999 Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace
CD13-1999 Angela's Ashes
CD14-2000 The Patriot
CD15-2001 A.I. – Artificial Intelligence
CD16-2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
CD17-2002 Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones
CD18-2002 Minority Report
CD19-2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (conducted by William Ross)
CD20-2002 Catch Me If You Can
CD21-2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
CD22-2004 The Terminal
CD23-2005 Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
CD24-2005 War of the Worlds
CD25-2005 Memoirs of a Geisha
CD26-2005 Munich
CD27-2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
CD28-2011 The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
CD29-2011 War Horse
CD30-2012 Lincoln
CD31-2013 The Book Thief

CD32-2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens

CD33-2016 The BFG

CD34-2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi

CD35-2017 The Post

...

 

The Adventures of Han (From Solo: Star Wars movie) (2018)

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Well he did say original albums. This exercise is moot because all expanded releases make the original albums obsolete. I don't know if Star Wars and TESB were originally double disc albums.

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First of all, this would never happen due to the insane rights issue problems.

Second, your selection is a bit weird -- you have randomly included a non-film music album like RHYTHM IN MOTION there, but none of the other dozens of albums in same genre that he did? Surely, if such a project was feasible in the first place, you would at the very least want the film music, tv music, non-film music albums etc. to be in separate boxes. Perhaps also separate out those where he arranged rather than composed.

You're also missing quite a few titles.

Personally -- since I have every commercially available soundtrack JW ever did, and as long as we're talking dream projects -- I would much rather have a box with his unreleased scores, a box of his tv scores (perhaps just a box for ALCOA PREMIERE THEATRE, for example) and so on than a repeat of everything I have.

But I applaud your willingness to preserve the original albums in new releases. Unlike someone else above, it is the expanded releases that I think are obsolete, not the original albums.

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The main goal of this idea is to celebrate John Williams, is the expanded releases really celebrate John Williams or your uncontrollable and insane need to own everything? ;)

We can't re-write history, it's why I thinked about the "original albums" concept. A John Williams boxset will never include expanded releases, forget it.

@Jay

Ok, I wasn't sure if these original 2-Lps fits on 1 modern CD. Anyway in a "replica" concept, 1 LP = 1 CD. The goal is not to be "economical", but to reproduce the recto and verso of each original album. That could be fun, even for fans that own only CDs and not the original LPs.

@RedBard

My concept is to reproduce "Original albums". :)

@Drax, @Thor

This kind of coffret is usually made for lambda consumer, sure you already have everything... that's not the point.

What missing titles? Original solo & studio albums only, conducted by John Williams, it's a coffret of HIS albums (I know, I've included Chamber of secrets... that's a beautiful exception, because it's an essential... that's life!).

About the rights problems... Well, some compilations exists, so it's not impossible to achieve. The question is: is this kind of coffret can be profitable? You know, one day, all this will be in Public Domain. :)

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It would be nifty, but in the end totally useless and likely impossibly expensive. It's the kind of collectible item affordable only by rich people who are probably more interested in the object itself than the actual music.

I second the idea about a collection of Williams' early TV scores for anthology shows, even though I suspect we'll never see those released, sadly.

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It would be nifty, but in the end totally useless and likely impossibly expensive. It's the kind of collectible item affordable only by rich people who are probably more interested in the object itself than the actual music.

I second the idea about a collection of Williams' early TV scores for anthology shows, even though I suspect we'll never see those released, sadly.

Totally useless? Tell that to Sony and Universal that keeps making CD coffrets.

Why John Williams could'nt have one?

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Yes, totally useless because it would be simply old wine in a new (and uber-expensive) bottle. Most of JW admirers/collectors already have all those titles. If the point is to remaster and re-release the original albums (surely a good idea), then it would be better to do it individually for each title.

Those mega-boxsets released by classical labels can be tempting just for compuslive collectors who buy again and again the same stuff, like the umpteenth version of Karajan's Beethoven cycle. It's a niche within a niche market, even though likely the only one who's still willing to spend several hundreds Euros/Dollars for such things.

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@TownerFan

I don't know if you realize, but someone in 2015 that want to start a John Williams CD collection... well, he's going to jump in a real nightmare. ;)

My listing count actually 81 existing albums... where do you find them today?

Some are very hard to find, if you are lucky you'll get them "used", but you'll not easily find all of them.

That's not as simple as it seems.

And those 80's and 90's CD... they all need new HD transfers and remasterisation!

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@E.T. and Elliot

lol

These days the coffrets are really cheap, each CD are usually in cardboard sleeves, or even cheapier in just a paper sleeve, that's why they can put 50-80 CD in a not to big box. I'm not complaining about that, it's more economical for us too.

EDIT: Ooops, just removed "Rhythm in motion" from my list, I always thought it was a Soundtrack, my mistake :-)

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... all tracks remastered from the original Master analog tapes.

And for those recorded digitally? :blink:

What do you think? ;)

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Yes, totally useless because it would be simply old wine in a new (and uber-expensive) bottle. Most of JW admirers/collectors already have all those titles. If the point is to remaster and re-release the original albums (surely a good idea), then it would be better to do it individually for each title.

While it's a fun idea in theory, I gotta go with this take on it. The majority of the group who this would appeal to have all or most of these titles already, and wouldn't have the money to spend on filling out the rest of their collection by paying a huge bundle to get the last few missing scores.

Actually, it would be cool if they sold this kind of thing as both the complete box sets and individual members of the larger groups—in other words, you could buy the single scores you're missing, or you could purchase the entire set at once. I don't know the feasibility of that approach, but it would certainly make it more marketable.

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John Williams and Steven Spielberg Music Box, contained in a mini replica of the Ark of the Covenant warehouse crate.

My thoughts exactly! Just like how back in 2010, Warner Bros. released a limited quantity of the Burton & Elfman 25th Anniversary Music Box Collection.

This time, it'll be the Spielberg & Williams 40th Anniversary Music Collection, and no sloppy craftsmanship.

The contents would include:

Soundtracks in Sleeves w/ colorful illustrations

Jaws

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1941

Raiders of the Lost Ark

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Empire of the Sun

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Always

Hook

Jurassic Park

Schindler’s List

The Lost World

Amistad

Saving Private Ryan

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Minority Report

Catch Me If You Can

The Terminal

War of the Worlds

Munich

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Adventures of Tintin

War Horse

Lincoln

Work Tapes & Demo Tracks

Limited Edition Disc of previously unreleased material w/ Williams’ Signature on the sleeve (First 1000 sets only)

Props

Coffee table book filled with Liner Notes written by experts ;) <<< I mean you guys

DVD with Interview between Williams and Spielberg

Movie prop item from one of the movies listed above (Piece of Harrison Ford's leather jacket from any of the Indy films?)

Any other suggestions?

Still trying to figure out what kind of container to put it in. I wanna say the Ark of the Covenant, but I'm open to other ideas, too.

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Thanks RedBard, it's the kind of post I was waiting for.

It would be a great coffret, maybe more commercial than a complete Soundtrack Anthology, but who knows!

If this coffret contains the remastered original albums of Jaws and E.T., I would buy it!

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@TownerFan

I don't know if you realize, but someone in 2015 that want to start a John Williams CD collection... well, he's going to jump in a real nightmare. ;)

My listing count actually 81 existing albums... where do you find them today?

Some are very hard to find, if you are lucky you'll get them "used", but you'll not easily find all of them.

That's not as simple as it seems.

And those 80's and 90's CD... they all need new HD transfers and remasterisation!

If anyone wants to start a John Williams collection right now, it seems to me there is quite a good number of titles readily available to buy, both physical and digital, be it regular OST releases or expanded ones by specialty labels. Sure, there isn't everything available, but it takes time to build a comprehensive collection. You can't have everything in just one shot, unless you have lots of money to spend for these things pronto.

I understand that fans dream of these kind of deluxe releases all the time and maybe one day something along these lines will be released. But frankly I'm not that interested. My JW CD collection is already pretty large and comprehensive. I look forward much more to new John Williams music.

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I've built up a large and comprehensive collection. It's just a matter of filling some gaps here and there. Often I want the OSTs and any expanded editions to have a more complete history of how the music has been treated on album.

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RedBard you forgot 1941, Always, The Lost World, Amistad, Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones 4.... .what up with that?

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RedBard you forgot 1941, Always, The Lost World, Amistad, Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones 4.... .what up with that?

Fixed. :P

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RedBard you forgot 1941, Always, The Lost World, Amistad, Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones 4.... .what up with that?

Fixed. :P

That'll make a bigger Ark :)

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That's right. The music collection coffret would be in the shape of the Ark of the Covenant, with the logo title of the collection on the frontispiece.

How's this for a description?

=================================================================

Universal Studios proudly presents...

The Limited Edition Steven Spielberg & John Williams 40th Anniversary Music Box Collection!

Casing

- Original casing crafted to look like the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark

~ Built-in music chip that plays "The Map Room Dawn" when the casing is opened (hinged lid; music chip can be switched on and off)

ark.jpg?w=600&h=338

Contents

- 26 soundtracks from Jaws to Lincoln, each in a soft sleeve with original album art

- Limited Edition Bonus CD #27 signed by John Williams himself

- DVD with interviews and conversations with Spielberg & Williams (and Easter Eggs, too)

- From Sharks to Dinosaurs: 40 years of Steven Spielberg & John Williams, a 10x10, 300+ page book of liner notes w/ foreword by Harrison Ford

- A USB drive in the shape of Marion Ravenwood's Medallion stocked with all of the material on the CDs (not to scale)

=================================================================

It's a start. I might need to tweak some parameters some smore. But right now, this is just a proof of concept. What do you think so far?

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The JWFan Forums speak of this collection leveling the competition and laying waste to FSM board members.

An army which carries this music collection before him/her is invincible to musical criticism.

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The bastards at Sony Classical would surely enchant it with a divine spell causing everyone taking any CD out of it to be instantly electrocuted, leaving the box behind for them to recollect.

Then again, what are they going to do with all the recollected arks?

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FINALLY! Finally, after years and years waiting for it to be made available, all this unreleased music is now in my possession!!! I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT TO LISTEN TO ALL OF IT!!! Let's open this box set... Wait... What's that? What the.... ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

tumblr_lzlb30rqq91r1f1p5.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

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