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The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration Part III CD & DVD (And Ultimate Collection CD / VINYL box set)


The Psycho Pianist

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I think the problem with the piece is the name "Adventures of Mutt".  It's not a concert arrangement of a theme for Mutt (he doesn't really have one), its a concert arrangement of one of the cues that make up The Jungle Chase, in the same vain as "The Forest Battle" from ROTJ, "Abandoned And Pursued" from ET, "The Duel" from Tintin, etc.

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7 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

I like the basic nuts and bolts of the theme but it does wind up still feeling unfinished, like an unused sketch from his Hook notes that he always liked and was just messing around with. I guess he was going for spontaneity, maybe? It sorta works, but something's missing.

 

Well said.  This criticism has been bouncing around half-formed in my head for years, and it almost occurred to me again when I listened to "The Lost Boy Chase" yesterday.  They even share a similar "B phrase" and are definitely cut from the same cloth.  The key difference is that TLBC is a minor, basically one-off, set-piece in a score positively replete with gorgeous/catchy/heartbreaking/fun major themes.  (I've tried counting those themes, and I always lose count.  10? 12?)  "Mutt," conversely, is the only major new concert arrangement from a score that offered only three new themes to begin with (and the only one of the three that the Maestro seems remotely interested in revisiting, ever, at all, ever).  It's better than TLBC, in my opinion, but it can't "carry" the score experience of a movie on the scale of Indy 4.  (I mean, imagine if "March of the Resistance" were the only new concert arrangement from TFA.)

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46 minutes ago, igger6 said:

 

Well said.  This criticism has been bouncing around half-formed in my head for years, and it almost occurred to me again when I listened to "The Lost Boy Chase" yesterday.  They even share a similar "B phrase" and are definitely cut from the same cloth. 

For me, i dont see Adventres of mutt critisizable.

 

Although probably not the case, i want to believe Williams deliberately infused some early 90's feeling to this score, the timeframe where this film should have aired and what a natural evolution of the indy music would have sounded then. So Adventures of Mutt has resemblances to Lost boys chase... and the synth bass in Mutt's introduction is practically the same as 'Incident at isla nublar'...

 

 

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That cover still looks slapdash to me.  We go from an original Drew Struzan painting on volume 1 to a more generic but still striking piece of marquee art on volume 2 to a candid snapshot from across the room for volume 3?  Cheesy, says I.  And the sound equipment crawling up the side of Spielberg's head makes him look like Lobot's cousin.

 

SWE_Lobot.jpg

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20 minutes ago, igger6 said:

That cover still looks slapdash to me.  We go from an original Drew Struzan painting on volume 1 to a more generic but still striking piece of marquee art on volume 2 to a candid snapshot from across the room for volume 3?  Cheesy, says I.  And the sound equipment crawling up the side of Spielberg's head makes him look like Lobot's cousin.

 

 

I know what you mean, it does seem lazy. 

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It would be nice if Sony Classical ponied up the money to have an artist draw something new but I'm not surprised at all they didn't.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

It would be nice if Sony Classical ponied up the money to have an artist draw something new but I'm not surprised at all they didn't.

 

Yeah, compare album sales of 1991 to 2017 and I don't blame them.

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Ha ha ha... :sarcasm:

 

Bespin is actually thinking how to add this new album to the discography.

 

The new album is the 141 solo album of Williams, thanks to the standalone release... even if it's only digital (for the moment). Without this standalone release, I would not have been able to add it to the album category, as the whole 4-discs set is a compilation, containing some previously unreleased material (the third disc).

 

So, the whole 4 discs set, will go in the compilation section.

 

Thanks Sony!

 

EDIT: Website & Wiki article updated.

 

:up:

 

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On 25.2.2017 at 0:16 AM, Jay said:

No.

 

Sorry Jay, you are wrong. It will be released as a japanese version on Blu-spec CD2 and it comes with the DVD (catalogue nr.: SICP-30988). I will buy this one, I don't care about the other albums. And this CD will be a standard plastic juwel case, not that crap digipack.

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/ジョン-ウィリアムズ-コンダクツ-スピルバーグ-DVD付-ジョン-ウィリアムズ-指揮者/dp/B01N9VL74Z/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1488069665&sr=1-3&keywords=john+williams

 

Don't be fooled by other Amazon links, which says: "Conducts Music From the Star Wars Saga". It is only mislabeled. CDjapan says correctly "John Williams Conducts Music For The Films Of Steven Spielberg [CD+DVD] [Blu-spec CD2]". It also states DVD region 2. Germany has region 2 as well as japan, so there is no problem for me.

 

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SICP-30988

 

I love the Blu-spec's. Oh wait, I will open a new thread for another news...

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On ‎25‎.‎2‎.‎2017 at 0:44 AM, hornist said:

Is it possible to buy only this third collaboration cd+ dvd?

 

 

So I am going to buy the 3rd disc digitally and see the "I need the better composer but they are all dead" part from youtube. I hate this forced buying of the old discs. Fuck sony

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On 2/22/2017 at 7:17 AM, mrbellamy said:

I'm a little in between. I've always enjoyed it and remember having fun listening to it a lot when it first came out, but I also think compositionally it's a tad on the clumsy side for Williams...not the biggest fan of the repeating "rapidly descending scale" thing that finishes the intro and pops up here and there motivically.

I agree with you, and the emperor:

 

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I don't mind the re-issue of the first 2 Sony albums but if they upgraded the quality with a bit of remastering then it should be welcome. But the real deal are discs 3 &4.

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Wow!

 

Is this actually a new arrangement just for this CD? (Sorry if that's actually what all the "immense" comments are referring too, but I thought maybe they were just talking about the performance)

 

It's certainly different than the corresponding OST track. But I'm not familiar with the score beyond that. 


EDIT: I found a YouTube video with seemingly the same arrangement, being performed at a concert, so I guess this is just the version that JW did for concert performance a while back? 

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9 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Has he ever performed the Minority Report piece?

 

That's what I'm wondering. 


EDIT: If it was, it's not in Bespin's list -- although his only includes recorded concerts, I believe. 

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1 hour ago, artguy360 said:

Everything sounds great. We're so blessed to be receiving this new recording of classic JW music, all under his baton.

 

Yes me in particular wanted to have a new fresh recording of the 'Hymn' from SPR. From the preview bit and AMISTAD , actually both sound they way I like. Clear and upfront.

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7 hours ago, Thor said:

Did someone post this yet? New video today, of "Dry Your Tears, Africa" (which sounds tremendously huge in this arrangement). Also Williams looks at least 20 years younger in his conducting energy here, compared to what I've seen lately:

 

 

 

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VEVO has also put the AMISTAD track online.

 

The track is identical to the Dudamel's conducted concert performance in the 'Williams Celebration' Blu ray DVD.

 

link here:

 

http://collider.com/steven-spielberg-john-williams-ultimate-collection-clip#amistad

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8 hours ago, Will said:

Wow!

 

Is this actually a new arrangement just for this CD? (Sorry if that's actually what all the "immense" comments are referring too, but I thought maybe they were just talking about the performance)

 

In this version, he seems to have included multiple choirs (children's, women's, men's) to a higher degree than at least I have heard before. He also alludes to this in the interview. That's what I meant with 'immense'.

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Amistad sounds HECTIC! That combined choir is absolutely sensational.

 

Seeing the video; it thrills me as always to watch JW conducting anything. His grand mannerisms inspire me so much. That said, I notice that post-pacemaker, he doesn't seem to lift his elbows as much. He usually makes grand sweeping gestures, particularly to close a piece, but now he seems to rely mostly on his fore-arm, as if he's lost strength in his shoulder.

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2 hours ago, Thor said:

 

In this version, he seems to have included multiple choirs (children's, women's, men's) to a higher degree than at least I have heard before. He also alludes to this in the interview. That's what I meant with 'immense'.

 

I counted at least between 80-100 choir members

 

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I must say this rendition of "Dry your tears, Afrika" is really great ! Makes me look forward to listen to the whole CD !
 

I had the opportunity to hear Amistad live during a concert on february 18. 
The full recording of the 3h show will be available soon and I will post it in the apropriate thread but here is the piece from Amistad I found on youtube (it was an introductory medley of several pieaces including superman among others).

 

 

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