The agony of waiting for JW scores.

[Incanus 5,713]

Do any of you have the perpetual problem of getting even the newer Williams scores in your countries? I live in Finland( at the edge of the civilized world and Europe so it would seem at times) and let me tell you it is an agony to wait for the scores such as Catch Me If You Can for almost 3 months after the movie opens in the USA. I think many countries have the same problem. I for myself don't own a Visa or any other credit card so I do not order via internet. This waiting is painful when I read the extatic reviews and read people rawing about these scores and I have to wait for another 2 to 4 months for the "almost Europe wide" release .

I can also tell you how irritating it is when I ask about the newest score by John Williams in the record stores and the only thing I usually get for an answer is a blank stare or "Dunno, I haven't never heard of that movie or the score, I'll check from our computers. Yup, nothing here. Of you go." When you try to order it from abroad throug the record store it will cost extra to send it here if they happen to find it on their lists in Sweden or Germany.

Some record companies have some influence on when the scores are released world wide e.g SW TPM or AOTC, but usually the only movie album released early (even 6 moths in advance here in Finland) are the popular song compilations from the movie. The question of what sells seems to be the main point today

Incanus aka Mikko Ojala from Helsinki Finland.

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

If I may add my bit on that I'd say that CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is quite some one-off among JW's newer scores. It hasn't yet been released in the country I live in (Czech Republic) so I had to ask my friend to get hold of a copy for me on his trip to London's Virgin stores awhile ago. Some other scores (HP, SW:AotC) were released within a month off the States.

But what eats me is the futile try to get JW's older stuff around here, regardless of whether it was a standard release or a rare stuff. Here it's almost no difference between a rarity and common scores released prior to, say, 1995. One even starts to repent not having become a fan of JW a day after his or her birthday, and so being able to stock up on JW's scores by moving moms and dads to getting it while we were infants. This would have saved so much trouble had we been aware of John Williams in the primal days of our lives, wouldn't it......?

The scores I had troubles getting:

Close Encounters (collector's), all 3 E.T's, Jaws 2, both Home Alone original scores and I still don't have the de-luxe edition, Dracula, gold Schindler's List, Temple of Doom took 14 months to deliver from Japan and is my most expensive purchase so far, The River, The Eiger Sanction, even Hook!!!!!!!!!!!, anything with Star Wars from Anthology to 1997's special editions!, ... well, seems I can't think of a single score that was easy to get! Simply, never ever any of you move to Czech Republic in order to obtain film music easily. You'd be very disappointed...

On the other hand, and I'm not kidding, around 30 scores by James Horner are readily available through many stores here. He's got to be having his hands everywhere...!

Roman.-)

[Guest]

The only JW CDs I've bought here are HP 1&2 (which coincided with the movies), Jaws, The last Crusade and Cinema serenade 2.

Hook I got a year ago when my sister came back from the US.

AoTC I got last April when my dad went to the US.

Almost all of the JW CDs I own I bought in the US last summer.

And CMIYC my dad bought for me when he was in the US this past December.

You don't know anybody with an international credit card? I order on either my sister or my dad's cards, and pay them back in cash.

[E-Wan 65]

Roman, I live in Czech republic too and I'm wondering if you live in the same country. Many Williams' soundtracks you have mentioned are available in every CD shop. Naturally some limited and rare CDs such as Home Alone 2 DE, The Fury DE, Temple of Doom, gold Schindler's list, etc... are not, but they are not available anywhere in Europe.

But Catch Me If You Can is normally available. In Czech republic it was released in February. I haven't also any problem to buy Home Alone, Hook, both expanded releases of E.T., SW Anthology Box Set and all three SW trilogy SE 2 CD releases.

E-Wan

[Morn 8]

Well here we often get the same problem. But of bigger problem to me is how reviewers don't always leak their early copies of CD's to the net.

[CYPHER 1]

What problem Morn? Some of those CDs E-Wan mentioned are deluxe editions only available through internet-order aren't they? I'm pretty confident that I could find most soundtrack CDs in store or else easily ordered through the store. Listening to Incanus and Roman I was just thinking how lucky we are to get new-release CD soundtracks both in large quantities and fairly instantaneously. That's something to be grateful for.

CYPHER

[Morn 8]

Well I mean, sometimes it takes a while for new releases in USA to be released here. But when they are released, they are easy to get.

[Yoda Longbottom 0]

Roman, I live in Czech republic too and I'm wondering if you live in the same country.

I am not surprised to hear this from my countryfellow. I have a friend at Prague who often happens upon soundtrack rarities ("SW Anthology") and even at regular stores (Bontonland), but I fear it's only the case with the Prague's B's branches. Nowhere here in Northern Bohemia had I come across Catch Me If You Can until the early March; honestly, I gave up trying already in January and asked my trekking friend to help with getting the CD in England. Just like with Hook and The Fury, through your well-done website and discussion forum it's apparent you're quite practiced at ordering stuff from the Net so you'll understand, see I have tried my luck with 3 internet shops all of which continuously keep LISTing Hook and The Fury in their catalogues. While musickatalog usually doesn't stoop into letting "us" know why the title we ordered hasn't yet been delivered (save my funny story ordering Williams on Williams and Pops on Broadway on any thinkable media), the other two e-shops sent me notifications that both CDs are already out of their catalogues, but even months after that note you still CAN see the specific titles on their lists of offerings, as if their email was a quip.

Well, I may have been a little edgy while bashing our country for being so unfriendly to soundtrack collectors and in fact Catch Me If You Can may already be readily available, but my experiences I have so far had are far cry from being "positive". I know one can get nearly everything, but it also means to be lucky enough and somewhat well provided for (hence Witches of Eastwick on your list at your www... !)

Regards,

Roman.-)

(please, keep your site going; many good ones have already fallen into oblivion...)

[Rogue_Leader 2]

Tell me about it!!!

Its only going to get harder waiting for a JW score now since it looks like Johnny might be taking the whole damn 2003 year off.

Woe is me!

[Justin 2]

Last year was great Williams scores budding all the time...

Justin -Who thinks we are in a Williams drought. Luckily we've conserved up some extra in storage.