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THE COWBOYS (1972) - NEW! 2018 Varese Deluxe Edition


Jay

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On 6/22/2018 at 1:12 AM, Wojism said:

 

When the border police are done putting children into cages, they'll use the cages to hold all the outdated OST albums. 

 

That picture actually reminded me of a scene from ToD.

 

Ah, what has the USA come to? 😂 

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On 6/24/2018 at 4:13 AM, Demondm810 said:

Yaaaaay

7247C113-8D6D-4BC8-B8B7-885B3A77A15C.jpeg

 

How is Small Soldiers, by the way? Still in my Jerry Goldsmith shopping spree.

 

I have around 80 albums from him by now. Is this one worth getting?

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Ugh, still no fulfillment on my order.  Was hoping to have this to listen to before I hit the road cross-country tomorrow, would have been great to listen to in the truck :(

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My order is still unfulfilled. What is taking so long? Too many orders? 

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1 hour ago, Incanus said:

My order is still unfulfilled. What is taking so long? Too many orders? 

 

Yeah, mine too unfortunately.

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Fedex just dropped mine off at the house a couple hours ago.  I ordered it Tuesday evening

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I finally got it. Apart from a cracked case (Why does this often happen?), this is phenomenal. It really amazes me how the Maestro's music is remastered. This was 1972, and it sounds as if it was recorded yesterday. Wow!

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Well, guess they read my post above as I just got the email that it has shipped out 😁   Weird thing is I ordered it first day it was available.

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39 minutes ago, ATXHusker said:

Well, guess they read my post above as I just got the email that it has shipped out 😁   Weird thing is I ordered it first day it was available.

Same for me, just got an email about it being shipped

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2 hours ago, phbart said:

I don't know about you, but that's new to me... Varèse belongs to Concord???

 

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/28251-concord-music-acquires-venerable-film-music-label-varèse-sarabande/

 

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Yep. Totally missed that too.

 

But anyway, now that Varése/Concord proved they're competent enough to release perfect sounding film music of men in cowboy hats, I hope they'll take a chance to release perfect sounding film music of men in fedora hats too. :)

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A single listen through just bumped this up on my priority list quite a bit.

The film mix sounds damp, muffled and same-y, but what can we expect form a cleaned up 46-year old film master? This is clear, crisp, alive, like it was recorded yesterday, makes it much easier to distinguish instruments, themes, and thus individual cues like "Crazy Alice" from "The Roundup".

I could throw it together with Home Alone, Alien or something like that in a purchase. Face the Music doesn't have it listed yet, I'd be interested in their price. 

 

 

Just thought that more time has passed from the writing of this score until today than from the birth of the Hollywood sound motion picture score until this was written. That's crazy. Finally it got its first proper release.

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15 hours ago, Holko said:

This is clear, crisp, alive, like it was recorded yesterday...

That's why I wished Jaws could be a Warner Bros production... or Columbia.

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On 6/27/2018 at 5:19 AM, Holko said:

Just thought that more time has passed from the writing of this score until today than from the birth of the Hollywood sound motion picture score until this was written. That's crazy. Finally it got its first proper release.

 

Man, John Williams is old as shit!

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Johnny baby!

 

We have a number of JW historians, has he ever had a full head of hair?

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

 

FB_IMG_1464888605342.jpg

 

It's wild for me to see Cordele, Georgia, mentioned in that other article.  It's a very small town in southern Georgia and just happens to be where half my family is from and where my mother was born and raised.  I should ask her if she knows the Neal family.

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Received it today. :wub2: Sounds absolutely fabulous and makes rediscovering this wonderful score a truly delightful experience! Huge thanks to everybody involved (Mike M!) and, of course, to Varese Sarabande. :worship:

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Just listened to this today.  Never heard the score outside of the Pops overture.  It's really great!  A Williams all-timer.  Chasing it with a listen of LLL's A.I. - the perfect companion!

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For those awaiting shipment of their orders via Varese /Naxos (like myself) should know they are out of stock. They should ship as soon they get their inventory. Just received an update from them. Can't wait. Sigh.. 

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I still think the January-1951 date in that article is absolutely wrong (it's one year early), given my research, but that's for another thread.

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1 hour ago, Datameister said:

The sound quality really is fabulous. I never owned the earlier release, so I don't know if it's an improvement, but if not, I guess no improvement was needed! Bright, punchy, clear, reverberant, spacious...no complaints from me whatsoever.

 

As for the music itself, I was a little surprised by some of the original instrumentation choices - I'm so used to hearing later re-recordings of the longer concert suite that omit stuff like harmonica, synths, etc. But yeah, definitely a fun score...no regrets in purchasing it. I quite like the bass harmonica for what I assume is Long Hair's theme, too.

 

Oh, that cool ominous one that goes up a major third then down a whole tone below the starting note? That's been one of my favorites for ten years, one of John Williams' coolest "idiosyncratic" baddie motifs (meaning more in character for the film).

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9 hours ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Oh, that cool ominous one that goes up a major third then down a whole tone below the starting note? That's been one of my favorites for ten years, one of John Williams' coolest "idiosyncratic" baddie motifs (meaning more in character for the film).

I also have a fondness for the cooky harpsichord and percussion for Marlon Brando's bountyhunter character of Clayton from Missouri Breaks which achieves that same atmosphere of unease. 

 

The Long Hair theme is also instantly recognizable as Western baddie music. Perhaps another of those common instrumental colourations for the genre combined with memories of Morricone Western stylings for me.

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The only hiccup in the listening experience may be the naughtily comic "Mrs. Collingwood's Girls" between the somber "Charlie's Burial" and the tense, threatening "Long Hair Trails", continuing with this mood to the very end. I might place it after "Sour Mash" in my phone playlist, so the calmness and hijinks are in one place and escalate, then Long Hair's Threat suddenly changes the mood for good, the only real levity afterwards being the quiet assurance in "Afraid of the Dark".

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2 hours ago, Holko said:

The only hiccup in the listening experience may be the naughtily comic "Mrs. Collingwood's Girls" between the somber "Charlie's Burial" and the tense, threatening "Long Hair Trails", continuing with this mood to the very end. I might place it after "Sour Mash" in my phone playlist, so the calmness and hijinks are in one place and escalate, then Long Hair's Threat suddenly changes the mood for good, the only real levity afterwards being the quiet assurance in "Afraid of the Dark".

 

Makes a lot of sense. A great moment in the film, and cements Roscoe Lee Brown's character as one of the coolest Western characters ever, but I can see that being a problem with the good old C &C.

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And even in the movie it's just a fun episode having virtually no bearing on the plot, so it could be placed anywhere.

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I watched a lot of "old" movies only because JW wrote the music. Many old crap.  MANY. 

 

But The Cowboys and The Reivers are among the two I really loved to watch. I bought them on DVD.

 

So I would say, well spent money.

 

 

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I wonder if anybody has noticed, but at 0:26 in the very first track (Overture), there seems to be a funny "blip" kind of sound. :huh: It does fall (roughly) on the second beat of that particular measure and it does seem to be (roughly) in tune but I find it very unusual, having no place in the score and the orchestra. Anybody have any idea what that might be? Or maybe just a bug flew in my ear. :P

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18 minutes ago, Maglorfin said:

I wonder if anybody has noticed, but at 0:26 in the very first track (Overture), there seems to be a funny "blip" kind of sound. :huh: It does fall (roughly) on the second beat of that particular measure and it does seem to be (roughly) in tune but I find it very unusual, having no place in the score and the orchestra. Anybody have any idea what that might be? Or maybe just a bug flew in my ear. :P

 

I noticed that, too, @Maglorfin, but wrote it off as some sort of stray percussive element that cut through the rest of the mix somehow.

It's also in "Entr'acte" at the same point (26 seconds), so must be the same recording (probably explained in the liner notes which I have not read yet so don't kill me!).

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Yes, the liner notes do explain it.  The Entr'acte was always designed to be identical to the Overture for the first minute and a half, and then segue to a new ending.  The bonus track version of Entr'acte is just the new ending, without the Overture recording attached to it.

 

This post might interest you.

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