The Legacy of John Williams (Website & Podcast)

[1977 1,752]

Well that's gone and done it. Now I have to pick this up. Triple and quadruple dip, here we go!

[bollemanneke 3,909]

Ending with the Neverfeast! Genius!

[Incanus 5,848]

Another great talk @TownerFan and @mahler3! As I have said before I could listen to you guys talk shop about John WIlliams all day. And since Heidi and Jane Eyre are personal favourites, it was especially interesting to hear the discussion on development of Williams' style and how and why these two scores were an important step in his career. Many of these points are also mentioned in the excellent liner notes for this release by John Takis but it was nice to hear snippets about the behind-the-scenes details on the production of this set like the hunting for the materials and how the new additional tracks for Jane Eyre were found.

 

Looking forward to the extensive chat on Hook in the near future!  

[Bryant Burnette 747]

Excellent episode, unsurprisingly.

[BB-8 4,617]

Great listen!

[Jay 41,649]

I really enjoyed the variety of knowledge shared in this episode.  There's all the stuff about placing both scores within the chronology of how his sound and career were changing, and also music discussion using terms like "perfect sixth" and "string triads", plus talk of the restoration process and hunt for elements, etc.  It's the whole package!

[bollemanneke 3,909]

I hope they'll do an episode about Home Alone one day, though that seems unlikely given no expansion is coming anymore. It would be great to hear Mike talk about those scores in-depth, just for completeness' sake. There's something about these episodes that you just can't get in writing.

[KittBash 321]

These episodes from @TownerFan and @mahler3 with Mike M are becoming something I look forward to and get excited for ALMOST as much as the releases themselves they are just that much of a treat. It's gotten to the point that I download each episode and save it along with the score in the collection.

[artguy360 1,993]

Really enjoyed the newest episode. Jane Eyre, in particular, is a special JW score.

[Bryant Burnette 747]

6 hours ago, KittBash said:

These episodes from @TownerFan and @mahler3 with Mike M are becoming something I look forward to and get excited for ALMOST as much as the releases themselves they are just that much of a treat. It's gotten to the point that I download each episode and save it along with the score in the collection.

 

It's almost the equivalent of a commentary track.

[KittBash 321]

7 hours ago, Bryant Burnette said:

 

It's almost the equivalent of a commentary track.

YES! Absolutely!

[1977 1,752]

I was thinking of making a boxed CD set of them 😜

[bollemanneke 3,909]

They certainly need to be preserved in some way. Even without music, I might actually prefer that.

[lairdo 906]

I have no superlatives to add the have not already been written. I agree and +1 each of them!

 

I have to say that running while listening to this and the other similar podcast episodes is a complete joy. I could listen to these conversations for hours and hours. I learn a lot and my appreciation for the music increase exponentially from an already impossibly high level. 

 

Thank you Legacy team!

[pete 1,061]

Thank you! I'll echo the above - this are just so interesting! 

And a quick question. Michael said something like "We passed the idea onto John's people and they said yes."

 

How many people does Williams have working for him doing admin, scheduling, fanning him and feeding him grapes in summer, etc.

[bollemanneke 3,909]

Hook Part 1 podcast is up!!!

[Holko 11,185]

Link:

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2023/12/27/hook-podcast-special/

[Jurassic Shark 14,526]

On 24/12/2023 at 1:45 AM, pete said:

 

How many people does Williams have working for him doing admin, scheduling, fanning him

 

The JW Fannies?

[Meredith McKay 7,523]

8 minutes ago, Holko said:

Link:

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2023/12/27/hook-podcast-special/

Says it cannot be found.

 

Guess I need to wait until the tapes are located

[Jurassic Shark 14,526]

4 minutes ago, Presto said:

Says it cannot be found.

 

Guess I need to wait until the tapes are located

 

Give it seven years.

[Jay 41,649]

NEW PODCAST EPISODE!

RETURN TO NEVERLAND: 'HOOK - THE ULTIMATE EDITION' PODCAST SPECIAL (Part 1)

The Legacy of John Williams presents a multi-part podcast special dedicated to HOOK – THE ULTIMATE EDITION, a 3-CD set of John Williams’ magnificent score for the 1991 film directed by Steven Spielberg, now available from La-La Land Records.

In Part One, soundtrack producer Mike Matessino sits down to talk about the genesis of Steven Spielberg’s 1991 fantasy epic, its place within the director’s filmography and the long history of how HOOK almost became a musical, while also addressing how it sits in the canon of the Steven Spielberg/John Williams collaboration; Matessino also talks about his friendship with lyricist Leslie Bricusse, the years-in-the-making process of assembling and producing the new set and his own personal journey to bring it to life with the utmost level of care and detail that such music always deserved.

LISTEN tinyurl.com/23xppnvk

Available on all major podcasting platforms.

 

https://www.facebook.com/thelegacyofjohnwilliams/posts/pfbid0e7oxKkcoyY7smUU5FfCFWi4Vdq53caF8vXKTofGAcdvikWMf1idWrTu5kqhzyrV8l

[Richard P 4,639]

Starting to listen now. Given what he's just said about the Home Alone and original Hook expansion, I get the impression that Didier Deutsch is about to get a lot of shit here for not allowing Mike to work on it.

[Holko 11,185]

Holy crap this was amazing. More of a Mike monologue than a group talk but he's great at it, it was well structured, and he really succeeded in projecting his feelings about it all, I got exhausted just listening to all the things he did (in a "good" way)!

 

Also fuck Didier. Great showcase of his incompetence and pettiness.

[Richard P 4,639]

Indeed, it was like a lecture on soundtrack producing, with a story that's gripping the whole way through.

 

Once we'd discovered it had been in the works since 2016 I'd wondered whether there had been some really difficult problem with tapes or something so it's really interesting to know that SS's approval for the songs (and of course all the permissions stuff) was the main holdup once they'd managed to get the proper elements together and form the main program.

[1977 1,752]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Also fuck Didier. Great showcase of his incompetence and pettiness.

 

Classy

[Jurassic Shark 14,526]

Just now, JTWfan77 said:

 

Classy

 

What did you expect?

[bollemanneke 3,909]

5 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

Starting to listen now. Given what he's just said about the Home Alone and original Hook expansion, I get the impression that Didier Deutsch is about to get a lot of shit here for not allowing Mike to work on it.

Heard the part now. My god. I mean... really? Really, DD?

 

Also wonder why John's people only want MM to do the audio. Wondering in a very positive way, of course, but just curious who made the call and why.

[QuartalHarmony 753]

89 minutes and that’s just part 1? The whole thing’s going to be longer than the Hook UE itself. Mind you, sounds like it’s a saga worthy of the Vikings.

 

What is DD up to these days, anyway?

[Jay 41,649]

I believe he's retired.

[Brando 2,382]

Good

[QuartalHarmony 753]

It’s a fascinating listen, for sure. It sounds like MM (and other people, I’m sure) deserves a long service medal for the long slog of getting the UE over the finish line.

 

At the risk of displaying my ignorance, which cue starts playing at 57:20? It’s a great choice - Maurizio has just mentioned Indiana Jones and then a very Indy-like brassy cue starts. Nice.

[Jay 41,649]

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,909]

A few more thoughts:

 

What a wonderful, WONDERFUL episode! My God. His best one to date?

 

Thank you to Maurizio for thanking Mike in our name. Can he read minds?

 

I wonder why the whole 'Sony no longer deals with labels' episode wasn't mentioned.

 

I also wonder, and am kind of awed, why Mike was able to speak so candidly about Mr Perfect, whose interview with Jay in 2012 clearly showed he didn't have a clue what he was doing. Here's hoping nobody will tell him or he might stop the podcast.

 

[Bounty95 579]

1:07:18 Mike says:

 

Quote

I'm working on a project now where the recreation of the performance edits is very, very laborious because it's a score from more recent years so there's a lot of little nipping and tucking and pulling up a frame here and pulling back a frame there [...]

 

It can be anything, but my brain automatically shouts TROS and it gets me excited...and I know I shouldn't.

[Holko 11,185]

Didn't he say that Hedwigs Theme alone had 100+ performance edits? It could be anything from the last 20 years with easy access to digital recording and editing for all studios, and the budget to do it.

[Bounty95 579]

I'm also fine with any SW prequel. 

[Jay 41,649]

32 minutes ago, Holko said:

Didn't he say that Hedwigs Theme alone had 100+ performance edits?

 

The final performance edit of Hedwig's Theme has 38 intercuts between 14 different takes 

[Richard P 4,639]

Also did I hear correctly that DD wanted to do E.T. by just combining tracks from the existing releases as an approximate expansion? (that's not even possible, is it? Isn't there a film version that wasn't on prior releases?) Why on earth would anyone want to do it that way, as opposed to going to the tapes, if not pure laziness?

[Incanus 5,848]

Well this 1st Hook episode was a thoroughly fascinating and engaging one. And it opened a window into the complexities of producing of these expanded/complete soundtrack releases in a very engaging way. I also loved the little asides touching on different releases, actually a lot of Williams and other scores, along the way from 2016 until the release of Hook Ultimate Edition.  This release obviously felt like a culmination of something big to Mike as well. A long and circuitous journey finally complete.

 

As a film score fan I felt deeply grateful after listening to this as hearing about the enormous amount of work and finessing involved in some of these releases made appreciate Mike Matessino's integrity and his work philosophy all the more. No point in doing things if you are not going to do them right.

26 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Also did I hear correctly that DD wanted to do E.T. by just combining tracks from the existing releases as an approximate expansion? (that's not even possible, is it? Isn't there a film version that wasn't on prior releases?) Why on earth would anyone want to do it that way, as opposed to going to the tapes, if not pure laziness?

Yeah that just sounds like cynical repackaging of previous versions with minimum effort to get it out quickly for some extra bucks. Quite a few of the Deutsch soundtrack re-releases unfortunately followed this same philosophy.

[QuartalHarmony 753]

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

Why on earth would anyone want to do it that way, as opposed to going to the tapes, if not pure laziness?

 

Now, I wouldn't know Didier Deutsch if I tripped over him in the street, but - from what very little I do know - I think you answered your own question right there.

 

On another note (and I should point out I was listening to the episode a bit in the background, so might have missed something), I wonder if MM's references to getting clearance from Julie Andrews for The Sound of Music might be related to the fact that the JA performance of Childhood isn't on the (otherwise stupendous) Hook UE? Have we had confirmation that the recording is lost, or could it be that JA didn't give permission for it to be used?

 

Mark

[bollemanneke 3,909]

Adding a fresh DD question to the discussion.

 

If JW was happy with Home Alone and 1941, why would he have insisted on keeping so many OST tracks for 2012 Hook? Or possibly in other words, what did DD give him to listen to that made him so adamant about stepping in?

[Richard P 4,639]

15 minutes ago, QuartalHarmony said:

Now, I wouldn't know Didier Deutsch if I tripped over him in the street, but - from what very little I do know - I think you answered your own question right there.

 

On reflection I wondered whether it was anything along the lines Mike alluded to about him not having the required access to some of Universal's materials (Universal asking him 'who's this guy trying to access stuff?') and therefore the only way he's going to be able to have an E.T. release under his name is using existing album elements.

 

Hence an alternative to laziness could be trying to do a project outside of his department/job description, and pretending it's a good option to pitch to the suits, who thankfully were having none of it.

[1977 1,752]

30 minutes ago, QuartalHarmony said:

 

Now, I wouldn't know Didier Deutsch if I tripped over him in the street

 

Now at least you can duck around a corner if he approaches

 

 

[QuartalHarmony 753]

Now, the next question is: would I buy a used car from this man?

[1977 1,752]

"Of course it's completely remastered roadworthy!"

[QuartalHarmony 753]

I can assure you, I’ve definitely used all the right takes parts

[Holko 11,185]

12 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Or possibly in other words, what did DD give him to listen to that made him so adamant about stepping in?

With the mention of him wanting to do E.T. cobbled together from previous releases, are you sure he even tried to do anything other than grabbing whatever from the OST?

[Bryant Burnette 747]

I listened to this episode tonight at work.  There can't be more than several thousand people in the entire world who would be interested in hearing that episode.  And of those several thousand, I cannot imagine that a single one of them wouldn't find this episode to be absofuckinglutely fascinating.  Terrific listen, and my hat is now permanently off to Mike Matessino.  (Not that it wasn't already; it was.)

[bollemanneke 3,909]

3 hours ago, Holko said:

With the mention of him wanting to do E.T. cobbled together from previous releases, are you sure he even tried to do anything other than grabbing whatever from the OST?

Dunno, I imagine he must have wanted to add SOMETHING to make the expanded release expanded.

[crocodile 8,996]

Yeah, this was definitely among the best episodes so far. I love all this "musical archaeology" work.

 

Karol