Details from Mike Matessino's London talk

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

This is the thread to share all the interesting information that Mike Matessino revealed when some of you guys met him in London as a warm-up to the concert on Friday. According to Jay, everything Mike said is considered public info and may be shared here. 

 

To start, here's my list of questions which @crocodile was kind enough to answer:

 

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

1. Did MM say anything about the 2018 SW OST releases?

2. Did he say anything about HP?

3. What juicy details did he reveal about the Dracula restoration process?

4. Did he say anything about The Sugarland Express?

5. Did Thor ask about Storia di Una Donna?

6. Did he hint about any future releases?

7. What else of interest did he say?

 

44 minutes ago, crocodile said:

1. He said it's probably a good strategy that Disney and pushing reset button on everything. SW has a very complicated licensing history and starting with OSTs might be a good thing. He also hinted that he's having "conversations" with them about the expanded releases.

2. Nope. That is why even Jay was surprised to find it in the programme.

3. He did talk about where the tapes came from and all the comedy of errors involved.

4. He said that Williams doesn't want it released but that he is having an idea how to persuade him (whatever that is).

5. Thor asked about lots of older scores. Most of them lost, one rejected by Williams (can't remember which one).

6. No, but he did say Williams is more open to preserving his life's work now that he's getting older.

7. He talked a lot about what he does. About creating sound of the specific room, looking for references when mixing etc. He showed some pictures of different kinds of documents (spotting sheets, tapes, even musician fees etc). It was very educational.

 

Karol

 

[crocodile 7,733]

Mike also mentioned that Williams' reaction to some of the proposed projects is often "Who would want to listen to that?" 

 

Or something in that spirit anyway.

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

Oh, that John Williams... 

[bollemanneke 3,171]

My two questions:

 

What was MM doing in London?

Was Jane Eyre mentioned?

[Bespin 7,999]

I have a question for MM: is he single? 😋

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

2 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

 

 What was MM doing in London?

 

Attending the concert. I guess he'd never seen this Williams guy before!

[Alex 2,751]

This was an interesting read. I’m unsure exactly what “preserving his life’s work” means. Is he open to more releases of his work or more apprehensive?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,157]

12 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I have a question for MM: is he single? 😋

 Get away, wi'cha! You're married!

[Bespin 7,999]

1 minute ago, Richard said:

 Get away, wi'cha! You're married!

 

Bespin wants to know.... just like this!

[crocodile 7,733]

2 hours ago, Alex said:

This was an interesting read. I’m unsure exactly what “preserving his life’s work” means. Is he open to more releases of his work or more apprehensive?

Well, in simplest terms, it's about how are they going to move forward with his output. Obviously, Williams is not getting any younger. At some point he will pass away and he probably starts to think about his legacy. Giving away his library to Juilliard is one thing. But what to do with the recordings? These are important questions to ask yourself. Williams sort of always lives in the "now" of things but I'm sure he'd like his work to be preserved well. So yes, the gist of it was that he's more open to these expanded albums because of that. At least that is how I understand this.

 

@bollemanneke Jane Eyre has been mentioned in the context of Williams' time in London but I can't recall there being any talk about future releases. As for the reason he's in London? I don't know. Perhaps the same reason we visited or maybe he's also researching another project.

 

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

Williams and the LSO, plus meeting people from Europe he's probably interacted with online for years but never met are fine reasons to come to London.

 

But Karol was right, we have no idea otherwise.

[bollemanneke 3,171]

Right. And dare I ask about Hook?

[Score 766]

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

This is the thread to share all the interesting information that Mike Matessino revealed when some of you guys met him in London as a warm-up to the concert on Friday. According to Jay, everything Mike said is considered public info and may be shared here. 

 

To start, here's my list of questions which @crocodile was kind enough to answer:

 

 

 

 

4. "... he is having an idea how to persuade him..." ... I bet he has convinced Daisy to ask for it!

 

 

 

[crocodile 7,733]

1 minute ago, bollemanneke said:

Right. And dare I ask about Hook?

He was asked that. He wouldn't comment on the existing expansion but was clearly unhappy with it. He'd like to redo it one day.

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

1 minute ago, crocodile said:

He was asked that. He wouldn't comment on the existing expansion but was clearly unhappy with it. He'd like to redo it one day.

 

Karol

 

Did he say anything about the quality of the 2018 SW OSTs?

[crocodile 7,733]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Did he say anything about the quality of the 2018 SW OSTs?

No.

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

Always the diplomat.

[bollemanneke 3,171]

35 minutes ago, crocodile said:

He was asked that. He wouldn't comment on the existing expansion but was clearly unhappy with it. He'd like to redo it one day.

 

Karol

How do you know that he was unhappy if he didn't want to elaborate?

[crocodile 7,733]

3 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

How do you know that he was unhappy if he didn't want to elaborate?

He mentioned something about not wanting to say something he shouldn't, if that makes sense. My understanding is that he didn't want to badmouth people. And then he stated he'd like to revisit it.

 

Karol

[Bespin 7,999]

He was talking about Shawn Murphy right... LOL

[crumbs 13,908]

Murphy had nothing to do with LLL's 2012 expansion of Hook. 

[davefg 29]

"Nope. That is why even Jay was surprised to find it in the programme."

 

So what does that mean regarding the HP release? 

[Bespin 7,999]

The HP CDs are currently under approval by Daniel Radcliffe.  Mr Radcliffe found that he looks too drunk on the pics.

 

It's already great he remembers having played in the movies!

[crumbs 13,908]

 

5 minutes ago, davefg said:

So what does that mean regarding the HP release? 

 

That it's coming but we don't know when. 

[NL197 368]

If he didn’t know it was in the program then why were people saying he wrote it?

[crocodile 7,733]

14 minutes ago, davefg said:

"Nope. That is why even Jay was surprised to find it in the programme."

 

So what does that mean regarding the HP release? 

It means it was a secret, if it is indeed happening.

 

3 minutes ago, NL197 said:

If he didn’t know it was in the program then why were people saying he wrote it?

Didn't know what?

 

Karol

[Josh500 1,612]

I'm confused. The title of the thread includes the word "details." I don't read a single detail here....

 

It's all speculation, rumour, conjecture, and wishful thinking. 😂 

[Nick Parker 3,041]

Try reading the thread. 

[Marian Schedenig 7,559]

Some of my favourite bits that haven't been mentioned yet:

 

Andre Previn was a major factor that brought Williams to London. When his score to Goodbye, Mr. Chips was rejected, it 1) made him finally leave film scoring (which he'd been becoming increasingly unhappy with) and 2) he recommended Leslie Bricusse and Wiliams to write the replacement song score. The three became close friends and Williams subsequently tried to actively find opportunities to work in London.

 

Williams and Goldsmith were quite close friends. They held alternating annual holiday parties at their places, and would frequently sit down at the piano and play together at parties.

 

The stereo tapes for Dracula were at Varese all along. They requested the tapes from Universal years ago and received them, but the first few tapes were mono and labelled thus, and nobody seemed to realise that the rest was in fact in stereo. That seems to be where the "only a mono version survives" rumours came from, and it wasn't until Mike Matessino requested them and went through them one by one that anyone realised the stereo stuff was there.

[Incanus 5,669]

6 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Some of my favourite bits that haven't been mentioned yet:

 

Andre Previn was a major factor that brought Williams to London. When his score to Goodbye, Mr. Chips was rejected, it 1) made him finally leave film scoring (which he'd been becoming increasingly unhappy with) and 2) he recommended Leslie Bricusse and Wiliams to write the replacement song score. The three became close friends and Williams subsequently tried to actively find opportunities to work in London.

 

Williams and Goldsmith were quite close friends. They held alternating annual holiday parties at their places, and would frequently sit down at the piano and play together at parties.

 

The stereo tapes for Dracula were at Varese all along. They requested the tapes from Universal years ago and received them, but the first few tapes were mono and labelled thus, and nobody seemed to realise that the rest was in fact in stereo. That seems to be where the "only a mono version survives" rumours came from, and it wasn't until Mike Matessino requested them and went through them one by one that anyone realised the stereo stuff was there.

The convoluted sleuthing after the Dracula tapes was a very interesting story and also illustrated how a seasoned professional like Mike knew immediately where he could start looking when the archive didn't have the tapes he was initially looking for.

[publicist 4,640]

2 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Williams and Goldsmith were quite close friends. They held alternating annual holiday parties at their places, and would frequently sit down at the piano and play together at parties.

 

Though i assume that happened a long time ago. Remember Goldsmith's (in)famous quote about Previn, Willliams and Bernstein (Elmer) being snobs and starfuckers from before his death, an opinion probably solidified in later years when there was hardly any socializing apart from BMI dinners and such.

[Marian Schedenig 7,559]

37 minutes ago, publicist said:

Though i assume that happened a long time ago. Remember Goldsmith's (in)famous quote about Previn, Willliams and Bernstein (Elmer) being snobs and starfuckers from before his death, an opinion probably solidified in later years when there was hardly any socializing apart from BMI dinners and such.

 

Yes, I did think about asking for a time frame, but thought it rude.

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

I would be more worried if Goldsmith said this after his death.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

I would have imaged this be in the late 50's or 60's.

[Jay 35,463]

To clarify about Dracula, he said Universal Studios' documentation merely said the tapes were at an "undisclosed location". Mike knew that this would mean it was another Universal related property, as if they completely left Universal, it would be heavily documented and perhaps tracked down if not returned. But he realized a likely candidate was Universal Mastering, which Varese used for mastering frequently back around the timeframe that the mono rumors first started. So he inquired there and realized the tapes were there, but had gone back to Varese after instead of back to Universal Studios. So he went to Varese and found them and played them himself and voila, 1/2" stereo masters. 

 

Apologies if I got any details wrong, someone can correct me.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

I remember it like that.

 

Quite funny that they were at Varese all this time.

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

Quite embarrassing for Varese, really.

[crocodile 7,733]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

8 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Quite embarrassing for Varese, really.

 

Why? It happens.

[TownerFan 4,981]

It was a great get-together in which Mike pulled back the curtain veil on his work methods and all the hassle that goes behind the scenes of restoring film

music. It was truly a showing about how much a labour of love this is.

 

Another very interesting thing Mike talked about is that the work he’s doing in restoring and preserving JW’s output is something that, in his perspective, needs to be done as a legacy for future generations. Preserving his work in the best and most comprehensive way possible is not because of completist’s obsession, but to leave something tangible for anyone who, 50 or 100 years from now, will want to study the music of JW and discover something new. He also said that what we’re writing today (yes, even on JWFAN boards) will be a testament to any future student who will want to research and study what was said about the music of JW when he was alive in his era. This is some that resonated a lot with me, as this is one of the goals for my own blog project I just started.

[Alex 2,751]

Just imagining a music student in 50 years time, in search of in-depth analysis and discussion of John Williams’ music, finding the JWFAN website and then stumbling across the sub forum “Does anyone have a serious problem staring at women’s breasts?”

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

To sit in that screening room, with all those other Williams fans, from all over the world. Some who ive known for years. 

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

I regularly go to the cinema with people I've known for years.

[Marian Schedenig 7,559]

58 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

He also said that what we’re writing today (yes, even on JWFAN boards) will be a testament to any future student who will want to research and study what was said about the music of JW when he was alive in his era.

 

I was just about to mention that. Steef shot me an uneasy glance when Mike said that

2 hours ago, Jay said:

To clarify about Dracula, he said Universal Studios' documentation merely said the tapes were at an "undisclosed location". Mike knew that this would mean it was another Universal related property, as if they completely left Universal, it would be heavily documented and perhaps tracked down if not returned. But he realized a likely candidate was Universal Mastering, which Varese used for mastering frequently back around the timeframe that the mono rumors first started.

 

If I understood correctly, the confusion stems from the fact that Universal Mastering is as a company entirely unrelated to Universal Studios. But because of the same name, the tapes were not listed as being at another company, but rather just with "undisclosed location", implying that they should still be at the same Universal. Which is why it takes someone like Mike to figure out where they actually went.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

14 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I was just about to mention that. Steef shot me an uneasy glance when Mike said that

 

Yes, Jesus Christ! Imagine people reading my bullshit 200 years from now.

[King Mark 3,559]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

 So he went to Varese and found them and played them himself and voila, 1/2" stereo masters. 

 

Apologies if I got any details wrong, someone can correct me.

Why didn't Varese know they had the tapes since they produce the c.d.?

[Jurassic Shark 11,177]

One word: sloppiness.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,262]

They didn't really produce the CD. They just transferred the OST from MCA to OST.

[Marian Schedenig 7,559]

1 minute ago, King Mark said:

Why didn't Varese know they had the tapes since they produce the c.d.?

 

They produced the old CD a long time ago, presumably from album masters. But they requested the complete tapes only a couple of years ago with the intention of producing an expanded release, but decided against it when the box they received seemed to contain only mono tapes.

[King Mark 3,559]

which they didn't know contained the real tapes after all. Why didn't they bother to check properly...