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What is your most disappointing CD purchase?


Bayesian

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The latest Dallas Winds hommage to the work of John Williams.

 

I never heard a recording with so much digital clippings and clicks.

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Ahh, '<insert name> Orchestra'... a very sneaky marketing trick if ever there was one.

 

I wouldn't say 'disappointing', but I've bought a few LEs which have received close to zero playtime (Eraser, Star Trek II) and a couple of boxes for which I overestimated my interest in the music (MOH, Naked Gun)

 

On the opposite end of the scale, I found a used copy of McCreary's first Outlander CD a couple of years ago, having no idea what it sounded like, and being taken aback by how good it was. That purchase is the reason I'm now a fan of the show.

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That sort of happened with The Haunting DE. The extra music is just sort of 'there' and is nice, but I don't think I truly needed it on top of the OST. I ended up keeping both programs for posterity.

 

Oh, and Star Trek (2009). I really like the OST and I was taken in by the hype of the time to get the DE.

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Yeah that's a horrible one.

 

I usually try to buy informed and measured, so the most disappointing CD I got was the Empire Strikes Back demaster with its hyperreverby Asteroid Field and sudden drop to muffled mono and slow crawlback to normal sound in Heroics of Luke and Han among other things.

Maybe Mummy Returns as a runner-up just because the LA cues sound pretty bad after all.

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Several hundreds! But many of them, I've been able to sell or trade or give away over the years (or thrown in the trash bin)!

 

Back in the mid 90s, it could be because I was fooled by the name of the album, when it turned out to be cheesy, cheap cover versions and so on (like some of you mention above).

 

Later, when I traversed record stores and bought stuff on a 'whim' because I knew the composer or film's name, I could often end up disappointed. This was pre-streaming and sampling, after all.

 

In later years, whenever I've tried to buy expanded releases, I've also ended up actually ruining my appreciation of the score and getting rid of it as quickly as possible.

 

So FAR too many to list here, even if I could remember all of them. Rather than think of it as something negative, I think it's a positive thing -- it's part of exploring and learning in the first period of one's film music fandom.


But it's good I hardly buy CDs anymore, so this isn't much of an issue.

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Leave the Indy set alone! Fuck, I'd rather have expanded sets than wait for half my life for a thorough archival edition. Back in 2008, I was happy to have this, it was my first set of Indy scores.

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Yes, I think that while not comprehensive for a number of reasons, the Indy box is a net positive by a huge margin.  The people who make these expansions - specifically MM - know its shortcomings.  I've always enjoyed it for what it is, and eagerly await comprehensive versions.

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I'd rather wait for actual well done sets than have rushed halfassed shit shoved in front of me that industrypeople can potentially refer to as "see, we gave it to you already, what more do you want?".

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I'm fairly certain that wasn't Bozereau's and Williams' intent with that box set - to shovel out something half-assed.  Creatives' ideals don't always align with the superfan's ideals - and even among the superfans you have both Thors and Holkos!

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14 hours ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

Several complete/Deluxe Edition releases where I got excited, bought it, then realized through a long listen that the OST was just fine and I wasted money.

Somewhere, Thor is nodding approvingly.

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Star Wars in its various incarnations has come up a few times. It’s the cruelest of ironies that the most praised, revered, and reissued scores of the last 50 years have yet to be properly done.

 

So many forgettable scores get a single treatment but at least it’s a good one. But it seems each time they reissue SW or sequels, it’s somehow worse than what came before. 

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Eh, STAR WARS is the best of the 3 SEs (i.e. the one with probably the least problems) and its demaster is kinda alright, too.

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Star Wars has never disappointed in any release. It is that good. 

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I only like the original releases, before they messed around with the sound. Same goes for the Indiana Jones soundtracks.

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4 minutes ago, Ghostbusters II said:

The Batman Prince album was more widely available than the score album. I remember being disappointed that none of the score was included.

 

We came to embrace it.

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16 hours ago, Bayesian said:

Today I received in the mail a previously-owned CD I bought off eBay (well, three, actually) called Music from the Star Wars Trilogy, by Andrew Hopson "conducting" the "New World Orchestra." This is unequivocally the worst, most disappointing CD I ever bought. I paid $11.99 for this Hopson idiot's lame-ass synthesizer desecration of the OT scores. I want to feel like I got ripped off, but I made the purchase quite willingly.. I was simply misled when I read the words "New World Orchestra" instead of what should have been written there (cretin with a $20 Casio keyboard).

 

Words fail me to describe how awful this CD is. But if nothing else, it inspired me to create this topic so we can all share with each other stories about the worst CD purchases you made. (I didn't see this topic elsewhere after a quick use of the search bar.)

 

 

I have this!  I'm so sorry for you.

 

I have a few of these type releases, actually.  I haven't pulled them off the shelf for a while, for reasons, but one was a three disc set, with desecrations from each movie.  One had some TPM on it as well.  I remember one of them had a track called The Jedi Knights March, which was a march version of the Force theme.  The mid-to-late 1990s were an interesting time!

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Anything that featured the name Zimmer or Rabin. 

 

Also kinda disappointed with the Godzilla perfect box series. A wealth of music, complete scores but a lot of stuff I’ll never listen too. 

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4 minutes ago, El Jefe said:

Also kinda disappointed with the Godzilla perfect box series. A wealth of music, complete scores but a lot of stuff I’ll never listen too. 

 

I reckon a skilled music editor could take all those recording sessions dumps and create something more appealing for each score. I really love the album arrangement for Godzilla vs Biollante, but the rest really need something similar to maintain interest.

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I’m mostly referring to all the bonus albums. The score are fine, although the Biollante “complete” is something we could have done without. It’s basically the isolated score in mono.

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17 hours ago, JoeinAR said:

Almost every expanded release. But not Superman, STTMP, and The Towering Inferno.

Agreed. Even with the "damaged" cues, THE TOWERING INFERNO, is a cracking score!

 

 

17 hours ago, Ghostbusters II said:

The Batman Prince album was more widely available than the score album. I remember being disappointed that none of the score was included.

The Elfman BATMAN OST sounded awful. In fact the whole film is dubbed, and mixed, very badly.

 

16 hours ago, El Jefe said:

Anything that featured the name...Rabin.

Wha'choo talkin' about?! LOVE WILL FIND A WAY is great!

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