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THE TOWERING INFERNO - LLL Music discussion


Jay

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Any issues with sound quality in Towering Inferno are only due to Fox not vaulting the scoring elements properly back in the 70s, and not because of a deficiency of work from anyone who worked on the new release.  Decades of experience and top the line technology made those old elements sound as good as possible, but the elements are what they are.

 

I do think the LLL sounds better than the FSM, without question.  But it's not like some previously un-found 1st gen element was miraculously found that enabled them to have a quantum leap in fidelity or anything.  Still, it's significantly more pleasing to listen to now, without question

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The greater shame is Poseidon Adventure. Sadly they didn't have elements to transfer anew for that score, so I believe (hence reusing the same music files from the old FSM release).

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17 minutes ago, Jay said:

Indeed!  Too bad they didn't show the same care to the Jaws scoring masters

 

They're not the only offenders. The shoddy way Lucasfilm treated Williams' scoring masters for the OT is even worse, when you consider the volume of music in various stages of disrepair (or even lost!)

 

Not hugely surprising when you consider Lucas' treatment of the films themselves.

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10 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

As a rule of thumb, the improvement in sound quality on expanded releases is usually exaggerated on this forum.

Sometimes, but not every time. It's all contextual.

The recent-ish PLANET OF THE APES is an astonishing jump in quality, over the VS release.

Likewise, THE TOWERING INFERNO has greater separation of instruments, together with a more prominent presence and unification of sound, rather than just a big lump of music.

I wish it was a tad less dry, though. Still, for what is my #3 all-time favourite JW score, I'm very happy, with it.

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7 hours ago, Jay said:

Any issues with sound quality in Towering Inferno are only due to Fox not vaulting the scoring elements properly back in the 70s, and not because of a deficiency of work from anyone who worked on the new release.  Decades of experience and top the line technology made those old elements sound as good as possible, but the elements are what they are.

 

I do think the LLL sounds better than the FSM, without question.  But it's not like some previously un-found 1st gen element was miraculously found that enabled them to have a quantum leap in fidelity or anything.  Still, it's significantly more pleasing to listen to now, without question

 

Yes Jay thankyou. As you say it is what it is and I'm not detracting in any way the magnificent accomplishments of MM and LLL. Just too bad the elements were in that shape. 

 

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20 hours ago, Jay said:

I think Planet of the Apes is a brilliant score but I understand how it's not for everyone

 

Yeah, I keep hearing people (especially Richard) saying it's good. I may give it another try if the latest edition gets released as an individual album.

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On 9/16/2020 at 2:45 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

As a rule of thumb, the improvement in sound quality on expanded releases is usually exaggerated on this forum.

 

 

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15 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Yeah, I keep hearing people (especially Richard) saying it's good. I may give it another try if the latest edition gets released as an individual album.

I was fortunate enough to discover the score in my "formative" years, when I was hungry for any film music. It was the first Jerry score that I'd heard, and I took to it like a duck to water.

It remains his finest achievement - not my favourite Jerry, but definitely his finest.

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For Planet of the Apes Goldsmith wrote an astonishing score that is simultaneously archaic and futuristic at the same time. It also sounds really 60s as well which I love. Music very much of its time. 

      Back to Inferno. How many of the alternate tracks actually contain different music? As there are three versions of the Main Title presented on the LLL Two Disc set would I be right in saying they are all identical? The "alternate" on Disc two I'm guessing is just an alternate performance not alternate music? Plus the album version of the Main Title is not a re-recording right? Just lifted from the main soudtrack. Am I right? 

      Also can someone suggest a modern digital recording of the Main Title for me? The RSNO version has fantastic punch but unfortunately there are 2 or 3 bum notes in the recording. 

 

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35 minutes ago, stravinsky said:

 

      Also can someone suggest a modern digital recording of the Main Title for me? The RSNO version has fantastic punch but unfortunately there are 2 or 3 bum notes in the recording. 

 

The recent recording by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra is fantastic.

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On 9/19/2020 at 12:32 PM, stravinsky said:

As there are three versions of the Main Title presented on the LLL Two Disc set would I be right in saying they are all identical? The "alternate" on Disc two I'm guessing is just an alternate performance not alternate music? Plus the album version of the Main Title is not a re-recording right? Just lifted from the main soudtrack. Am I right?

 

There's only one composition for the main title sequence.

 

LLL disc 1 track 1 "Main Title (Film Version)" would be the exact correct takes as used in the film

 

The old OST album's "Main Title" (contained on the LLL as disc 2 track 16) used different takes than the film did

 

LLL disc 2 track 1 "Main Title (Alternate)" is either more different takes, or the same takes that the album used, just from the same source element as the rest of the new LLL program (since the OST album at the end of disc 2 is taken from the old album master, and not a rebuild from this element)

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  • 6 months later...
On 9/19/2020 at 3:18 PM, Jay said:

 

There's only one composition for the main title sequence.

 

LLL disc 1 track 1 "Main Title (Film Version)" would be the exact correct takes as used in the film

 

The old OST album's "Main Title" (contained on the LLL as disc 2 track 16) used different takes than the film did

 

LLL disc 2 track 1 "Main Title (Alternate)" is either more different takes, or the same takes that the album used, just from the same source element as the rest of the new LLL program (since the OST album at the end of disc 2 is taken from the old album master, and not a rebuild from this element)

Does the film version of Main Title have that rather clumsy cymbal crash?

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Couldn't tell you, I've never seen the film

 

I have a vague memory that one of the main title cues in this set had a musical gesture timed for when Irwin Allen's name appears on the screen, could that be what you're talking about?

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I would guess, then, then it appears in LLL disc 1 track 1, and disc 2 track 1 is the same proper film takes but w/o that added cymbal crash

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Just now, stravinsky said:

Thanks again Jay. I cannot believe you've never seen the film. Give yourself a treat and watch it sometime. 

 

There's endless films I've never seen

 

But I do plan on seeing all the ones JW scored eventually

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2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Is it good?

TTI? Yes, one might even say it's great! Great cast, direction, visual effects and of course a perfect score...

It's one of the best 70's movie Williams scored, my personal 6th (after SW, CE3K, Jaws, 1941, Superman)

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Hmm, out of the 1970s films scored by Williams that I've seen, my rankings of the films (not the scores!) from best to worst would be

 

  1. Jaws
  2. Close Encounters
  3. Star Wars
  4. 1941
  5. Superman
  6. The Sugarland Express
  7. Dracula
  8. The Eiger Sanction

 

I haven't seen Story of a Woman, Jane Eyre, Fiddler on the Roof, The Cowboys, The Screaming Woman, The Poseidon Adventure, Pete N Tillie, Images, The Long Goodbye, Tom Sawyer, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, The Paper Chase, Cinderella Liberty, Conrack, Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Family Plot, The Missouri Breaks, Midway, Black Sunday, The Fury or Jaws 2

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9 minutes ago, Thor said:

It's fine. But POSEIDON is the better picture of the two.

The two are pretty close I think, just find the Towering Inferno a little bit better just because of the score.

10 minutes ago, Jay said:

I haven't seen Story of a Woman, Jane Eyre, Fiddler on the Roof, The Cowboys, The Screaming Woman, The Poseidon Adventure, Pete N Tillie, Images, The Long Goodbye, Tom Sawyer, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, The Paper Chase, Cinderella Liberty, Conrack, Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Family Plot, The Missouri Breaks, Midway, Black Sunday, The Fury or Jaws 2

I strongly recommend The Poseidon Adventures, The Towering Inferno, Family Plot, The Fury (which really surprised me when I saw it) and Jaws 2 which isn't the original but it still has some nice moments.

Midway is okay without being great, the Missouri Breaks is very special and strange (didn't find it bad though, nor great)

Finally The Long Goodbye is too long and frankly boring. Anyway that's just my opinion. ;)

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8 minutes ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

The two are pretty close I think, just find the Towering Inferno a little bit better just because of the score.

 

Oh, the score is MUCH better than POSEIDON's. But POSEIDON is a much better movie. It's a weird mix there.

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On 9/17/2020 at 2:21 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

I was fortunate enough to discover the score in my "formative" years, when I was hungry for any film music. It was the first Jerry score that I'd heard, and I took to it like a duck to water.

It remains his finest achievement - not my favourite Jerry, but definitely his finest.

 

Cue objective vs subjective debate.

 

 

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Can anyone tell me if the previously unreleased tracks (#14 #20) on Disc #1 of Inferno are now true Stereo even if they were built up from Mono sources? Would they have been created the same way the scores for Jaws and Earthquake were assembled? I mean from separate Mono stems now remixed to Stereo? Because they sound Stereo to me. 

       Would the treatment of these Mono tracks be similar to the way old LPs in the 70s presented Mono as "Fake Stereo? 

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  • 2 years later...

The Towering Inferno was on television the day before yesterday. And I dipped in, to watch how the music is used.

And while watching I remembered how I felt about it, when I watched the movie for the first time about 35 years ago. I found the music really annoying in the action scenes. 35 years ago and now as well. I completely understand, what Williams was doing there and pure musically it is fine. But for what is happening on screen, there is definitely too much going on in the music. In combination with the intrusive sound of the movie it is simply too much.

Apart from movie sound for such kind of films, I think, Williams feeling for what is enough music for the scene and what too much improved significantly in the years to come after that and made him the to date best action music writer in cinema. But that early work does not work so well with the pictures. 

Anyway, I like listening to it on its own. And the main theme is onoe of my favourites.

 

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