John Williams albums by Philips Records (Boston Pops)

[Amer 2,077]

One of my favourite cues on this album from JANE EYRE suite has to be the extended scherzo ‘To Thornfield’ about 3 minutes which is twice the length of the original piece. By the way, I remember Charles Gerhardt also recorded this cue albeit the same as the original composition ‘The Carriage Ride to Thornfield‘ which apparently appears on THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER album he did.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

30 minutes ago, Amer said:

One of my favourite cues on this album from JANE EYRE suite has to be the extended scherzo ‘To Thornfield’ about 3 minutes which is twice the length of the original piece. 

 

...and half the speed.

 

[Jay 37,249]

I was honestly surprised the Jane Eyre suite didn't do a lot for me, because I Loved the OST album so much.  But here we are!

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

6 hours ago, Jay said:

Fantasia on Greensleeves (Ralph Vaughan Williams) - Another classic piece of music I'd heard a million times without ever knowing its name or who wrote it.  Well, I really liked it!  After three listens, it's easily the next of the three best tracks on the album

 

The arrangement is RVW's, but the theme is much older (RVW did extensive folk song research for several of his works). What I didn't know for a long time is that it has become closely connected to Christmas (not in Austria at least).

 

6 hours ago, Jay said:

An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise (Peter Maxell Davies) - This was surprisingly enjoyable, a 14 minute suite that reminded me of a film score suite.  It features some nice bagpipe work!  The third of my favorite tracks on the album

 

I picked that blindly up a few years ago as part of a Peter Maxwell Davies album at a used CD store in London, simply because it was cheap and the name seemed vaguely familiar. It didn't do much for me. I only learnt afterwards (either from the liner notes or from reading up on it on the internet) that it was commissioned by Williams.

 

2 hours ago, Amer said:

By the way, I remember Charles Gerhardt also recorded this cue albeit the same as the original composition ‘The Carriage Ride to Thornfield‘ which apparently appears on THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER album he did.

 

What's that now?

[Jay 37,249]

Here you go

 

https://www.discogs.com/release/6249826-Erich-Wolfgang-Korngold-Various-The-Prince-And-The-Pauper-And-Other-Film-Music

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

Here you go

 

Wow. I'd never heard of that before. Looks like a cool (if somewhat random) programme.

[Jay 37,249]

I'd buy a boxset of all of Gerhardt's film music re-recording albums

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

As opposed to a box of most of them?

 

I have most of the Dolby Surround version of his RCA series (some original, some on CDR), originals of his Star Wars trilogy, Kings Row, and his (gorgeous) Holdrige album, plus the complete set of Sony remasters. But I'd happily pick up stereo remasters of those albums that were missing in the Sony series.

[Bespin 8,472]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

I'd buy a box of of all of Gerhardt's film music re-recording albums

 

Everybody already bought it except you!

 

This box doesn't have everything, but 12 CD... It's better than nothing!

[Jay 37,249]

Exactly, it isn't complete

[Amer 2,077]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Exactly, it isn't complete

The Vocallion label from UK released 5 of the Gerhardt recordings on hybrid SACD format. At least three of them have extra bonus cues culled from Gerhardt's 'Spectacular World of Classic Film Scores'recorded album. The sound quality on these are extraordinary. No John Williams though. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

10 hours ago, Jay said:

Exactly, it isn't complete

 

Except for SW & CE3K, ROTJ, and the album Amer mentioned, it is though, isn't it? At least from an RCA POV. The other recordings were on different labels. (It would still be nice to have a box with everything, obviously)

[Jay 37,249]

Oh duh, I forgot about the different labels aspect. My bad. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

I still wonder why the RCA set isn't complete though. I suppose SW & ROTJ have licencing reasons, but what about the Spectacular World with all the studio fanfares etc.? That's pretty much straight out of the classic series in the box.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Better get the new SACD re-releases on Dutton/Vocalion.

[Jay 37,249]

 

Salute To Hollywood (1989)

 

Wow!  This album is great!  It's basically mostly 20s-50s classic Hollywood fare, with 5 tracks of music from 80s films mixed in as well.

 

Hooray for Hollywood (Richard Whiting, arr. John Williams) - A classic I first experienced live at a John Williams concert, and have subsequently heard live any many other John Williams concerts.  This recording is fun, and kicks the album off to a great start!

 

Pops Salutes The Oscars (arr. Morton Stevens)

• When You Wish Upon A Star (Leigh Harline) - A very nice arrangement, not as lush as the CE3K end credits, but very well done
• Swingin' On A Star (Jimmy Van Heusen) - I know this song from Hudson Hawk; It was great there, and it's great here!
• Moon River (Henry Mancini) - Such a classic, it's good in any incarnation I've ever heard of it, including this one! Love it!
• Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (Burt Bacharach) - hehe, this is fun
• Theme from "The Way We Were" (Marvin Hamlisch) - not familiar with this beforehand, but it was nice
• The Shadow Of Your Smile (Johnny Mandel) - not familiar with this beforehand, but it was nice, I liked the horn playing

 

Somewhere Out There (James Horner/Cynthia Weil/Barry Mann, arr. Glenn Osser) - Williams conducting Horner, we have Williams conducting Horner here!  This is a wonderful instrumental arrangement of the classic song, probably my favorite track on the album

 

A Tribute To Judy Garland (arr. Morton Stevens)

• Over The Rainbow (Harold Arlen) - The suite begins with only about 30 seconds of this, but it sounds GREAT, and makes for a wonderful "overture" style opening to the whole suite
• We're Off To See The Wizard (Harold Arlen) - This was a lot of fun!  It's amazing how well my brain just knew all this music, despite not having seen the film since I was single digit age
• You Made Me Love You (James Monaco) - I wasn't familiar with this ahead of time, but it's nice to have a mellow song at this point in the suite.  It's pretty good!
• Be A Clown (Cole Porter) - This was really fun, with the wacky instrumentation and such!
• Get Happy (Harold Arlen) - Pretty good
• The Man That Got Away (Harold Allen) - Pretty good, the melody is pretty catchy!
• Over The Rainbow (Harold Arlen) - Unlisted on the CD, but returning to this to wrap up the suite was nice, especially since so little of it played in the beginning.  This violin taking the verse's main melody line was really nice

 

Balloon Sequence from The Witches of Eastwick (John Williams) - 2 years after the film and OST album released, we get this re-recording, which was called "The Ballroom Scene" on the OST album (yet, "The Balloon Scene" on the score sheets).  It's interesting to see that as the Philips line went on through the 80s, he included music from his scores to Empire, Raiders, Yes Giorgi, ET, Jedi, and this, yet skipped over Heartbeeps, Monsignor, Temple of Doom, The River, and SpaceCamp.  I wonder if that is due to the perceived commercial success of music from those being on these albums, or Williams' own opinion on the quality of his writing?  Anyways this is a nice track; Not an instant Hollywood classic like the bulk of the album has been up until this point, but a nice piece that works well to set up and lead into the next track:

 

Devil's Dance from The Witches of Eastwick (John Williams) - Again we get a new name, this was called "Dance of the Witches on the OST album (or just "End Credits" on his score sheets).  This performance is really great, super fun, another album highlight.  I really like the modern Mutter arrangement, but this was a nice reminder that the original was already great!

 

Love Theme from Out of Africa (John Barry, arr. Joseph Reisman) - This was another reminder that I need to listen to more John Barry.  Luckily, I just picked up this OST album in a Savers, and will be checking it out soon!  This track was very nice, with excellent string work.  It was around here I had the thought that as this series is going on, the performance of the Pops musicians has been getting better and better

 

La Bamba (William Clauson, arr. Richard Hayman) - This was super fun!  A bit of a slower arrangement than the song versions I was familiar with (at least I think so), but very enjoyable!

 

The Bad And The Beautiful (David Raksin, arr. Herbert Spencer) - This one didn't do much for me.  Even after 3 listens, nothing left a mark.

 

Dancing With Fred Astaire (arr. Sid Ramin) - This is very strange; The earlier album "On Stage" already had a track called "A Salute To Fred Astaire", which included five of the six songs here!  The only song this arrangement adds is "Change Partners", and the pieces are in a different order to.  I can't say this track did much for me however.  Kind of a lackluster way to end the album!

 

The liner notes are not by Richard Dyer, but instead by Alan Rich, a music critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.  Perhaps because the theme of the album is Hollywood, they wanted someone from there instead of Boston?  It's three full pages that discuss a bit about all the selections, and is pretty good

 

Once again, there is a problem/mistake with the CD programming, as BOTH Witches of Eastwick tracks are contained in track 5, even though the back of the CD says they should be in tracks 5 and 6.  This means every track after that is off my one compared to the back cover.  Sloppy!

[Bespin 8,472]

LA BAMBA!

[Jay 37,249]

It's quite a fun track, especially the lengthy bridge section I don't think is used in the song versions, unless I only know radio edits or something

[Miguel Andrade 1,260]

On 05/11/2021 at 8:01 PM, Jay said:

Once again, there is a problem/mistake with the CD programming, as BOTH Witches of Eastwick tracks are contained in track 5, even though the back of the CD says they should be in tracks 5 and 6.  This means every track after that is off my one compared to the back cover.  Sloppy!

 

My CD has both Witches of Eastwick selections on a single track, but with an index for the CD players that managed that feature.

[Jay 37,249]

Oh I'm sure mine has the index too, but the CD player I'm using to play it does not have the ability to read/use that information

 

And still, even with the ability to use that, it doesn't match what the back cover says

[Jay 37,249]

 

Pops A La Russe (1990)

 

This was an interesting idea, to do an album of Russian compositions as the cold war was winding down.  Unfortunately, after listening to the entire album all the way through 3 times, only 2 tracks on the entire disc did anything for me:

 

Night on The Bare Mountain by Modeste Moussorgsky - I think this is usually called "Night on Bald Mountain", and it's a very memorable tune I've absorbed through osmosis from who-knows where (Probably Fantasia to start).  I like this a lot, by far the piece on the album that most reminds me of film music.  Also I realized on listening to this now, that this is where Koji Kondo got his music for the Bowser levels of Super Mario Brothers!

 

Sabre Dance by Aram Khatchaturian Gayaneh - I had to lol - it took me a minute to place it, but then I realized that this is the music the dancer dances to in Final Fantasy IV!  I'm not sure in Nobuo Uematsu changed the melody ever so slightly, or if it's in the public domain anyway, or if it's credited officially somewhere, but it's basically the same thing.  It's fun!

 

The liner notes this time are incredibly short, and whoever wrote them is not even credited!  The first two paragraphs briefly mention how this was recorded when "barriers between nations that seemed impenetrable just months before began to tumble down" and that this album celebrates by "joining the talents of two great nations" performing "festive Russian favorites", "in the new spirit of openness that is magically infecting our lands"  Then there's just one paragraph about the first great era of Nationalism in Russia in the late 19th century and which tracks on the album come from them, followed by a paragraph about the second wave of Nationalism 50 years later and which tracks came from then, and that's all we get about the music.  The rest of the notes is just a brief two paragraph summary of Williams' career so far.

 

So, not a particularly compelling album for me personally, but those 2 tracks are very fun!

[Bespin 8,472]

"Cold war has winding down"?

 

REPORTED!

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

Sabre Dance by Aram Khatchaturian Gayaneh - I had to lol - it took me a minute to place it, but then I realized that this is the music the dancer dances to in Final Fantasy IV!  I'm not sure in Nobuo Uematsu changed the melody ever so slightly, or if it's in the public domain anyway, or if it's credited officially somewhere, but it's basically the same thing.  It's fun!

 

I doubt it's in the public domain. Khatchaturian died in 1978 - he conducted his own music with the Wiener Philharmoniker in 1962 (a rare honour he shares with Williams and not many others). It's available on CD: Suites from Gayaneh and Spartacus. There's another piece from Gayaneh you should find familiar:

 

And if you've seen The Hudsucker Proxy (or heard Burwell's score), you also know a bit from Spartacus:

 

[Jay 37,249]

Well here's the FFIV cue, is it identical, or different enough to be considered homage/parody of Sabre Dance? 

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Heh. I'd call that a synth jingle adaptation.

[Jay 37,249]

 

Pops By George (1990)

 

And here we are at the final "main" entry in the series, only one Jessye Norman album left to go after this.  This album has the least number of tracks in the entire series - only 4 tracks!  An American In Paris, Porgy and Bess, Girl Crazy, and Rhapsody In Blue.

 

I wasn't really all that familiar with this music beforehand, although I did see Keith Lockhart conduct An American In Paris music synced to picture this summer at Tanglewood, and Rhapsody in Blue sounded instantly familiar to me.  But overall.... I liked the album a lot!  

 

It seemed like there was always multiple things going on, the music was just so full of life!  I listened to the album all the way through 3 times and enjoyed it a lot every time.  A surprise for sure!

 

Strangely here at the last album in the series, Philips finally steps up their game with the art design and overall production quality.  All previous entries in the series had the exact same back cover designs and really flimsy paper in their booklets, but this one has an all-new and much more appealing back cover design, and really nice, thick, glossy paper in the booklet.  Even the font used is nicer and easier to read.  The liner notes are again not credited to anyone, and just briefly cover Gershwin's life and career, and then Williams'.  That's it!

 

Not really looking forward to Lucky To Be Me now, but maybe it'll surprise me!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

You may not have liked the Copland or Bernstein pieces on these albums, but at least you liked the Gershwins.  There's hope for you yet!

[Jay 37,249]

Maybe when I re-play every album after the Philips box comes out I'll have a different opinion; We'll see!

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

33 minutes ago, Jay said:

Rhapsody in Blue sounded instantly familiar to me.

 

It's even film music!

 

 

[Bespin 8,472]

 

2 hours ago, Jay said:

 

 

Note that this album got two different covers...

 

[Jay 37,249]

My physical copy says George on it

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Mine says John Williams, guitar.

[Jay 37,249]

 

Lucky To Be Me (1992)

 

Oof, not a fan at all, not even a little bit.  It's the same as the first Jessye Norman album, I just can't stand her singing style at all.

 

The back cover is back to the same format as all other entries in the series; Maybe I just have a weird later pressing of Pops By George?

 

The paper inside is nice and sturdy though, however my copy has a hilarious printing error, where the first page says "Ucky To Be Me" and "ohn Williams, Piano".  The missing L and J can be found partially on page 8....

 

The liner notes by Max Harrison talk briefly about the compositions and that's pretty much it.

Weak ending to a legendary series!

[Jay 37,249]

Well, having finished up the series, I next listened to the only two Philips compilations I have.

 

First up:

 

 

The Boston Pops Orchestra · John Williams Salute Gene Kelly Fred Astaire Judy Garland (1996)

 

I picked this up at Amoeba Records randomly, had never actually listened to it until now.  It contains:

GENE KELLY

1 Singing In The Rain (from Aisle Seat)

JUDY GARLAND

2 A Tribute to Judy Garland (from Salute To Hollywood)

3 The Trolley Song (from Aisle Seat)

4 Over The Rainbow (from Aisle Seat)

FRED ASTAIRE

5 A Salute To Fred Astaire (from On Stage)

GENE KELLY

6 Times Square: 1944 (from Bernstein by Boston)

7 I Got Rhythm / Embraceable You (from Pops by George, where it was inside "Selections from Girl Crazy")

8 Be A Clown (from Salute To Hollywood, where it was inside "A Tribute to Judy Garland")

9 Slaughter On 10th Avenue (from On Stage)

10 An American In Paris (from Pops by George)

 

 

I have no idea why they only took "I Got Rhythm" and "Embraceable You" from "Selections from Girl Crazy" instead of just grabbing the whole track (which was only 5:47 long).  Weird.   What's also weird is the inclusion of "Be A Clown" in its own track, since it was already a part of the "A Tribute To Judy Garland" track.  Why is it on this CD twice!?

The booklet contains new liner notes by Brian Drutman that talks about all the selections, but not really anything about Williams or the Pops.  They also dedicate 2 pages to being an add for other Philips 90s compilations - Over The Rainbow, Kid Stuff, Pops Stoppers, Space-Taculars, and America The Beautiful

[Jay 37,249]

 

Space-Taculars (1995)

 

This contains:

 

STAR WARS

1 Main Theme (from Pops In Space)

2 Princess Leia (from Pops In Space)

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

3 The Asteroid Field (from Pops In Space)

4 Yoda's Theme (from Pops In Space)

5 The Imperial March (from Pops In Space)

RETURN OF THE JEDI

6 Parade of the Ewoks (from Out Of This World)

7 Luke and Leia (from Out Of This World)

8 Jabba The Hutt (from Out Of This World)

9 The Forest Battle (from Out Of This World)

E.T.

10 The Flying Theme (from Aisle Seat)

11 Adventures on Earth (from Out Of This World)

ALIEN

12 Closing Title (from Out Of This World)

STAR TREK, THE MOTION PICTURE

13 Main Title (from Out Of This World)

STAR TREK, THE TELEVISION SHOW

14 Main Theme (from Out Of This World)

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

15 Suite (from Pops In Space)

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

15 Thus Spake Zarathustra (from Out Of This World)

 

So it's basically all of Pops In Space minus Superman, all of Out Of This World minus Battlestar Galactica and Twilight Zone, plus the Flying Theme from Aisle Seat.  

 

It's a pretty nice compilation of many of sci-fi cinema's biggest classically orchestra original film scores, though it does highlight one misstep in the series:  How he handled ET!  The Flying Theme was a great concert arrangement to include on an album of course, but when you hear it here immediately followed by Adventure On Earth, which is extremely flying theme abundant, it really makes it such a bummer that he didn't record E.T. And Me, Over The Moon, E.T.'s Halloween, and/or Abandoned And Pursued for this series.  And in fact, how often he neglects all of those in his own concerts! (I've personally heard Flying Theme and Adventure of Earth more times than I can count at JW concerts, Stargazers once, and none of the others ever).

 

Inside has new liner notes by Bruce Eder, who briefly discussing the history of sci-fi cinema and its music.  There's no ads for other compilations - maybe this was the first one?

[Bespin 8,472]

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

There's no ads for other compilations - maybe this was the first one?

 

Oh com'on.... No it was not the first JW compilation on the Philips label...

 

http://www.goplanete.com/johnwilliams/music/disco/albums.htm

[Jay 37,249]

That links says "Salute Gene Kelly Fred Astaire Judy Garland" only came out on Polygram, but my copy does not mention Polygram anywhere and has Philips all over it

[Bespin 8,472]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

That links says "Salute Gene Kelly Fred Astaire Judy Garland" only came out on Polygram, but my copy does not mention Polygram anywhere and has Philips all over it

 

"That" link???

 

Copy paste error :-)

@Junion :-D

[Jay 37,249]

The cover art you use even says "Philips" in the upper righthand corner

[Bespin 8,472]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

The cover art you use even says "Philips" in the upper righthand corner

I SAID IT IS A COPY/PASTE ERROR!!!!

[Jay 37,249]

We still need to figure out where "I Got Rhythm / Embraceable You" came from!

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

They're from the musical Girl Crazy. 

[Jay 37,249]

Oh duh, it's the first 2 sections of the third track on Pops by George.  I see.

[Bespin 8,472]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

Oh duh, it's the first 2 sections of the third track on Pops by George.  I see.

 

I was about to say thay!

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

Oh duh, it's the first 2 sections of the third track on Pops by George.  I see.

 

I was worried there were still a few tracks that Universal had forgotten to include in the Philips box!

 

1 minute ago, Bespin said:

 

I was about to say thay!

 

Great minds, you know.

[Jay 37,249]

Still doesn't explain why "Be A Clown" is on the CD twice

[Bespin 8,472]

Are you drunk again?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

"Be A Clown" is a weird one, as it's already a part of the "A Tribute To Judy Garland" track.  Why is it here again!?!? (Note: I didn't bother to go back and compare to see if its the same identical recording or not, maybe it's from some other album by another conductor!?)

 

Be a Clown has been taken out of A Tribute to Judy Garland and presented only as its own track on the compilation.

[Jay 37,249]

Oh, huh, you're right.  The track was 10:55 on Salute To Hollywood, but only 9:13 here, and Be A Clown is 1:42 long.

 

I wonder why they did that?

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Could it be something about lower copyright fees when divided into two tracks of less than ten minutes each?