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James Horner's CASPER (1995) - 2CD edition from La-La Land Records (2020)


Jay

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"The Doctor Is In" deleted scene is on youtube

 

Earlier version with full song:

 

 

Later version with song removed

 

 

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I loved the cartoon when I was a child, I remember the movie was okay, but the scenes involving the mean ghosts were very dumb.

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10 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

The long version, clearly! 

 

So should they have left in the short version?

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I wanted to buy this, but the shipping (as usual) is prohibitive. Perhaps I'll wait until I can pair it with another release.

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4 hours ago, Jay said:

I always wait now until a label has 3-4 titles come out I want and then get them then

 

4 titles, I always do that too!

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6 hours ago, Jay said:

I always wait now until a label has 3-4 titles come out I want and then get them then

If it's a multi disc set I wait for the Labor Day sale in Sept. and Memorial Day sale in May.

 

I plan on getting MULES next month( fingers crossed)

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4 minutes ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Listening to this now and while I'm not that far enough in to form a solid opinion overall, I can already tell you the bass is way too much on this mix.

It's strong on the ost . so no change.

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1 hour ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Listening to this now and while I'm not that far enough in to form a solid opinion overall, I can already tell you the bass is way too much on this mix.

 

It's exactly the same, just with a bit more differentiation between instrument groups.

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8 hours ago, publicist said:

 

It's exactly the same, just with a bit more differentiation between instrument groups.

 

I compared it to the album and the new version is just too darn loud.

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My copy arrived in the mail yesterday!

 

Just gone done flipping through the booklet, great artwork by Jim Titus once again.

 

Jeff Bond's essay is, as usual, more about the making of the film (and the history of Casper before the film) than the score itself, but he does describe all the themes and the basic on-screen action that goes with each track.

 

Greig McRitchie and Simon Franglen's names are misspelled, but don't @ me - I didn't proofread this one!

 

The sound quality is fantastic IMO, and the score is really nice.  A score I never got into back in the day (never even saw the flick until a few years ago), but now I know its merits thanks to a great new expansion.  Good stuff!

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2 minutes ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

I compared it to the album and the new version is just too darn loud.

 

Yeah, because you had to rip the volume knob up on the old one. I know, it constantly clashed with booming percussion effects of Braveheart back in 1995.

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3 minutes ago, publicist said:

 

Yeah, because you had to rip the volume knob up on the old one. I know, it constantly clashed with booming percussion effects of Braveheart back in 1995.

 

While it's true the dynamic range of the original was so extreme that the softer parts would be too soft and the loud parts would be too loud if you cranked up the soft parts to compensate, I think I still prefer it to this new version. It just sounds weird. And the booming bass is too damn much in No Sign of Ghosts. It's like a rap music car driving by.

 

I'll have to listen to it some more and I guess turn down the bass?

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I love the tender piano moments in the score

 

And the Edward Scissorhands-esque choir moments, which I was surprised was actually referenced in the notes

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I will say that the unreleased bits I wanted the most were the three appearances of the cartoon theme, which are included as "bonus tracks" outside the chronology of the score. They're fun, but very brief and having them as part of the full package, I can't say they really add anything. None of the new bits do.

 

What I'm getting at is that in terms of the score, Horner's original album was perfectly assembled.

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Exactly. You could have added the Kids with a Camera cue as opener and it would have been perfect. And i don't think we need more of the sugary Edward Scissorhands stuff, as it appears almost verbatim 5 or 6 times already. 

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I happened to listen to the OST a couple weeks ago for the first time. I remembered almost all of it just from watching the movie so many times when I was younger. It was one of the more emotional music listening experiences. The expanded version so far is great. It doesn't feel overly long like a lot of others do.

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2 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

It's a fantastic score but Horner included most of it on the OST and the added bits are fairly inconsequential and repetitive. The OST is all you need.

 

I only started listening to the OST last week. I bought it over ten years ago for less than $5. It's good but since I never saw the movie, I don't care that it's incomplete. I have no frame of reference, and cannot justify the upgrade. 

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Loving this expansion; sound quality is great. "Casper's Lullaby" remains one of my all-time favorite Horner tracks. I've always loved the combination of that high solo oboe with the choir starting at 0:18. :lovethis:

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4 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

It's a fantastic score but Horner included most of it on the OST and the added bits are fairly inconsequential and repetitive. The OST is all you need.

 

Amen, but that goes for every Horner score released since the mid-90's. 

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Listening with good headphones yesterday at home, I did notice that in the cues with the big, booming bass drum, the bass drum does sort of overpower everything else going on.  However, I don't think this was a new mixing choice, I think that's the way Shawn Murphy recorded it

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Not a big fan of BOOM...    BOOM....  BOOOOM..   BRRRRRRBBBBBBBOOOM!  each couple of bars.  Or the VVVVVOOOM double-bass underscore that's everywhere.  It's very tiring to the ears and those frequencies *do* make it harder to understand the subtlety of this nice remaster.

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9 minutes ago, ymenard said:

Not a big fan of BOOM...    BOOM....  BOOOOM..   BRRRRRRBBBBBBBOOOM!  each couple of bars.  Or the VVVVVOOOM double-bass underscore that's everywhere.  It's very tiring to the ears and those frequencies *do* make it harder to understand the subtlety of this nice remaster.

 

It's amplified in this release. I double checked the original album ripped in WAV and the Spotify version to make sure I wasn't just remembering it wrong. It's just too boomy on this version and in No Sign of Ghosts sounds like a rap music car is parked next to you. Maybe I'm getting tinnitus.

 

It doesn't ruin this release by any means and I can understand the "it's a spooky movie" argument as well, but I prefer the sound of the OST. Horner-approved!

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