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WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005) 2CD edition from Intrada Records 2020


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25 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

I can understand why some people don't like it. But I don't see how you can call it "average". It's perhaps the least average JW score this side of Images.

 

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Compared to some seriously nice works in the 2000's this one doesn't rise to the other level.

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3 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

This is not one of John's premier scores. But sometimes with a new re-release people over praise.

 

This is JWFan all over always has been. I have to remind myself that many here are diehard collectors, regardless of a given score's quality. 

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I am surprised there is no commentary on the music sample, nor the artwork preview, nor even the fact that it is now announced that it is indeed Matessino producing, editing, and mastering, nor that Jeff Bond is the one writing the liner notes, nor that Kay Marshall is doing the art design

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

I am surprised there is no commentary on the music sample, nor the artwork preview, nor even the fact that it is now announced that it is indeed Matessino producing, editing, and mastering, nor that Jeff Bond is the one writing the liner notes, nor that Kay Marshall is doing the art design

I could hear more details, like some plucked strings etc.

 

Figured it was Matessino as it is a Spielberg score.

 

Jeff Bond isn't Matessino, but his notes are solid.

 

Kay Marshall is no Jim Titus, but the booklet design seems okay to me.

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Jay said:

I am surprised there is no commentary on the music sample, nor the artwork preview, nor even the fact that it is now announced that it is indeed Matessino producing, editing, and mastering, nor that Jeff Bond is the one writing the liner notes, nor that Kay Marshall is doing the art design

 

I personally love that tracklist, a great balance between completeness and listening experience, as Mike usually presents his expansions.

The music sample sounds very good, so cool to listen to that voiceless track in higher quality than how the sessions leaked. I believe Mike used the 5.1 digital masters for this, similar situation to HP2 & 3, so we might notice some mix improvements, I'm excited!

 

The design is good, even though I think the cover is a bit too similar to the OST. The booklet page is also cool, but the images look a bit low resolution, hopefully it's just not optimally rendered in that preview. Looking forward to the liner notes from Jeff Bond, I enjoyed reading him on the Minority Report release.

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21 minutes ago, Jay said:

I am surprised there is no commentary on the music sample, nor the artwork preview, nor even the fact that it is now announced that it is indeed Matessino producing, editing, and mastering, nor that Jeff Bond is the one writing the liner notes, nor that Kay Marshall is doing the art design

 

The music sample sounds fantastic w/out the narration!

The artwork looks fine, just wised we would've had something different (like the one in your profile pic) to distinguish from the OST, like MR, SPR, SL

No surprise that MM is involved, that's to be expected and appreciated.

I'm fine with Jeff Bond with the liner notes, might we get some "tech talk" section from Intrada and/or MM?
What other JW releases has Kay Marshall done artwork for?

 

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57 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Sometimes?

Well, unless it's a Bouzreau production.

42 minutes ago, Smeltington said:

If we don't comment on something, that means it's good.

I already praised the listerner friendly track list.*

Sadly, my phone doesn't permit me to listen to the samples.

 

 

* still think it should/ coulda been one disc

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

It's nice to get rid of Morgan Freeman's voice over.

 

Why the horizontal line above the composer credit? A bad call.

Is it a flipper cover?

1 hour ago, Smeltington said:

Your phone won't play the CD, either, unless there's something I don't know about.

 

1601589299683.jpg

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1 minute ago, blondheim said:

I believe the link to the Intrada store in the article actually takes you to La-La Land

 

HA!  He's right!  The link says intrada but actually goes to LLL.

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I just saw the track list and listened to "Prologue and Opening Montage." The remastered sound is amazing, and that is just the first cue! I cannot wait to order this.

 

I just read the excerpt of the liner notes from that screenshot provided. I never realized in all the years since seeing the film and listening to the soundtrack album that the elegy-like theme for downtrodden humanity (heard in "Refugee Status"), while subdued and elusive throughout the score, emerged in a heroic and militaristic guise in "The Return to Boston." That is so cool and VERY fitting! One of my favorite parts of the film.

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6 hours ago, Jay said:

:lol: I won't be saying anything about this release before it is out!

 

Do you know how much it will cost? $29.99?

 

5 hours ago, Jay said:

Monsignor and The River - she does every Intrada title since Joe Sikoryak retired a couple years ago (Joe did Jaws, Jaws 2, and SpaceCamp)

 

Joe was way better.

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Am I the only one who's hearing a sort of hint to the Intersection Scene in the Prologue and Opening Montage? I never noticed it before with the narration over it

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14 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

Do you know how much it will cost? $29.99?

 

I don't know. 

 

6 minutes ago, Romão said:

Am I the only one who's hearing a sort of hint to the Intersection Scene in the Prologue and Opening Montage? I never noticed it before with the narration over it

 

2 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

I never realized in all the years since seeing the film and listening to the soundtrack album that the elegy-like theme for downtrodden humanity (heard in "Refugee Status"), while subdued and elusive throughout the score, emerged in a heroic and militaristic guise in "The Return to Boston." 

 

And people said this score is non-thematic! 

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15 minutes ago, Romão said:

Am I the only one who's hearing a sort of hint to the Intersection Scene in the Prologue and Opening Montage? I never noticed it before with the narration over it

 

That I noticed before. I knew about the elegy-like theme, and I knew the aliens had thematic material that dominates the score. I was really surprised to learn that the elegy-like theme is given a heroic and militaristic guise in "The Return to Boston." I hear and recognize it now. That is so cool!

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7 minutes ago, JohnnyD said:

 

That I noticed before. I knew about the elegy-like theme, and I knew the aliens had thematic material that dominates the score. I was really surprised to learn that the elegy-like theme is given a heroic and militaristic guise in "The Return to Boston." I hear and recognize it now. That is so cool!

 

Would you mind giving me some timestamps?

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That trio of science fiction blockbusters, also including A.I. are amongst the best things JW ever done.

In fact, they all share a musical language that is unique. It's like the INDY or SW trilogies, only the films are totally unconnected.

It was, and remains, the artistic pinnacle of his latter career!

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If this score got the OST on D2 treatment, I wonder if future Disney Star Wars expansions will do the same, or will it be more like the Potter expansions?

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I'am very excited about this release, as I have been wanting this for quite some time to get a proper remastering and expansion. The OST album didnt always sound fresh to me but its probably the mix. Anyways, listening to the Opening Prologue cue has been a revelatory experience. Some wonderful atonal nuances come out so fresh and to say the least its already my favourite new cue. The sound quality/mix is indeed terrific. I'm sure Matessino went for a proper high resolution transfer and Iam so glad that the OST album is getting a rehaul the same way. Its going to be wonderful listening program both the film score and the OST program CDs. 

 

PS. Im very curious to hear the proper film version of 'The Escape from the City' disc 2  now known as 'Driving Away From Trouble**  on disc 1. This excellent scherzo like piece is kinda tongue in cheek becuase it sounds like Williams flip version of the Mission Impossible theme music for Tom Cruise ;). The oepning crescendo and the subsequent hammering of percussion certainly mimic the opening style and the segues into the chase music. The opening and ending of the film version cye were edited out on the OST but I am quite eager to fully hear this as in the film a lot of it was buried in the sound mix. 

 

Looking forward to all the aditional info when the cd comes out. Cant wait to order this!

 

 

 

 

 

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Can't wait to get this, the package looks great! For anyone interested in alternate artwork HQCovers posted some terrific ones 5 years ago and I'm excited to soon have a release to use some of them on!

 

https://hqcovers.net/2015/12/29/war-of-the-worlds-by-john-williams/

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13 hours ago, Chewy said:

The booklet page is also cool, but the images look a bit low resolution, hopefully it's just not optimally rendered in that preview.

Yes, I noticed that too. And as for the cover, while I'm often glad the labels all do consistent enough work, all employ Mike, we very rarely have to say "damn, why did this release have to be handled by Varese, LLL would've produced it better" or "oh no, not Intrada again", I do have to wonder what Jim Titus would've done with this for LLL. It seems either Kay/intrada are not inspired often or just don't have much interest in pushing beyond the established, easily approved artwork.

 

The sample does sound great and the tracklist looks good too. Honestly, Jay, even though this is Intrada where Doug Fake's ego can sometimes become a hindrance (AHEMMummy), by now I don't think anyone was expecting JW to let anyone but Mike do these things. You've told us too many times! ;)

 

Now that we talked so much about reuse fees, I have to wonder if Mr. Freeman had to be paid for the reuse of his narration on Disc 2!

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Hey Joey, this score isn't as popular as we first thought; I went to bed and am only just checking the thread again now the next day, probably twelve hours later - and it's still on the same page! 

 

Back in the day I'd have had to wade through another six pages of new posts just to get back up to date on the thread! Either the score isn't all that popular or JWFan is in decline 🤔

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15 hours ago, Chewy said:

The booklet page is also cool, but the images look a bit low resolution, hopefully it's just not optimally rendered in that preview. 

 

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Yes, I noticed that too. 

 

Don't worry! The booklet is all rendered at a resolution higher than shown there, and the printed booklet will look great. I captured an image that was sort of blown from from a lower res preview. It was just to get an idea, the final product will be normal. 

 

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Now that we talked so much about reuse fees, I have to wonder if Mr. Freeman had to be paid for the reuse of his narration on Disc 2!

 

That's funny, but presenting the OST again isn't re use, it's the same use, even if it's rebuilt 

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1 hour ago, Holko said:

It seems either Kay/intrada are not inspired often or just don't have much interest in pushing beyond the established, easily approved artwork.

They have better jewel cases though. A real downside of LLL that should be adressed to MV.

 

1 hour ago, Holko said:

(AHEMMummy)

Still hurts that MM didn't do that one.

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What about same use fees?

 

1 minute ago, Brundlefly said:

They have better jewel cases though. A real downside of LLL that should be adressed to MV.

 

Indeed!

 

But I guess Mike is so expensive that they have to cut costs everywhere they can...

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3 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

They have better jewel cases though.

In my experience that varies all over the place, for whatever reason the cases are not standardised and they come with any variety of front-connecting knobs or internal hinges for the 2CD ones. I've gotten LLL releases in the better ones too, I guess to depends on what the manufacturer has at hand at that second.

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