Images (1972) - 2021 remaster by Quartet Records (CD and LP)

[crlbrg 381]

@LudwigDo you plan on publishing the analysis on the blog? I'm sure it would be a great read...

[Ludwig 1,120]

2 hours ago, carlborg said:

@LudwigDo you plan on publishing the analysis on the blog? I'm sure it would be a great read...

 

I hadn't considered it, but since you suggest it, I'll mark it down as the next post!

[Alfonso Tornero 0]

A question for the experts:

Before knowing the fact that there never was a commercial release of the album assembled by Williams, I searched the net looking for an “original” cover for that “non-existing” LP album. Two versions arose: a white cover with the title mirrored as a metaphor of the plot, and a more conventional one (background in yellow) with the movie poster art, which is, may be revealingly, included as a backcover to the sleeve notes in this new CD pressing.

Does anyone know if any of these two versions could be the cover of the promo album or, in any case, they cannot be considered “original album art”, since it wasn’t commercially released?

[Thor 7,466]

AFAIK, the original promo LP had the plain white cover with the title. The other one you refer to might be the CD bootleg pressing of that LP that arose in the 90s (and which I actually owned at the time).

[Turbo 54]

On 6/14/2021 at 1:23 PM, Jay said:

So combining this information with this chronological order, we get:

1. 01 [all] In Search Of Unicorns (4:03) {1M1 In Search of Unicorns}

2. 11D [1:50-end] The Waterfall (2:23) {"Ums"}

3. 02B [1:13-end] The House (1:25) {"The House"}

4. 09B [0:36-1:09] Land Of The Ums (0:33) {"Rene"}

5. 03 [all] Dogs, Ponies and Old Ruins (2:11)

6. 02A [0:00-1:13] The House (1:13) {"Hugh's Surprise"}

7. 09A [0:00-0:36] Land of the Ums (0:36) {"Fear"}

8. 07 [all] The Love Montage (4:43)

9. 09C [1:09-end] Land of the Ums (0:38) {"Shooting Rene"}

10. 11A [0:00-0:44] The Waterfall (0:44) {The Waterfall}

11. 10A [0:00-1:50] The Night Witch Ride (1:50) {11M2 Kathryn Runs}

12. 04A [0:00-0:49] Visitations (0:49) {12M1 Kathryn Returns To Kill Marcel}

13. 06 [all] The Killing of Marcel (3:10) {12M2 Killing Marcel} & {unknown cue}

14. 04C [0:49-end] Visitations (2:03) {unknown cue} & {13M2 Kathryn's Drive}

15. 11C [1:16-1:50] The Waterfall (0:24) {13M3A First Body Fall}

16. 10B [1:50-end] The Night Witch Ride (1:04) {13M5 Night Watch Ride}

17. 11B [0:44-1:16] The Waterfall (0:32) {"Hugh"}

    Concert Arrangements

18. 05 [all] Reflections (3:12)

19. 08 [all] Blood Moon (3:13)

 

The original album order was submitted by another person so I cannot speak to the decision on the original order.  With the new release I took a look at the original edit and two cues (9B and 11D) are technically alternates since they weren't heard in the film but similar enough cues could be heard.  In reviewing this, the only change I would make is moving 11D after 11B since it ends the album well, and essentially fits nowhere else in the film, even though the theme is similar to the cue heard after track 01.

[QuartalHarmony 542]

Just received my copy - what an extraordinary score. Although I am a fan of JW, I don’t necessarily buy every release - especially the crazy money ones - but this was worth it. As music for a disturbing and tragic film, it couldn’t be more fitting. The fact that he gives us a really hummable main theme is just gravy on top.

 

I was tickled to hear that the main theme was the temp track for Jaws’ opening credits - must play the one over the other and see how it works.

L

 

Mark

[Holko 9,499]

I'm not really a scholar of JW's pre-Jaws work, and from how the eras are separated, I always kind of thought Jaws was somewhat of a big out of nowhere change. Cowboys is pretty different and could have be an anomaly as far as I knew, Long Goodbye is its own thing, the Disaster scores don't seem like my kind of thing, and recently I didn't get many other chances or impetus to check others out. Images made me realise Jaws wasn't "the one where JW was great now", an out of nowhere lightning strike, it's more like the ultimate culmination of his gradual growth and evolution in that era. SW is much more of a direction shift.

[Yavar Moradi 2,590]

On 7/4/2021 at 1:20 PM, Holko said:

I'm not really a scholar of JW's pre-Jaws work, and from how the eras are separated, I always kind of thought Jaws was somewhat of a big out of nowhere change. Cowboys is pretty different and could have be an anomaly as far as I knew, Long Goodbye is its own thing, the Disaster scores don't seem like my kind of thing, and recently I didn't get many other chances or impetus to check others out. Images made me realise Jaws wasn't "the one where JW was great now", an out of nowhere lightning strike, it's more like the ultimate culmination of his gradual growth and evolution in that era. SW is much more of a direction shift.

 

Damn you need to get Jane Eyre (1970).

 

Yavar

[Holko 9,499]

41 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Damn you need to get Jane Eyre (1970).

I absolutely am planning to the next time it gets issued, even if only the OST again. Maybe it could be rerecorded? Do the sheets exist in JW's nice big manuscripts on his shelf?

[Yavar Moradi 2,590]

4 minutes ago, Holko said:

I absolutely am planning to the next time it gets issued, even if only the OST again. Maybe it could be rerecorded? Do the sheets exist in JW's nice big manuscripts on his shelf?

 

I don't think so, alas. I heard that when Williams made his concert suite from the score he couldn't find his original written scores. It could be reconstructed from the film if necessary, though, like what happened for Goldsmith's QBVII or The Salamander... wouldn't be ideal but it'd be better than nothing.

 

Yavar

[Bryant Burnette 654]

As odd an idea as it may seem, I think a pretty persuasive case is made in the liner notes for Goodbye Mr. Chips that that one is where Williams truly leveled up into being John Williams.

[Incanus 5,713]

 

17 hours ago, Holko said:

I absolutely am planning to the next time it gets issued, even if only the OST again. Maybe it could be rerecorded? Do the sheets exist in JW's nice big manuscripts on his shelf?

Williams himself specifically mentioned in a Boston Globe interview in 1990, how Jane Eyre sheet music was gone and he had to copy part of the music from the record for his Jane Eyre Suite when he wanted to feature the music in a Pops concert. 

 

Quote

Williams acknowledges, “There’s even more music upstairs, spilling out of filing cabinets, but even so I don’t have all of it — the early stuff is probably better off lost. It’s probably immodest of me to save all of this, but always in my ear, I hear the voice of my colleague and friend Bernard Herrmann, who wrote so many great scores for Hitchcock, and he said, ‘Keep your music. You can’t trust anyone else to.’ And as usual, Benny was right.
“Did you know that the whole great MGM music library is gone? Sometime in the ’70s, an insurance inspector came along and wondered what all that dangerous-looking yellow molding paper stuff was doing lying around, and it was destroyed — not only the orchestral scores like ‘Dr. Zhivago’ but also the great musicals. The only way they are preserved is on the sound tracks, and if you want to perform those arrangements, you have to listen to them and write them down. I had to do that myself when I wanted to pull out my music for ‘Jane Eyre’ for the Pops. It had been burned, so I just sat right here with the record and listened to it over and over and copied it by ear. Even last year when I wanted to do the fugue from ‘Jaws,’ I had to reconstruct it. So there’s a point to keeping all of this.”

 

[crlbrg 381]

5 hours ago, Incanus said:

Sometime in the ’70s, an insurance inspector came along and wondered what all that dangerous-looking yellow molding paper stuff was doing lying around, and it was destroyed — not only the orchestral scores like ‘Dr. Zhivago’ but also the great musicals.

Shocking.

[igger6 894]

OK, real talk, J-Dubbers: I'm enchanted by the main theme of this film (and the prospect of filling another gap in my "John Williams: One of Each" playlist), but the percussion, grunts, and atonal madness are totally worthless to me.  (I'm a teacher who mainly listens to film music while grading papers; I don't come here to add insanity to my life.)  How much tonal/melodic material does this release provide without requiring special edits?  I'm listening to CosmicApe2's series of YouTube playlists, and I love the variations on the main theme, but it seems like the weirdness intrudes somewhat frequently, and the track delineations aren't marked.  Is this worth my money?  Can anyone who bought a copy weigh in on the ratio of tracks that sound like Williams and tracks that sound like a constipated pervert caning a rocking horse in an empty gymnasium?

 

Should I buy it or just wait for City Light or the FSO to record the main theme?

[Holko 9,499]

3 hours ago, igger6 said:

Can anyone who bought a copy weigh in on the ratio of tracks that sound like Williams and tracks that sound like a constipated pervert caning a rocking horse in an empty gymnasium?

Track 1: main theme all throughout, with Baschet "noises" intruding regularly and stopping it.

Track 2: completely unmelodic, Baschet sounds.

Track 3: lovely main theme, with strings eventually growing madder and madder and taking over, nothing worse than in CE3K or something.

Track 4. unmelodic again, more Baschet and some grunts.

Track 5: unmelodic strings, reminiscent of similar atonal segments in other JW scores.

Track 6: the maddest grunty Baschet and strings track.

Track 7: pretty much unmelodic again

Track 8: the most purely melodic track

Track 9: Baschet, shakuhachi, unmelodic

Track 10: Baschet, strings, grunts, the end is melodic but not the main theme.

Track 11: unmelodic strings and shakuhachi, then the main theme comes back.

 

Sorry, it seems like it's just not for you.

[Bayesian 1,359]

15 hours ago, igger6 said:

Can anyone who bought a copy weigh in on the ratio of tracks that sound like Williams and tracks that sound like a constipated pervert caning a rocking horse in an empty gymnasium?

Well, that’s an image that’s not going to unseat itself from my brain anytime soon. Thanks a lot!

[igger6 894]

Thanks, @Holko!  That was incredibly helpful and incredibly disappointing.  All right, FSO, get on this.  Maybe their usual brand of theatrics can expand this time to include the entire percussion section openly descending into madness onstage...

[rough cut 1,714]

On 7/8/2021 at 7:54 AM, Holko said:

Track 8: the most purely melodic track

 

I bought the CD for this track.

 

I haven't had the opportunity to open and listen to it yet and I kinda knew that it would be a hard pill to swallow, based on the sampling that I've done, but - goddam - your description sure doesn't make me go runnin' after my camera so I can do an unboxing video and pop it in my CD-player...

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

On 6/17/2021 at 1:54 PM, JTWfan77 said:

 

Chris! You're still here!

I never left, but kids and work and JW not putting out a ton of work means that I don't sign in as much, but I'm still around, and will almost always stop in when there's a new WIlliams release.

[Jay 37,287]

Did you hear the news about the new Always release?

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

56 minutes ago, Jay said:

Did you hear the news about the new Always release?

Are you speaking to me, Jay? Yes, I got it a few days ago as well. Enjoyed it, especially the alternate End Titles with the melody of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" interpolated into it. I logged in here to see what others are saying and saw my last post had some replies. 

Also, I noticed Stefancos just blocked me on Facebook today and what, he doesn't post here anymore? He having a mental breakdown or something? Strange lad, that man. lol

[Jay 37,287]

Who else would I be talking to? 

 

Yea he quit JWFan a few years ago now. He said he'll be back when Williams passes

[Bespin 8,480]

I ordred Images, so I think I'll have to listen to it... completely for once.

 

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

 

 

2 hours ago, Jay said:

Yea he quit JWFan a few years ago now. He said he'll be back when Williams passes

Huh. I've known that guy for years and yet always his thinking is always a mystery to me, lol. Odd that he blocked me out of the blue. I only knew he blocked me because I have an app that informs me and other profiles still see him.  

[1977 1,743]

13 hours ago, Chris ChrusherComix said:

I never left, but kids and work and JW not putting out a ton of work means that I don't sign in as much, but I'm still around, and will almost always stop in when there's a new WIlliams release.

I still have that original Silva Screen CD pressing of Jane Eyre that I traded you for years ago  and I remember your list of Williams fan versions and accompanying costom artwork too! Do you still dabble in making custom covers?

[Jay 37,287]

I think I have some Crusher CDRs lying around somewhere too 

[QuartalHarmony 542]

Well, I played In Search of Unicorns over the beginning of Jaws and, yes, it actually works fairly well!

 

I started the track as the Universal logo appears and the musical changes match what’s happening on screen reasonably closely. Obviously, I’m not saying it would have been better than what was written for it, but it’s worth trying to see what something totally different (but still fitting) would have been like.

 

Someone more knowledgeable than me might knock up a YouTube video of it…

 

Mark

[Toillion 213]

Anyone order the vinyl in the US? Curious why it keeps being delayed while it’s already shipped elsewhere.  

[King Mark 3,625]

Vinyl, you mean like the old release?

 

I haven't listened to this new version since I listen to the last album a little while back. It feels like Williams wanted to score The Exorcist that year but ended up with this film

[crumbs 14,301]

This is annoying, no longer listed at Intrada as an item to order. I was going to get this with Eiger and Wrath of Khan! 

[crocodile 7,984]

3 hours ago, King Mark said:

Vinyl, you mean like the old release?

 

I haven't listened to this new version since I listen to the last album a little while back. It feels like Williams wanted to score The Exorcist that year but ended up with this film

No, Quartet released this simultaneously on CD and vinyl. 

 

Karol

[Jay 37,287]

8 hours ago, King Mark said:

Vinyl, you mean like the old release?

 

No

 

 

On 6/7/2021 at 7:15 AM, Jurassic Shark said:

https://quartetrecords.com/product/images/

https://quartetrecords.com/product/images-lp/

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

I feel honoured to be quoted.

[Miguel Andrade 1,260]

On 8/6/2021 at 1:54 AM, Toillion said:

Anyone order the vinyl in the US? Curious why it keeps being delayed while it’s already shipped elsewhere.  

 

I got my copy dispatched on release day and arrived within a couple of days.

[King Mark 3,625]

On 8/7/2021 at 8:12 AM, Jay said:

 

No

 

 

 

they made a new mastering to remove the artifact from the old c.d. vinyl recording...then they re-release it on vinyl!

[Toillion 213]

13 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

 

I got my copy dispatched on release day and arrived within a couple of days.

Interesting. Did you order from quartet records or light in the attic? It was my understanding that light in the attic was the US distributer so I ordered through them. It’s been delayed twice with the new date being 9/24 but it sounds like they shipped from quartet on time.  

[Jay 37,287]

This morning I grabbed my copy and took the shrinkwrap off, and listened to the whole album on my way to work.  It made for an... interesting car ride, and I was again blown away by how good the track "Dogs, Ponies, and Old Ruins" is.  Great stuff right there.  The whole album is very nice assembled, has a great flow throughout.

 

On my lunch break today I checked out the booklet for the first time.  I LOVE the nice, simple, pleasing art design by Nacho Govantes; It makes every easy to read (not always the case in specialty label booklets!), and the numerous production stills were nice too.

 

I do not know how same / different Burlingame's liner notes are in here compared to the 2007 version for Prometheus, but I really enjoyed reading them again, and am thankful for the included the track-by track part that helps give context to what scenes the music is written for.

 

The debut of John Williams' liner notes for the OST album that never happened are pretty cool!  Getting to read his own words on how he went about writing the "real world" music and the "other world" music is terrific. And it's so cool that three pictures from the recording sessions at CTS Studios showing Williams, Yamash'ta, and Altman!

 

Overall a superb release, especially for the 16,95€ retail price!

 

Now here's hoping the original scoring elements turn up somewhere one day!

[crumbs 14,301]

15 hours ago, Jay said:

Now here's hoping the original scoring elements turn up somewhere one day!

 

That would be amazing! Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't revert to using the film stems, unless those elements also haven't survived? Seems unlikely, unless the film elements are also lost...

 

Quartet's Long Goodbye release went down that path, with several monaural tracks. But I'd argue it's still better to get the music released in the best available quality than not at all.

 

I guess the same question could be asked about Jane Eyre and whether an isolated music stem survived for that film (considering the original session elements are apparently lost to time).

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

This cover art is now shown for the CD release on Quartet's website. Has the CD cover art changed, or is it just an error and it's in fact the LP cover art?

[Mr. Hooper 1,748]

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Sorry, but this cover art sucks.

[Andy 4,085]

8 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

This cover art is now shown for the CD release on Quartet's website. Has the CD cover art changed, or is it just an error and it's in fact the LP cover art?

I have the same question.  While examining Quartet’s site I thought for a second I somehow didn’t buy the new 2021 release. But yes I did, it just has the different cover art. 
 

 

4 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

 

Sorry, but this cover art sucks.

I rather like it. 

[Faleel 5,340]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

 

 

I rather like it. 

It kinda has that old 60's vibe.

 

Also kinda reminds me of:

 

[Mr. Hooper 1,748]

 

If they wanted to emulate the minimalist, Saul Bass style, they could've done something a little more evocative, like adding a knife as part of the design. As it is, you don't get a sense at all of what the movie is about. It could be about a photographer. lol

 

Much prefer this approach:

 

 

 

 

 

[A. A. Ron 1,738]

1 hour ago, Faleel said:

It kinda has that old 60's vibe.

 

Also kinda reminds me of:

 

That was one of my favorite shows in high school!

[igger6 894]

I just realized this score would be a perfect candidate for a Mutter arrangement.  Give us some of those sumptuous melodies without all the overcaffeinated-cannibal sounds!

[Bryant Burnette 654]

2 hours ago, igger6 said:

I just realized this score would be a perfect candidate for a Mutter arrangement.  Give us some of those sumptuous melodies without all the overcaffeinated-cannibal sounds!

 

Nooooo thank you.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

Someone should run this album through an AI to remove the grunts...

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

On 07/03/2024 at 3:13 AM, Andy said:

I have the same question.  While examining Quartet’s site I thought for a second I somehow didn’t buy the new 2021 release. But yes I did, it just has the different cover art. 

 

I can confirm they have indeed changed the cover art of the CD. I guess they ran out of knives.

 

On 07/03/2024 at 3:13 AM, Andy said:

I rather like it. 

 

I slightly prefer the new cover art, but I don't really like any of them.

 

On 11/03/2024 at 3:39 AM, igger6 said:

I just realized this score would be a perfect candidate for a Mutter arrangement.  Give us some of those sumptuous melodies without all the overcaffeinated-cannibal sounds!

 

I'd rather have an arrangement with Mutter doing the grunts!

 

On 19/06/2021 at 11:54 AM, Ludwig said:

 

I hadn't considered it, but since you suggest it, I'll mark it down as the next post!

 

I'd love to read that!

[Chewy 2,376]

49 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I can confirm they have indeed changed the cover art of the CD. I guess they ran out of knives.

 

We need pics!

[Holko 9,499]

4 minutes ago, Chewy said:

 

We need pics!

You mean images?