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Danny Elfman's SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999) - 2021 4-CD Expanded Edition from Intrada Records


Jay

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Man, this is incredible. Listened to the OST a few days ago in preparation (in place of the faulty disc 1) and it felt a bit like highlights picked out of a greater whole, presented in the usual way to alternate big bombast tracks and smaller connective ones just for the sake of alternating them - not bad at all but not ideal. Now I finished a listen of the main film program and holy crap it's such a great one! A ton of much needed more subtle/small "padding" around even more kickass bombastic action pieces, many of them absolute career highlights. Just a couple times the C&C has a few hiccups with short cues (Trouble in Town), but nothing I won't be able to fix for myself! Also, just from having listened to the samples 10+ times, I already know I prefer some of the alternates over these main program versions, like Main Title and Introduction. I'll have a ton of fun breaking the whole set down into a sessions-style collection and creating a personalised edit out of it!

 

This is the only Elfman expansion I own. The only one I kinda wanted! And now I have it! More than I ever dreamed of! And I can absolutely go to town on it! Hell yeah!

 

Also, I admit to Kay-bashing a lot of the time (when she deserves it :P), but once I added my custom cover to the front and if I overlook the kinda awkward tray image choices - this looks pretty bitchin'! The booklet especially, i like the colours, the layout, the pattern at the bottom, the text box shape, the initials for the chapters with red highlights...

I also admit to Fake-bashing (when he deserves it :P), but he didn't mess up anything here as far as I could tell!

 

 

Me after seeing that the booklet has a 5-page cue list with slates and take numbers for all tracks:

randy marsh masturbating GIF by South Park

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This is the only Elfman expansion I'll buy too - I'm barely into his stuff at all outside of this score.

 

Like you, I find some of the alternates more interesting than the film versions, and the custom programme that can be created from the alternates creates a listening experience that the LotR Rarities thought it was. In the space of a day or so, I went from keeping the main program and about 6 or 7 alternates plus one OST track, to making three entire albums.

 

In fact, the only alternates I didn't keep were the following, which in all but one case aren't different enough to keep:

 

Masbath's Terrible Death (Original) - the original ending is just a mess. I can see why he rewrote it.

Sweet Dreams (Original)

Mystery Figure (Original)

The Tree Of Death (Original)

Bad Dream - Tender Moment (Version #2)

The Chase-The Final Confrontation(Ver.#2 -A New Day

 

At the moment I'm loving the horseman's descending motif, particularly The Final Confrontation during the kiss. If anything could've taken this score from perfection to beyond perfection would have been a concert suite for that motif.

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They're worth listening to at least once on this set - assuming that anyone who bought this set cares about the score enough to be curious :)

 

But as I said, quite a few of them are subtle.

 

This is a set where it hasn't sunk in fully that we've finally closed the book, then I play something like The Will or the extended The Windmill (two cues that were't even on my 'unreleased' radar for this score) and get all giddy :woop: 

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I have an update from Intrada shipping manager,  for those planning to get this. It will be in stock either last few days of August or early Sept.

 

Will be ordering it with ST II:TWOK

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On 8/9/2021 at 11:18 PM, Richard Penna said:

The Main Titles don't sound like any of the three variations to me

Same take but vocals dialed in and out, mixed differently in general.

Into the Woods does have different vocals. But all the OST tracks are the same base takes as the booklet says.

 

 

On 8/17/2021 at 9:58 PM, Holko said:

I also admit to Fake-bashing (when he deserves it :P), but he didn't mess up anything here as far as I could tell!

 

Correction: The transition back from an insert, performance edit, or whatever it is, in Final Confrontation main program version, is absolutely godawful, misaligned layers overlap badly. 3-02, 5:52-6:02 or so. Doesn't happen on the OST with its overly hot mix, and it seems like it could be patched up with the same section of one of the alternates too.

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OK, let's just willingly ignore incompetence and the lack of any quality control or standards.

 

Wrote Roger on the intrada forum asking if this could be redone too while we're at correcting and replacing another bit of incompetence on the same set.

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I hear it now. I dunno... might just be part of the chaos of the orchestra at that point. And there are lots of areas where the main program sounds differet to the OST, such as the last crescendo in The Windmill. I just find it part of the character of the score.

 

Could be a messed up edit, but I'd be somewhat surprised if it is, given how prominent it is.

 

Please take this the right way, but you're definitely a 'Professional Nickpicker' :)  

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No excuses. Check out the same section on the OST and in the alternates.

3 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Please take this the right way, but you're definitely a 'Professional Nickpicker' :)  

If only I were! I could catch this shit before the products ship out, instead now their paying customers are fucking beta testers.

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Interestingly Music Box Records had this message on their site regarding replacement discs for some of these soundtrack label faulty pressings etc.

Quote

In regard to the numerous technical issues from some labels, we would like to inform you that replacements discs will only be shipped with other orders made on our web store and not separately. Thank you for your understanding.

 

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Just now, Jay said:

Makes sense

Yup. And for me no biggie since I order now stuff regularly from them and very understandable since they would lose quite a bit of money sending these separate discs to all those who ordered these releases from them.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/19/2021 at 1:42 PM, Holko said:

Correction: The transition back from an insert, performance edit, or whatever it is, in Final Confrontation main program version, is absolutely godawful, misaligned layers overlap badly. 3-02, 5:52-6:02 or so. Doesn't happen on the OST with its overly hot mix, and it seems like it could be patched up with the same section of one of the alternates too.

 

Roger just posted on the Intrada forum that they will look into this issue.

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I hadn't listened to the Final Confrontation initially because well, it's a four CD set. Can't listen to everything in detail.

 

Something is up with that section - the style of the orchestra does tend to get somewhat loose and chaotic at times, but if you listen to the rhythm from 5:55, something goes a bit weird.

 

The original: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zrnCX77rZNYM5Pn20SGnMEM_KlXgbjg8/view?usp=sharing

My patching attempt (might not be entirely right... only spent a minute or so): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DOKoE2p17fHl6hLlHbBeiIqk-WgVi-3c/view?usp=sharing

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I grabbed the same section from one of the alternates to patch it up.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G-crafV8Kaib2bAoAX5iCIQqLisCWrlL/view?usp=drivesdk

 

And an explanation of what I think is going on, just an improper take lineup:

20210825_214918.jpg

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A little 'correction' to the end of the liners, which mention that the brief 'Dead Body' sequence after Introduction is tracked from The Story... (Revised). Well, if you try finding what's in the film in that cue, you're not going to find it :P I had a quick read of them today and got curious about that bit, as I half-remembered some music in that scene.

 

It's actually from the 'original' version - I combed through the 'revised' version and couldn't find the high strings at the start, nor the plucked ones at the end, and briefly thought Intrada had made a mistake and left off a cue.

 

In the film it's mixed very low, and has the bell tolling loudly over it, so it took me a few moments to ascertain that it was this take, but they used two sections - from about 0:15 (the shot of the guys running through the foggy street is at 0:19), and then segueing into the very end for the plucked bit (woodwind in the revised version).

 

The other instance of tracking they mention is correct - this is the only one that had potentially pertained to a missing cue. For the curious, the tracking they don't mention is the horseman's motif from the end of The Tree Of Death is what we hear at the end of The Chase when the horseman flies off the carriage.

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Now that fall is here, I'm in the mood to finally check out this new release, which I never found myself in the mood for this summer.

 

I just ordered it direct from Intrada along with Eiger Sanction, Call of the Wild, and Extreme Prejudice, and I can't wait to check it out!  I'm glad I'll get the fixed OST discs for both this and Eiger right away without having to fuss with replacement issues.


Can't wait to dig into this score.  So glad it got this comprehensive release!

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I'd love to purchase it, but given the issue with the third disc is likely to be fixed soon, I might wait for that first. Also, I'm not familiar enough with the much of the score to know for sure if I'd be fully invested enough to warrant a purchase, so a few more listens might suffice.

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1 hour ago, HunterTech said:

I'd love to purchase it, but given the issue with the third disc is likely to be fixed soon, I might wait for that first. Also, I'm not familiar enough with the much of the score to know for sure if I'd be fully invested enough to warrant a purchase, so a few more listens might suffice.

 

It is a masterpiece. This is a movie that would benefit from an isolated score track so much. When that third disc is fixed, swipe this bad boy right up.

 

I promise if you don't like it, I will personally reimburse you ;)

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3 hours ago, HunterTech said:

I'd love to purchase it, but given the issue with the third disc is likely to be fixed soon, I might wait for that first. Also, I'm not familiar enough with the much of the score to know for sure if I'd be fully invested enough to warrant a purchase, so a few more listens might suffice.

 

I reckon a casual fan such as yourself might appreciate the complete score presentation, but the alternates might be overkill. If this were a 2-CD set with just a few alternates (and thank God it's not) I'd have said go for it. You may find the alts interesting too though :) 

 

And yeah, of all the Elfman DVDs to recieve isolated scores.... surely this one would've been a top candidate.

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On 24/09/2021 at 4:02 PM, Jay said:

Now that fall is here, I'm in the mood to finally check out this new release, which I never found myself in the mood for this summer.

 

I just ordered it direct from Intrada along with Eiger Sanction, Call of the Wild, and Extreme Prejudice, and I can't wait to check it out!  I'm glad I'll get the fixed OST discs for both this and Eiger right away without having to fuss with replacement issues.


Can't wait to dig into this score.  So glad it got this comprehensive release!

 

 

Holy COW that was fast!  Ordered on Friday, and they arrived today!

 

Interestingly, they seemingly are not opening up the Sleepy Hollow shrinkwrap and replacing the OST disc; I received it in a separate sleeve, with a sticker on it that says "Enclosed is a replacement Sleepy Hollows CD1 which corrects a mastering error affecting gapless playback."

 

SleepyEIger.jpg

 

Meanwhile, my Eiger Sanction in the same box, did NOT have the fixed disc in a separate sleeve; It's (hopefully) inside the shrinkwrap on that one.

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Roger has posted a followup about disc 3, track 2

 

Quote

Okay here's the story on that track from Sleepy Hollow. That cue is a complete take...there was no assembly done at that point so what you're hearing is the musicians are just not together there. What discs 2 and 3 -- the complete score presentation -- intended to do is use all of the production takes (referred to as "circle takes" because they are noted on the recording sheets literally with a circle with a p in it to allow the editors to know those are the takes to use in the film). For the original soundtrack album, Elfman must have elected to use an alternate take (possibly because of that performance moment). But our intent was to use the production takes. So you have both versions! Elfman didn't mind when he approved the masters and practically speaking there is nothing to fix.

 

http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=84406#p84406

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Weird. I guess the real question now is if it's like that in the film, given what's already been mentioned about the Main Titles earlier in the thread.

 

For my fix of the cue, I had used one of the "session" mixes (I'll make a post later about how phony that bootleg actually is), none of which had that "error" to my recollection. The Burton/Elfman version had too different of a mix in that section to pull it off, and (more superficially) none of the Intrada alts lined up waveform wise to warrant using. Didn't want to use the OST copy either, given its supposed mastering differences.

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Did not expect that response... interesting.

 

In answer to 'does it sound like that in the movie'... no. Maybe someone did some editing to fix the film just like some of us have? In fact, the OST sounds the same take, but without this problem, so maybe the same editing fix was used for the film and album, but not properly reflected in the paperwork?

 

And of course, we have no idea what tracking the editors did with all the takes at their disposal - we know of three instances, but maybe they did other changes in the final film, merely using Intrada's takes as the starting point.

 

Doesn't matter either way to me - I'll just keep my patched version.

 

 

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On 24/09/2021 at 10:02 PM, Jay said:

I just ordered it direct from Intrada along with Eiger Sanction, Call of the Wild, and Extreme Prejudice, and I can't wait to check it out!  I'm glad I'll get the fixed OST discs for both this and Eiger right away without having to fuss with replacement issues.

But you still got the faulty Extreme Prejudice discs.

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Roger's added this update.

 

http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8762&start=30

 

Quote

The scoring situation on this film must have been pretty intense. Not only did Elfman record two entire scores, but tons of alternates. This was the most complex project we've ever worked on. Although the recording engineered noted which takes to use the film, what actually ended up in the film is anyone's guess. Music editors, directors, etc can make last minute decisions without the composer present. Clearly there was some angst around the scoring and dubbing of this film.

 

In fact, compare Versions 2 and 3 of TFC with the film - from around 5:48 in version 2, take note of the rising brass and then the third note of the descending theme at 5:54 - it matches the film exactly, through to the 'fix' for the messed up section.

 

Conclusion: the movie uses version 3, up to somewhere around 5:48 ish, switches to version 2 to fix the problem, then back to 2 somewhere before the solo voice.

 

Just parsing through the first 10 mins on YouTube confirms that the film seems to be a mixture of alternates - the opening of the main titles matches the alternate, then the 'revised' takes over, but with the choir for exiting the carriage replaced (probably with the solo from 'original'), but then the 'alternate' take is used for the walk through the village, then back to the 'revised' version for the final bit.

 

In other words, the score in the film is a complete mess of tweaks to the vocal layers, tracking, and switches to alternate versions part-way through a cue. The Intrada guys have simply given us what was recorded, with inserts as intended, before (I assume) Burton started messing.

 

I think this is why it's a 4-disc set :) 

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Sorry, I'm late to the party and didn't read the previous posts, but when we say Elfman wrote literally two scores for this film, as great portions of it have been changed and adadpted till the end...

Did someone created a playlist to illustrate these "two" visions of the score? Is it worthwhile or the presentation of the Extras on the CD is sufficient for a good listenable experience?

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If you treated the 'original' versions from discs 3/4 as one score (i.e. where there are version 1, version 2, etc, you just take the first one), you'd be left with four 'intermediate' alternates. Those are the only tracks you'd have to move to get that initial score.

 

The repetition of having two very similar versions of a handful of cues has bothered me slightly, but at least that's a good problem to have. I'd initially cut out a handful of cues that were too similar, but in the end the completist in me won over, partly because I realised that apart from patching Confrontation, I've kept everything exactly as ripped, and it felt nice to keep that as a keepsake of almost everything Elfman did (not every single variation from the sessions is on this set, but it's close)

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This ended up being my edit:

 

image.png

A lot of take combinations, the only actual order shifting is that I moved Trouble in Town to the front of Evil Eye, sometimes I picked alternates for the main program, but sometimes only partially - and only kept 43 or so minutes of alternates, mostly because of culling redundancies (for example where the bonus track version is an original take and the main program version is the same take with a revised second half insert), even picking between the alternates or joining them into one before creating the Suite parts, like with Love Lost or Main Titles. I couldn't lose any of the Sweet Dreams/Young Ichabod versions though, the final one's in the main program, and one alternate's in each Suite part.

 

I don't actually know which versions I kept where, might go through and check while I'm doing the iso score and going through them anyway to try and illustrate their evolution!

 

@Bespin, that quote I think only refers to the fact that most of the cues in the score got revised at some point or even multiple times. It's not like any of them went through an insane major change though, and it's not even really a case like the first BTTF where they scored it once, went away, came back and scored it again.

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There's no end to the combinations one can create with this set :)

 

After revisiting the main title sequence in the film, I decided to recreate the exact film version as another bonus track, mainly as I don't like the main program's version Ichabod's Arrival as much.

 

Other than that, I'm not married to the main program as the primary way to listen to the score - the whole thing is just an interesting collection of alternates and variations, so the presence of a take I like less being in the main program isn't really an issue. Sticking religiously to how it sounds in the film doesn't help due to the editing/tracking/mixing, hence restricting myself with recreations.

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On 09/10/2021 at 9:49 AM, Bespin said:

Sorry, I'm late to the party and didn't read the previous posts, but when we say Elfman wrote literally two scores for this film, as great portions of it have been changed and adadpted till the end...

Did someone created a playlist to illustrate these "two" visions of the score? Is it worthwhile or the presentation of the Extras on the CD is sufficient for a good listenable experience?

 

 

Roger's post is not meant to be taken literally.  Elfman did not score the film, then come back some time later and create a whole different score from top to bottom.

 

It's simply a case where almost every cue in the score has two versions, and some have even more versions than that.  And not subtle, barely perceptible differences from one version to the next, the differences are generally more noticeable (some are minor, though, for sure).

 

Anyway, if you play the main program (titled "Sleepy Hollow – The Soundtrack", and consists of all of Disc 2 followed by tracks 1-3 of Disc 3) you get one version of every cue from the start of the film to the end, and the version in that main program is the version closest to what ended up in the film.


Then if you listen to the bonus program (titled "The Extras – Alternates", and consists of the rest of Disc 3 followed by all of Disc 4) you get the other versions of cues that were circled at the recording sessions.  This starts at the beginning and ends at the end again, though not every cue is here (because some cues only have 1 version), and some cues are in here multiple times (if more than 2 versions exist).

 

The final film does not match either of these programs, because for any given cue they might have edited together portions of different versions, rather than using any 1 version all the way through.  But those film assemblies were not re-created for this set (like Mike and Neil always do), instead Intrada simply gave us the entirety of every circled take, and put the one closest to the film in the main program.  

 

I hope that answers your question

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  • 1 month later...

I finally looked through the booklet today!  I enjoyed reading Tim Grieving's liner notes, the quotes from Elfman talking about it were nice.  Like, it's hard to remember sometimes that while we're here picking apart every choice in every cue, he's talking in these quotes about how he just writes whatever feels right, doesn't care that the same theme for Ichabod is used as a love theme and for the Horseman, etc.  And I'm glad he did it that way!

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