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THE EIGER SANCTION (1975) - 2021 2-CD Expanded Edition from Intrada Records


Jay

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9 minutes ago, mahler3 said:

 

Not sure why the wrong cue was played on Lyric as they actually chose which ones they wanted to play. Mike and I usually dictate the best cues to showcase. Ah well.

 

It is a good sign of how much better the remastered album sounds that I did not spot the mistake when primed to expect the film cue.  The instrumental detail and clarity in the recording were evident even from the radio clip, so I didn't even think that I was listening to the same album track played in error!

 

I am intrigued by the cue named Felicity.  My best guess is that this is music for the scenes featuring Candice Rialson's foxy art student, whose character is not named in the film, as far as I can recall.  Wait for me to be proved spectacularly wrong!

 

As for the three source music tracks on disc 2, I am thinking that the first one (Dinner With Gem) is for when Hemlock gets to know Jemima back at his place after meeting her on the plane.  If so, I wonder if the misspelling of the name is one of Williams's 'Vadar' moments when naming cues!  In the Latin alphabet (as well the film's credits and other publicity), "Jemima" begins with a "J".

 

;)

 

Perhaps the Leave Me Alone source music is the rock track that is heard in the background when Hemlock roughs up Dewayne and tells him he doesn't like him on his flank?  I am not sure about Never Quaver - probably another of the tracks heard at Ben Bowman's ranch?  I am sure some of you folks know the answers already, but only a few more sleeps until I find out for certain.  I suspect that I will be skipping to Falling And Swinging when I first put in the CD.

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17 minutes ago, Omen II said:

I am intrigued by the cue named Felicity.  My best guess is that this is music for the scenes featuring Candice Rialson's foxy art student, whose character is not named in the film, as far as I can recall.  Wait for me to be proved spectacularly wrong!

 

The track named Felicity contains two cues for scenes with Felicity, a character completely axed from the final cut of the film. She was played by Claudine Auger (Domino in Thunderball). You can read this in the booklet preview on the JWFan main page :)

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I found a copy of this CD in a used record store circa 1997.  It was one of the first obscure Williams scores I ever heard, meaning it was one of the first times I understood just how deep his roster is.  I have loved this score ever since, so this release is pretty damn exciting to me.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

Yea, I figured the actual LP released in 75 sounded fine, or at least commensurate with other LPS of the era. 

 

The Varese CD is seriously messed up somehow. 

 

I wonder if UMG will release Mike's remaster on digital platforms. 

So it's just like Dracula? UMG, alright LP, bad Varese CD in the 90s... except Eiger seems to have had better sources surviving the decades.

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I just saw the track list and listened to the Main Title. This is great! I never got the original soundtrack album, so my prior knowledge of this score has always been the film itself. Looking forward to getting this!

 

4 hours ago, crumbs said:

Hot damn, this might just be the release of the year! :wub:

So far, yes. However, the year is not over yet.;)

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28 minutes ago, Jay said:

The 1st gen master of Jaws' film tracks were already deteriorating when they pulled just 25 years later to make the new 5.1 mix of the film in 2000, and the album 1st gen masters burned up in the 2008 UMG fire before anyone got to ever revisit them for a remaster. 

 

Meanwhile Eiger Sanction's film tracks and album tracks are both found perfectly preserved 45 years down the road and we get this great new comprehensive and great sounding remaster of both.

 

Lucky Eiger wasn't in the same facility that burned down in 2008! Or if it was, lucky that it escaped unscathed.

 

All the more reason studios shouldn't sit on these deteriorating assets without taking steps to preserve them (electronically, in multiple locations). That fire was probably the kick up the ass Universal needed.

 

Indeed, they deserve kudos for turning things around in the ensuing years. They've (seemingly) become the easiest studio for labels to work with, and appear to be the most supportive of their efforts. Smartly, the labels are taking full advantage of the current management cultivating these remasters; as we've seen over the years, things can change quickly at a managerial level...

 

Are we aware of any other first-generation JW elements that were lost in that fire? From memory the album sessions for E.T. were likely destroyed in 2008, but Mike found a second-generation copy to use for the LLL. It seems neither JP nor TLW were affected, although the tapes for the latter were already shedding back in 2015. I think Mike also said Sugarland and some other early Universal scores were found and transferred for safekeeping. I believe Schindler's List was also located but ultimately unused for that expansion (at JW's request to retain the album master).

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10 hours ago, Jay said:

 

The track named Felicity contains two cues for scenes with Felicity, a character completely axed from the final cut of the film. She was played by Claudine Auger (Domino in Thunderball). You can read this in the booklet preview on the JWFan main page :)


🤯

 

Blind.  Mown.

 

Mike must have felt like Howard Carter entering the tomb of Tutankhamen with this one, so many treasures has he unearthed.

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9 hours ago, Jay said:

 

I can't understand how different scores have their elements preserved so differently, even when so many things are the same. 

 

Jaws and Eiger Sanction are both 1975 Universal Pictures films, whose scores where considered good enough to justify special recording sessions to re-record highlights to make albums out of to sell. 

 

The 1st gen master of Jaws' film tracks were already deteriorating when they pulled just 25 years later to make the new 5.1 mix of the film in 2000, and the album 1st gen masters burned up in the 2008 UMG fire before anyone got to ever revisit them for a remaster. 

 

Meanwhile Eiger Sanction's film tracks and album tracks are both found perfectly preserved 45 years down the road and we get this great new comprehensive and great sounding remaster of both. 

 

Go figure. 

 

It's all chance. 

 

This actually reminds me of the police evidence warehouses. There are thousands and thousands of unsolved crimes in the US - cold cases. And there are millions of pieces of evidence stored in police warehouses all across the country: DNA samples, cigarette butts, pieces of bloody clothing, you name it. And you never know which are still intact and available, and which have been destroyed and/or lost over the years for whatever reason. Technically they should still all be logged and preserved but the reality oftentimes looks a lot different. 

 

Anyway, back to the topic. :D

 

 

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4 hours ago, Omen II said:

Blind.  Mown.

 

Jeez, that's much more music than i thought. Especially happy about the scoring of the latter part of the movie.

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8 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

Lucky Eiger wasn't in the same facility that burned down in 2008! Or if it was, lucky that it escaped unscathed.

 

All the more reason studios shouldn't sit on these deteriorating assets without taking steps to preserve them (electronically, in multiple locations). That fire was probably the kick up the ass Universal needed.

 

Indeed, they deserve kudos for turning things around in the ensuing years. They've (seemingly) become the easiest studio for labels to work with, and appear to be the most supportive of their efforts. Smartly, the labels are taking full advantage of the current management cultivating these remasters; as we've seen over the years, things can change quickly at a managerial level...

 

Are we aware of any other first-generation JW elements that were lost in that fire? From memory the album sessions for E.T. were likely destroyed in 2008, but Mike found a second-generation copy to use for the LLL. It seems neither JP nor TLW were affected, although the tapes for the latter were already shedding back in 2015. I think Mike also said Sugarland and some other early Universal scores were found and transferred for safekeeping. I believe Schindler's List was also located but ultimately unused for that expansion (at JW's request to retain the album master).

 

You're conflating Universal Pictures with Universal Music again. None of that would have anything to do with the UMG fire. Only the album sessions for Jaws, Eiger, and ET would have been there. The rest would all be with Universal Pictures. 

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2 hours ago, Jay said:

You're conflating Universal Pictures with Universal Music again. None of that would have anything to do with the UMG fire. Only the album sessions for Jaws, Eiger, and ET would have been there. The rest would all be with Universal Pictures. 

 

Didn't Mike confirm that the extended tv cut of Far and Away was destroyed in that same fire? So some Universal Pictures stuff was being stored there.

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I dunno, but the first gen scoring masters for Universal Pictures films are in their vaults. 

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19 hours ago, Omen II said:

As for the three source music tracks on disc 2, I am thinking that the first one (Dinner With Gem) is for when Hemlock gets to know Jemima back at his place after meeting her on the plane.  If so, I wonder if the misspelling of the name is one of Williams's 'Vadar' moments when naming cues!  In the Latin alphabet (as well the film's credits and other publicity), "Jemima" begins with a "J".

 

They don't actually have dinner in the film though (unless it's music recorded for another deleted scene?)

 

I reckon the source music heard when they inspect the artwork is more likely contained somewhere between tracks 6 and 8. There's 9 minutes of music covered in those 3 tracks yet less than 1/3 that much music in the film. The source music there contains the main theme and blends into the next score cue (and lovemaking scene) quite nicely.

 

Also, wouldn't Mike have corrected a typo in a cue title (from Gem to Jem)?

 

19 hours ago, Omen II said:

Perhaps the Leave Me Alone source music is the rock track that is heard in the background when Hemlock roughs up Dewayne and tells him he doesn't like him on his flank?  I am not sure about Never Quaver - probably another of the tracks heard at Ben Bowman's ranch?

 

I suspect all 3 source tracks are just nondescript titles Williams invented, not necessarily referring to anything onscreen.

 

Didn't he do the same thing for the source music on The Post?

 

Alas, as you say, we'll have all the answers in just a matter of days. Super exciting! :D

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I suspect most of the source music titles are tongue in cheek references to something.  For example there's one listed in the GEMA database called "Chuck's Luck", which is probably a reference to Chuck Findley

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So only a handful of cues survived uncut in the final film? The only 1:1 Intrada track that seems intact in the film based on the track times is Freytag Onto Ice/Hemlock Rescues Meyer, when accounting for added silences and possibly an ending held note faded out a tad earlier. Damn!

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Yea it seems like Williams scored a much longer cut and then Eastwood went nuts in the editing room, removing entire scenes, entire characters, and shortening other scenes.  Also, I cannot vouch for @Omen II's timings or anything; Maybe it was hard to hear the very start or end of cues in the film's mono mix, or maybe he used a PAL spedup copy, I have no clue. 

 

I haven't studied the actual film myself, but I am planning on doing so later to get a handle on all the source music heard in it

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They're amateurs compared to JJ, in that regard! :P

 

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

it seems like Williams scored a much longer cut and then Eastwood went nuts in the editing room

 

Does the booklet list all the recording dates? The film released in May 1975 and Mike mentioned the album sessions were four months after the film score sessions, but I have no idea what month the OST was released.

 

I'd be curious to know the gap between JW recording the film score and the film's release. 

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13 minutes ago, Jay said:

Also, I cannot vouch for @Omen II's timings or anything; Maybe it was hard to hear the very start or end of cues in the film's mono mix, or maybe he used a PAL spedup copy, I have no clue.


Thank you @Jay, it is interesting to see where everything fits and comforting to know that most of my speculative titles for unreleased music at least made some sense!

 

I got my timings from a DVD copy of the film where the music was often dialled very low in the mix, so it was sometimes difficult to hear exactly where a cue started or ended.

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Looks like the Blu Ray I bought only has 2.0 tracks, so probably just mono presented as 2.0.  I'll see if I can get more accurate film lengths from it

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Has there been much discussion on the state of the elements from the Film Recordings (not the OST)?

I ask because it seems the common practice of that studio at the time was to do downmixes of instrument groups for later mixing into a mono film mix (think JAWS, TOWERING INFERNO, FAMILY PLOT). 

Listening to the two samples (one being 'Main Title' on JWFan and the other being 'Anna on the Stairs from that podcast) it seems clear to me at least in some cases downmixes had to be used. The strings, for instance, in both of those are mixed LEFT and slightly Left of CENTER respectively. 

It's not a deal breaker for me but I am curious of the disposition of what was found for the FILM mixes.

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I don't think anything's been shared publicly about the film recording's elements, thought Mike did mention in his RTE intro that they found a multi-track element for the album re-recording

 

There will probably be more information shared when Maurizio's next podcast episode goes live - which is any day now, I suppose?

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42 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

  • July 30 through August 1 - Earthquake score recorded {61 piece orchestra, Universal City Studios Scoring Stage} (first score written post-Barbara's death)
  • August 19 & 20 -  Earthquake album recorded {51 piece orchestra, RCA studio on Sunset Blvd}
  • October 22 through November 11 - Towering Inferno score recorded {20th Century Fox Studios Scoring Stage}
  • November 15 - Earthquake opens (re-recorded OST album released)
  • December 14 - Towering Inferno opens (OST album released)

 

I know they are just movies, but both of these films involve death and the threat of death as that which drives the plot.  They must have been painful for Williams to score.  

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It's amazing how quickly a newly widower'ed father of three threw himself into his work, recording a major film score just under 5 months later (so presumably starting to write it a month or so earlier than that)

 

I guess he had the violin concerto in '74 as well, though I don't know when he wrote that or when it premiered.  But I always thought at least part of that concerto was him processing his grief over Barbara's death

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

I guess he had the violin concerto in '74 as well, though I don't know when he wrote that or when it premiered.  But I always thought at least part of that concerto was him processing his grief over Barbara's death

He began the concerto, or at least Barbara urged him to write it, before she died in 1974, but he finished it in 1976.

So, probably the lion's share of it was written after her death and deals with his feelings of that time.

The second movement is specifically dedicated to her memory.  

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22 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

 

It's coming tomorrow around 9AM PST :)

 

What's the current time PST? :lol:

 

Can we have a live countdown clock instead, would be much easier :P

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1 hour ago, TownerFan said:

About 32 hrs from now :D Btw, you can subscribe to the podcast via Apple, Spotify or other streaming platforms and you'll get a notice whenever a new episode is online.

 

Very much looking forward to it! Always a pleasure to hear your discussions with Mike.

 

Completely unrelated question here but, out of interest, did you guys ever discuss with Mike why Images was only reissued with the OST assembly and not expanded to the full score? Did Mike mention if the film score masters were lost?

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7 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

I can see why Williams might not want to revisit Sugarland express. It was released the very month of hisr wife's passing :(

 

Yeah that would have been a very dark, upsetting time in his life. It's totally understandable to associate aspects of your past with periods of grief, hence his lack of desire to revisit that score.

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On 8/5/2021 at 10:21 PM, mahler3 said:

There’s a lot of radio activity for this album happening from Saturday, in addition to the Legacy interview with Mike Matessino.

 

7th Aug: RTE Lyric FM will premiere 2 tracks personally introduced by Mike M. This is on Aedin Gormley’s 1-4pm show.

 

9th Aug: Scala Radio will premiere a different cue during their 9-10am Screen Time hour with Charles Nove.

 

12th Aug: Belfast247Radio will play a favourite remastered (!) cue introduced by Mike M on my own show between 7-9pm

 

14th Aug: ClassicFM will play a track on Bill Turnbull’s show between 11:30am - 12noon.

 

Hopefully you’ll get a chance to hear some of the above (all U.K. & Ireland based).

Has anyone heard the premiere at Scala Radio today? I just realised to have missed it :(.

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55 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Completely unrelated question here but, out of interest, did you guys ever discuss with Mike why Images was only reissued with the OST assembly and not expanded to the full score? Did Mike mention if the film score masters were lost?

 

 

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

This new 2021 edition, the first official release of IMAGES approved by the composer, has been expertly produced, restored and mastered by Mike Matessino utilizing a recently discovered stereo element, the only available source that could be located.

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1 hour ago, Luke Skywalker said:

I can see why Williams might not want to revisit Sugarland express. It was released the very month of hisr wife's passing :(

 

He wrote and recorded Sugarland Express in the summer of '73 though, before he wrote and recorded Conrack and Cinderella Liberty.  Universal just held onto Sugarland until March of '74 instead of releasing it in '73 as originally intended.

 

Conrack was actually the last score he wrote and recorded before her death.  Though I'd think Earthquake being the first he wrote after would be more of an emotional connection for him, though he already approved a complete release of that.  I think the 1st violin concerto is the music he's written out of anything that he most closely connects to her death though.

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Was he very productive, though?  In the 1 year period from March 74 to March 75, he worked on the violin concerto, then wrote/recorded Earthquake -> Towering Inferno -> Eiger Sanction -> Jaws.

 

4 scores within 12 months seems about his normal pace throughout the 70s, no?

 

After Jaws, 9 whole months would pass until he recorded his next score (Midway).

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