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John Williams & Boston Pops Orchestra - Complete Philips Recordings (NEW 2022 21-CD boxset)


Jay

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15 minutes ago, QuartalHarmony said:


Repeat after me:

 

’They don’t need compression’

’They don’t need compression’

’They don’t need compression’

 

I didn't add any compression to my new FLAC encodings, I SWEAR!!!

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some one posted their initial feedback at FSM.

https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=144886&forumID=1&archive=0&pageID=1&r=856#bottom

 

Received my copy today. 21 discs. The package is larger and more impressive than the Sony box.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT is included. BY REQUEST and POPS BRITANNIA share a disc.

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I'm not really interested in anyone's subjective opinion of the sound right now.  I just want someone to definitively, technically answer if the sound is different from the 80s CDs in any way.  For once, I'm actually asking for abstract waveform analysis that I usually consider irrelevant.

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23 hours ago, Martin B. said:

Ditto. 

Hopefully will arrive tomorrow and then a weekend of ripping and listening :)

And arrived. 

Looks lovely. discs are in thicker card sleeves which have spines with the titles on.

Covers are a bit of a mixed bag whether they use the Philips bar at the top or not - could really do with a nice set of matching covers for this (hint hint cover designers).

 

Currently ripping disc 2: Pops in Space

 

Will start listening later tonight.

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My first impression after a few listens is that with this box I own at last good recordings of some evergreens that I always wanted to have like Rapsody in Blue, Peter and the Wolf The Planets etc.

The performances are good. 

The Gershwin album so far my favourite.

What I am not a fan of is the often overly prominent percussion in the foreground. It is often too loud. The brass on the other hand could be louder sometimes.

For example at the Battlestar Galactica main title, which is pretty much a fanfare, I mainly hear percussion and strings and the brass more or less in the background. Another piece where this Mix is not very advantageous is the Jabba The Hutt piece where the solo tuba is completely in the background and not at the front where it belongs.

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On 22/01/2022 at 11:08 AM, GerateWohl said:

For example at the Battlestar Galactica main title, which is pretty much a fanfare, I mainly hear percussion and strings and the brass more or less in the background. Another piece where this Mix is not very advantageous is the Jabba The Hutt piece where the solo tuba is completely in the background and not at the front where it belongs.

 

Those are possibly from JW's worst Philips album.

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Those are possibly from JW's worst Philips album.

Maybe. But contentwise the most interesting, for me at least.

This Pops sound works probably best for those musical or swing suites. I guess, it's that what the "Pops" in the orchestra name stands for. So, basically that's fine.

 

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3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Those are possibly from JW's worst Philips album.

 

His rendition of Goldsmith's Alien End Title is probably my favourite outside of the original ST recording

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I remember at the time feeling pretty excited that the Star Wars guy was conducting the Battlestar Galactica theme.  It's a terrific arrangement, and I love the prominent percussion.

 

Oddly, my original Phillips disc places the beginning track marker such that a tiny bit of the first snare roll is truncated if you skip to that track.  Sort of like what happened on the recent Eiger Sanction CD from Intrada.

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5 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

Maybe. But contentwise the most interesting, for me at least.

 

Yes, that's why it's so annoying.

 

4 hours ago, JTWfan77 said:

 

His rendition of Goldsmith's Alien End Title is probably my favourite outside of the original ST recording

 

Well, JW's ST recording (Goldsmith) is so stationary one has to wonder if he was having a feud with Goldsmith at the time.

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Well, JW's ST recording (Goldsmith) is so stationary one has to wonder if he was having a feud with Goldsmith at the time.

 

Agree. That was a big disappointment for me as it was the first recording I ever owned of it (other than the cassette dub I made from a TV broadcast featuring the continuity announcer waffling on about the movie over the Main Titles).

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Ugh!
 

 

Quote

John Williams led the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993. He got the job due to his richly deserved fame as a film music composer, not because he had any special charisma as a conductor, a fact which is all too evident on these decently played but less than stirring 21 Decca CDs.


Jesus Christ. What an ass and what a daft "review".


This guy might know his stuff but is this seriously a review or just a guy reading track names on albums that clearly he hasn't listened to? I mean, all he is doing is criticizing the timings of pieces and has no additional arguments based on listening to support his claim that Williams isn't a charismatic conductor. BTW, picking on The Planets alone doesn't support the argument. Every conductor has their off days... every single one! And then after each album, he has to either undermine pops recordings or film music as a whole. Oh, and don't you just love it when he thinks he's singing "The Mission Theme" but sings "Meet The Press" instead? This clown hasn't listened to any of these recordings. How can you review a set and criticize a conductor WITHOUT listening? Yes, what an ass!

-Erik-

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29 minutes ago, Erik Woods said:

Ugh!
 

 


Jesus Christ. What an ass and what a daft "review".


This guy might know his stuff but is this seriously a review or just a guy reading track names on albums that clearly he hasn't listened to? I mean, all he is doing is criticizing the timings of pieces and has no additional arguments based on listening to support his claim that Williams isn't a charismatic conductor. BTW, picking on The Planets alone doesn't support the argument. Every conductor has their off days... every single one! And then after each album, he has to either undermine pops recordings or film music as a whole. Oh, and don't you just love it when he thinks he's singing "The Mission Theme" but sings "Meet The Press" instead? This clown hasn't listened to any of these recordings. How can you review a set and criticize a conductor WITHOUT listening? Yes, what an ass!

-Erik-

 

Ironic shirt. 

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Youtube used to litter my recommendations with that annoying looking bald guy that does rock album reviews before I finally figured out you could ask Youtube to stop recommending specific channels.

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It would be neat to have this box, but first I would have to rid myself of the individual CDs (and LPs) I already have, and then I'd need to find extra cash to buy the whole thing. Plus, isn't there also another set with his Sony recordings or whatever it is? (sorry, I'm not into all this Boston Pops stuff). I would need to get that too to have a complete BP/JW collection. Perhaps I'll get there some day, but it's too much hassle/too expensive for me at the moment.

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3 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

That's right! So I would need to get rid of the Sony duplicates too (8, according to that thread), and buy the box.

 

Presumably, then, if I have both of these boxes, I have everything JW/BP.

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But I should keep my individual discs of BY REQUEST and POPS BRITANNIA, since they are merged on one CD here. It's better to have them on individual discs.

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Just now, Thor said:

But I should keep my individual discs of BY REQUEST and POPS BRITANNIA, since they are merged on one CD here. It's better to have them on individual discs.

 

It's up to you.

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19 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

That's right! So I would need to get rid of the Sony duplicates too (8, according to that thread), and buy the box.

 

Presumably, then, if I have both of these boxes, I have everything JW/BP.

 

Don't get rid of the old releases, they're the only way to get the liner notes.

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23 minutes ago, Thor said:

That's right! So I would need to get rid of the Sony duplicates too (8, according to that thread), and buy the box.

 

You wouldn't *need* to. I've skipped the Sony box, because I own many of them already, but I'm getting the Philips set.

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4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Don't get rid of the old releases, they're the only way to get the liner notes.

 

Ah. I haven't paid attention in this thread, so I wasn't aware that the liner notes were omitted from the set.

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13 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Ah. I haven't paid attention in this thread, so I wasn't aware that the liner notes were omitted from the set.

 

Original liner notes are very rarely included when recordings are reissued as part of box sets.

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