AMISTAD (1997) - NEW! 2-CD 25th Anniversary Expanded Edition produced by Mike Matessino (2022)

[BrotherSound 1,989]

At least in the U.S., the film is currently on sale on iTunes. I picked it up today in anticipation of this release for just $5!

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/amistad/id318112914

[Jay 32,101]

It's also streaming on Fubo and Showtime

 

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/amistad

[JohnnyD 1,150]

7 hours ago, publicist said:

The movie is a pious abomination and Williams' ever-present score strengthens its shortcomings immeasurably. But i'm kinda interested if the african material gets more spotlight here, it's the only reason to get this.

 

'Amistad' has an awful scene etched forever into the annals of movie awfulness: Djimon Hounsou, sitting in the dock with his band of fellow prisoners, has secretly learned english (and read the holy bible, what else) suddenly gets up and shouts 'Give us free!' to the movie-astonishment of the frocked present whites. On cue, a huge chorus swells into a molto-vibrato edification of the main theme while the camera lovingly feasts on the whole embarrassment. And it would be embarrassing even for an old Bible movie from the 50s. Unbelievable.

 

1 hour ago, publicist said:

The whole movie stinks, it's completely disproportioned in favour of eloquent speechifying and instead of dealing with the victims, the reality of slavery and systemic racism, he boils it down to 'courtroom drama', 'moralizing monologues' and - well-tempered - 'political outrage'. That the few gripping scenes dealing with the Amistad slaves themselves got in is a minor miracle. 

 

 

[Jay 32,101]

19 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

It makes sense that the alternates are concentrated around the idiomatic African material, instead of the more familiar (to JW) Americana stuff.  It probably took some finetuning to get it right.

 

The most americana passage of the entire score is in the bonus track section - you'll love it.

[GerateWohl 2,856]

2 hours ago, publicist said:

Interesting, that makes his final decision fit my old theory that he often uses Williams as the last safefguard on the soundtrack - when he's afraid the 'masses' (whoever they may be) are either confused or don't get it. Which Williams probably does with clenched teeth in some of the cases.

This score is one of the cases where Williams seems to have written a score for the movie the director actually wanted to make but didn't. Dry your tears Africa sounds as If Williams intended to write a national anthem for the whole continent. The score sounds epic and somehow "important". 

I am currently listening to the OST again. It is really a wonderful musical work. I am looking forward to the complete score. This really could be the next A.I. 

But I don't feel any need to revisit the movie.

 

[WampaRat 1,097]

The choral work in this score is terrific.  And the percussion is stellar. Some parts are like a love child between Temple of Doom and The Lost World if that tips the scales for anyone (albeit without the “popcorn movie” fun of those films)

 

This is my favorite type of score. Various colors and instrumentation. You can never quite tell what the next track will bring. Sorrow, elation, horror, pride, victory. Yet it’s all worked into a complete whole. Not too many composers are capable of that today without creating some tonal whiplash. Pure musical storytelling.

[Jay 32,101]

5 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

This is my favorite type of score. Various colors and instrumentation. You can never quite tell what the next track will bring. Sorrow, elation, horror, pride, victory. Yet it’s all worked into a complete whole. Not too many composers are capable of that today without creating some tonal whiplash. Pure musical storytelling.

 

YES!  Exactly!  Well put!

[Incanus 5,589]

22 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

This is my favorite type of score. Various colors and instrumentation. You can never quite tell what the next track will bring. Sorrow, elation, horror, pride, victory. Yet it’s all worked into a complete whole. Not too many composers are capable of that today without creating some tonal whiplash. Pure musical storytelling.

Spielberg is quite right in his original note for the OST album when he says John Williams great gift has always been to be able to produce the "unprecedented sounds" which applies especially to this score's African sections. I remember being amazed and impressed back when this film and score came out, how different much of this music was to all that I had heard from Williams up to that point. A musical "character actor" indeed. 

[Jay 32,101]

It's amazing that this score has:

 

-traditional orchestra

-americana passages

-ethnic percussion writing

-mixed choir

-male choir

-solo vocal work

-various instrument solo passages

 

And for 2 hours, Williams juggles all this effortlessly.  It never feels like you're jumping from style to style with no focus.

 

And also, that Shawn Murphy was able to capture all this so perfectly, so these elements can be mixed together and sound so good, so consistently.

 

It's all remarkable, and so pleasing to the ears.

[Bespin 7,011]

I will order Amistad in january, to avoid the Christmas craziness, but I ordered the bluray... just to get in the mood... it was on my wishlist since a long time... I think IT IS now the right time to rewatch the movie! 

[artguy360 1,723]

I LOVE Cinque's Theme. Listening to it now, I'm struck by how similar Window to the Past from PoA is to this theme. They share similar orchestrations and form, where the soaring strings come in around the same place and in the same way, the wind instrument leading the piece, and the general reflectiveness and loneliness of the theme.

[A Farewell to Kings 3,795]

9 minutes ago, artguy360 said:

I LOVE Cinque's Theme. Listening to it now, I'm struck by how similar Window to the Past from PoA is to this theme. They share similar orchestrations and form, where the soaring strings come in around the same place and in the same way, the wind instrument leading the piece, and the general reflectiveness and loneliness of the theme.

It's pretty much JW's concert thene template: solo instrument intro, full orchestra for the rest.

[crocodile 7,094]

I've seen the film only once, on a VHS tape, sometime in 1998. Can't remember much about it, other than that it seemed to be the "next Schindler's List" in some ways. I might have not be intended as such, of course, but me watching the 1993 film not long before then probably made me think that. I remember thinking this felt very "TV costume drama" but can recall some of the bleak flashback ship sequences as they really stood out cinematically and disturbed my 13-year old self.

 

I don’t know any of the music beyond the album. The score I always appreciated for the more atmospheric and African-inspired music. This stuff I absolutely love. But wasn't too taken with stately Americana material for courtroom speeches at the time. There is nothing wrong with it as such, just not my thing. Having said that, it has been a long while now so things might have changed. 

 

Really really looking forward to this. 

 

Karol

[AC1 3,903]

2 hours ago, crocodile said:

 I remember thinking this felt very "TV costume drama"

 

Yes, especially because of the courtroom drama aspect. I also don't find myself playing the soundtrack all that much but this release sure looks good.

[Romão 2,184]

All the scenes set in ship Amistad itself are absolutely gripping, but the movie really stumbles in all the scenes outside of the ship's setting. I did enjoy Matthew McConaughey's performance, though

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Instead of being the next Schindler's List, it was the first in his American history series.  Goodness knows I don't need to reiterate how much I adore Spielberg in his Civics teacher mode  

[Bespin 7,011]

Talking about Spielberg in "Civics teacher mode", my favourite is Ready Player One: Having the power to do something doesn't mean you should do it. 

[King Mark 3,225]

Finally an expansion  with lots of unreleased music .I'm not familiar at all with the unreleased cues so this should be good.

 

I'll order it with Presumed Innocent, which I don't really like. This has got to be the most boring Williams score of all times and the expansion didn't provide any noteworthy cues

[Gurkensalat 320]

6 hours ago, King Mark said:

 

I'll order it with Presumed Innocent, which I don't really like. This has got to be the most boring Williams score of all times and the expansion didn't provide any noteworthy cues

I understand and partially agree with your assessment, but why do you order it then??

[ciarlese 138]

1 hour ago, Gurkensalat said:

I understand and partially agree with your assessment, but why do you order it then??

 To find further reasons to complain about it 😁

[Richard Penna 2,639]

8 hours ago, King Mark said:

I'll order it with Presumed Innocent, which I don't really like. This has got to be the most boring Williams score of all times and the expansion didn't provide any noteworthy cues

 

I see the dilemma here... one part of your mind can't accept that his highness composed a boring score and that you must own it on CD, and the other half is sensible

 

I reckon there are only three Williams expansions left that I'd buy - TLC, RotS and The Terminal.

 

--

 

I've got the OST for this somewhere and have maybe a half hour of it in my playlist - it's perfectly pleasant and there's certainly room for me to hear samples of some sort and be bowled over by the rest enough to purchase, but not knowing a thing about the film means that doesn't automatically happen.

[MrJosh 770]

11 hours ago, King Mark said:

 

I'll order it with Presumed Innocent, which I don't really like. This has got to be the most boring Williams score of all times and the expansion didn't provide any noteworthy cues

If you listen to it with nachos and beer like I did, it's not boring at all. 

 

but seriously though, I do like Presumed Innocent and and I'm happy to have all of it. 

[blondheim 1,034]

I like Presumed Innocent a lot. Boring??

[Brundlefly 2,327]

6 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I see the dilemma here... one part of your mind can't accept that his highness composed a boring score and that you must own it on CD, and the other half is sensible

Which part is sensible. One part is unreasonable, because he thinks the score is boring, the other part is unreasonable, because he buys the expansion of a score that he thinks is boring.

 

15 hours ago, King Mark said:

I'll order it with Presumed Innocent, which I don't really like. This has got to be the most boring Williams score of all times and the expansion didn't provide any noteworthy cues

If you wanna complain about something Presumed Innocent-related, complain about the new artwork.

[Richard Penna 2,639]

27 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

One part is unreasonable, because he thinks the score is boring

 

The 'reasonable' bit is not purchasing a score you find boring.

 

If you think it's unreasonable to call a score boring... what the hell?

[ciarlese 138]

Is it normal this is not available to pre-order on SAE yet? Maybe they usually put titles on their website after orders open on the producer' s website, but I see there are other titles on pre-order 🤔

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Maybe they won't know how many they're able to get from LLL until tomorrow?

[Jay 32,101]

These do not go on sale until LLL puts them up for sale on their website 24 hours from now. 

 

Any third party music store letting you preorder them already is technically going against LLL's wishes

[GerateWohl 2,856]

. Presumed Innocent has a great main theme, that is worth every edition of the score.

[Marian Schedenig 6,522]

58 minutes ago, Jay said:

These do not go on sale until LLL puts them up for sale on their website 24 hours from now. 

 

Any third party music store letting you preorder them already is technically going against LLL's wishes

 

I don't know how this works, but I always assumed the retailers can place their orders before the official release date (when the titles are first announced or something like that). If that's the case, is it relevant whether they start their own preorders right away or once LLL starts shipping?

 

I never remember when the new titles show up on the various sites, but at least this time they were up for order at Musicbox Records just a few hours or something after they were revealed. I've already placed my order (containing three of the new titles plus other stuff from my backlog going back to when Presumed Innocent was released (including that).

[Jay 32,101]

Relevant to who? 

 

To me? It's not relvant. 

 

To LLL? They probably want their new titles to be listed in their own website first, before other retailers do, most likely. 

 

I want to say MV already posted as much somewhere once, but I'm too lazy to look it up, and could be misremembering. 

[bollemanneke 2,935]

I have no idea what the normal procedure is, but if I recall correctly, people ordering Potter from MB etc only got it in January, so I'd say that makes the pre-order thing not really relevant since they've all got to wait longer anyway. Which is a shame, really.

[Marian Schedenig 6,522]

10 minutes ago, Jay said:

To LLL? They probably want their new titles to be listed in their own website first, before other retailers do, most likely. 

 

I assumed LLL don't do preorders mostly because their shop software (or their logistics) aren't up to it. For shops that can handle it, it seems logical to have them up for order as soon as they're allowed to. I guess that might put LLL at a disadvantage if the prices are similar; at least for European orders I don't think it's much a factor anymore these days. I know I'm certainly happy to order as soon as possible once I've got enough piled up, just to make sure the other titles on my list don't sell out in the meantime (a few are always inevitably on backorder anyway).

[JohnnyD 1,150]

I REALLY hope shipping starts on the same day tomorrow. It would be nice for this to arrive this Friday for my birthday.

[Jay 32,101]

IIRC every time I order titles right when they go up for sale on a Tuesday  they're at my house in Massachusetts by Friday. 

 

This is a HUGE batch though - lots of brig brands, and representation across all four most popular decades for catalog score releases. They might not be able to get to everyone's order on the first day, so the sooner you order, the better your chance

[Brando 1,065]

I remember ordering Jurassic Park at 3, right before the site crashed, and I got mine within the week after, IIRC. I saw for others it took a while for them to get it and they ordered it the same day.

[crumbs 12,973]

I'll be ordering through Intrada so I can finally pick up Willow and Spacecamp!

 

I guess they'll add the titles to their store once they go on sale at LLL.

[Edmilson 4,983]

9 hours ago, blondheim said:

I like Presumed Innocent a lot. Boring??

Exactly. Thanks to the expansion I rediscovered Presumed Innocent and I really liked it. The same goes for SpaceCamp.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Just about half an hour to go.... got an itchy order finger

 

------

 

Ordered!  Order #256593

[JohnnyD 1,150]

Ordered! #256542

[Dr. Rick 940]

Ordered!  Just happened to have a $20 off PayPal offer so final charge was only $16.08  \

 

Order# 256846

[BrotherSound 1,989]

Whoa, my order at 3:02 was already up to #256754, so they had over 200 orders completed in just a couple minutes.

[WampaRat 1,097]

Snagged Amistad and TND. #257313

Merry Christmas to me!

[Bayesian 1,068]

4 minutes ago, BrotherSound said:

Whoa, my order at 3:02 was already up to #256754, so they had over 200 orders completed in just a couple minutes.

Mine is 257283 and it was placed only 10 minutes after yours!

[Brando 1,065]

Order #257084!

[Sandor 681]

Ordered!

[filmmusic 1,381]

I wonder where it is more expensive to order.

Music box records at 38.95 (!!) euros and no customs or La-laland at $30 and customs?

[Brando 1,065]

3 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

$30 and customs?

Euros or USD?

[filmmusic 1,381]

2 minutes ago, Brando said:

Euros or USD?

USD. I wrote the $ symbol, didn't I? 

[Brando 1,065]

5 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

USD. I wrote the $ symbol, didn't I? 

Lol, I just wanted to make sure

 

The first option is only $40.23, I don't know how the shipping is with that option though. And I don't know the customs and potential shipping direct from LLL is