Dinosaur Expansion from Intrada September 17th, 2024!

[FunnyML 173]

Are there any other scores that use the same format (M+Cue No.+R+Reel No.)? Never seen that before.

[Jay 44,713]

Huh.  I've never seen that before either.

[Edmilson 11,393]

I remember seeing some cue lists with just the number of the music but not the reel (like M35, M36, M37, M38, etc) but I think when they're in this format they're used by the music editor and not the composer.

 

James Horner's slates for Titanic are like SC206, SC07, etc., probably because they didn't have the reels completely locked in during scoring proccess. And of course to this day the slates used for Howard Shore's Middle Earth music are a mystery... lol 

[Holko 11,836]

And of course even in the usual reel/music order, the format changed a lot, #m#, r#m#, r#p#, etc. Really weird to depart from the recently unofficially standardised one so hard though.

[A. A. Ron 2,408]

Another quirk of this release is that the liners don't discuss any of the alternates that are included on it, but DO include a couple quotes from JNH about an earlier version of "The Egg Travels."

[scallenger 657]

43 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

Another quirk of this release is that the liners don't discuss any of the alternates that are included on it, but DO include a couple quotes from JNH about an earlier version of "The Egg Travels."

 

Which isn't included. That's bizarre...

[The Score Cleaner 9,215]

3 minutes ago, scallenger said:

 

Which isn't included. That's bizarre...

Was it recorded?

[A. A. Ron 2,408]

38 minutes ago, The Great Gonzales said:

Was it recorded?

 

It was at least mocked up because the notes describe it as the first piece of music Howard played for the directors. That's why it's mentioned at all. The directors apparently liked the sound, but had some unspecified suggestions that Howard apparently took to heart for the revised version.

[crocodile 9,481]

Well, regardless of any issues, I am listening to the album right now and enjoying the score immensely. JNH was having an absolutely magical period between 1999 and 2006 year and this score is deservedly held in high regard. I never got to buy the original album so this was a perfect opportunity to rectify this. It's a joy from start to finish.

 

Karol

[Datameister 2,529]

Does anyone like The Egg Travels? I think it's a really epic song.

[The Score Cleaner 9,215]

1 minute ago, Datameister said:

Does anyone like The Egg Travels? I think it's a really epic song.

Never heard it.

 

I really should go through more JNH stuff sometime

[Edmilson 11,393]

6 minutes ago, Datameister said:

Does anyone like The Egg Travels? I think it's a really epic song.

It's so epic! Did Hans Zimmer write it? He usually writes the most epic songs for movies!

[Jurassic Shark 15,893]

9 minutes ago, Datameister said:

Does anyone like The Egg Travels? I think it's a really epic song.

 

Love the lyrics!

[Datameister 2,529]

In all seriousness, though, it's an incredible cue. Never gets old. It would be super interesting to hear the demo of JNH's original version mentioned in the liner notes.

 

I finally listened to the end credits to hear what everyone was talking about. It's unpleasant but not a big deal for this particular listener.

[Davis 3,957]

Looking forward to listening to this score. Haven't seen the film, either.

[Jay 44,713]

OK carry on discussing this release, and this release only.

 

No personal attacks.  No issues you have with other titles.  No issues you have with each other.

 

Discussing the audio on the release, including technical aspects, is fine.  Discussing Intrada's official response is fine.  But keep it civil, polite, and on-topic.

[Jurassic Shark 15,893]

Anybody seen this film? Is it as bad as it looks?

[crumbs 15,853]

It's a bad Bluray transfer, very video/digital looking. But that might be a result of how the film was made.

 

The film itself is enjoyable though, a guilty pleasure. I liked it when I was younger because I loved dinosaurs growing up!

[Holko 11,836]

Watched it a few weeks ago, it's OK, the story avoids some expected cliches and has some relatively unexpected elements (in a good way). Definitely looks like an upscaled dvd master though.

[Edmilson 11,393]

41 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Anybody seen this film? Is it as bad as it looks?

Who cares if it looks bad? 7-8 year old me loved it and I have fond memories of watching it in theaters and then at home in VHS.

 

In fact, just listening to The Egg Travels takes me back to those wonderful days of the early 2000s, when the trailer for the movie was just this sequence of the travel accompanied by JNH's magnificent score. It played before the Tarzan VHS, another tape I watched countless times:

 

 

I also remember the promotion for the movie, the products... Later, one of my best friends from childhood was also obsessed with this movie mostly because he loved dinosaurs. He called it "o filme do Aladar" ("the Aladar movie").

 

I watched it again as an adult living a comparatively inferior adult life a couple years ago on D+ and I thought the movie was okay. But the fond childhood memories live on.

[Datameister 2,529]

29 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Anybody seen this film? Is it as bad as it looks?

 

It's impossible for me to judge it fairly because I watched it so much as a kid. But I don't think it's bad. Just not exceptional. 

 

Its strengths include the lush live-action backgrounds, the lack of cringey pop culture references, the relatively mature handling of some modestly interesting themes, the vocal performances, and—of course—the score.

 

But it doesn't have that quality that makes me go, "Wow, this is a great movie." There are definitely things that bug me about it. It's just fun to revisit the childhood memories.

 

The score has sure aged like a fine wine!

[Edmilson 11,393]

17 minutes ago, Datameister said:

the lack of cringey pop culture references

Well, Shrek was still one year away when this came out 

[HunterTech 1,582]

I initially had concerns about the mastering when I started listening to the main presentation yesterday, as I had to boost the volume a tad as the famous Egg Travels was playing. But once I did that, I didn't have any issues with needing to adjust the levels afterwards, even if I think the last two tracks might've maybe had a little too much dynamic range intact (though that's definitely subjective).

 

The mix is definitely quite crisp and bright, even if I think it maybe lacked a bit of depth or spaciousness at points. The important part is that the actual bulk of the score sounded perfectly fine, which I feel should be the main takeaway here in spite of the odd quirk we spent so much time discussing. Hell, even with that editing gaff, had I not been told about it, I don't think I would've noticed too much just how off it sounded (even if the fact that exact percussion shows up twice prior makes it a truly strange oversight).

 

As for other things of note, there are odd tracklist naming choices here. Namely that one of the alts here (Enough For Everyone) is actually the full version of a cue that was shortened and added to the end of the proceeding track (Finding Water), but it isn't named in the main presentation for whatever reason. Also, The Trek's alt is definitely more akin to a demo with its heavy usage of MV samples, but that's definitely a minor quibble in comparison. Lastly, more Sleepy Hollow esque redundancies in terms of adding alts that could've simply been the unique sections by themselves, but I think I can excuse that one by the fact there aren't too many to begin with.

 

All in all, I think Intrada continues to have a decent track record with JNH releases if the most I can complain about is the weird handling of the bonus section. The actual meat of the score is well preserved, and so for that, I'm more grateful than not for this release existing at all.

[crumbs 15,853]

10 hours ago, HunterTech said:

I initially had concerns about the mastering when I started listening to the main presentation yesterday, as I had to boost the volume a tad as the famous Egg Travels was playing. But once I did that, I didn't have any issues with needing to adjust the levels afterwards, even if I think the last two tracks might've maybe had a little too much dynamic range intact (though that's definitely subjective).

 

I had the same experience with the opening few tracks.

 

I found a nice comfortable volume for track 1 but was reaching for the dial on track 2 (felt too loud relative to track 1).

 

To my ears, The Egg Travels has a noticeable volume increase between 2:00-2:18, and the very climax (2:40) felt a bit too loud for my tastes. Judging by the waveform it's not my imagination either.

 

The volume throughout the OST track is more consistent though, so we can pin this on mastering being subjective. Personally I hate reaching for the volume knob when short sections are too loud, but others might appreciate the dynamic range.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,811]

I'm pretty anti-waveform-compression so I see that as a positive 

[crumbs 15,853]

4 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

I'm pretty anti-waveform-compression so I see that as a positive 

 

Fair point, and it's also easier to remaster the tracks to suit your personal tastes if they're released with dynamic range intact. So it's probably the preferred outcome, really!

[GerateWohl 6,361]

8 hours ago, Edmilson said:

In fact, just listening to The Egg Travels takes me back to those wonderful days of the early 2000s, when the trailer for the movie was just this sequence of the travel accompanied by JNH's magnificent score.

The egg travels is the best scene of the movie. At that point I still hoped, the story would be told without talking. As soon as the first animal started to speak in human language, the magic was gone for me and I was mostly bored.

[Jurassic Shark 15,893]

The magic of boredom.

[crumbs 15,853]

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

The egg travels is the best scene of the movie. At that point I still hoped, the story would be told without talking. As soon as the first animal started to speak in human language, the magic was gone for me and I was mostly bored.

 

It can't be a coincidence that the (excellent) teaser trailer stopped at the same point

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 15,893]

Just now, crumbs said:

 

It can't be a coincidence that the (eggcellent) teaser trailer stopped at the same point

 

 

 

Fixed.

[FBC Director 10,559]

Film scores should be dynamic and uncompressed on album.

[Davis 3,957]

I couldn’t care less when it was released, because I thought it was an animated documentary? And the animation didn’t look convincing, especially compared to Jurassic Park. So I skipped it, and later it looked more and more dated. The only aspect I’m interested in is the score, which I’ll be checking out soon. 

[Amer 2,691]

I found the animation impressive but the film had that vibe to it which THE LAND BEFORE TIME had already been done earlier and I was and still am in love with both the film and score 

[Tallguy 6,587]

Finally listening to the original album. I can see why this is a big deal to some people. It's got the BIG JNH hallmarks from his later Disney flicks / Peter Pan. But I'm also remembering why the trailer turned me off: "Hey, can you do Lion King with dinosaurs"?

 

Once I get past the generically African stuff it gets into my JNH sweet spot.

 

I'm very happy for the people for whom this is The One They've Been Waiting For. But I think I can listen to Wyatt Earp and The Croods (and maybe Mighty Joe Young?) instead. None of that is this score's fault. It actually sounds pretty good. It's not you, it's me.

 

In the time it took me to write this (yes, all my posts are stream of consciousness, couldn't you tell?) I'm thinking The Courtship is exactly what I was complaining about but it's pretty darn wonderful.

 

(Jeez. How much of this movie did they temp The Croods with? Poor Silvestri.)

 

Heh. Maybe today is an all JNH day!

[Thor 9,334]

All this chat about DINOSAUR made me want to play the ol' CD again, but I have to wait because I'm currently only at "E" (and Ennio Morricone) in my collection walkthrough. But....just as I thought about this, and glanced on over to my CD collection, I couldn't see it anywhere! Dammit, must have traded that one off too. WHYYYYYYY?

[Tallguy 6,587]

3 minutes ago, Thor said:

All this chat about DINOSAUR made me want to play the ol' CD again, but I have to wait because I'm currently only at "E" (and Ennio Morricone) in my collection walkthrough. But....just as I thought about this, and glanced on over to my CD collection, I couldn't see it anywhere! Dammit, must have traded that one off too. WHYYYYYYY?

 

I feel your pain. It's been two years and I'm still finding out about things that I got rid of in my last move. "Ahhh! We're moving in a week! We have too much stuff! I don't even WATCH these movies anymore!"

 

Two years later: "Hey, remember the commentary on the old Big Trouble in Little China DVD? What? Noooooooooo!"

[Thor 9,334]

Indeed. Via this walkthrough I'm having now, I've also discovered a whole bunch of scores I was CERTAIN I still had on CD, but that I apparently must have traded off at some point, presumably to secure something I needed more. But it still bugs the crap out of me, and I decided a few weeks back that from now on, I'm only going to trade off my duplicates, or soundtracks I don't care for (which aren't many).

 

Anyways.....maybe this new DINOSAUR release will make people dump their old OSTs, so that I can rebuy it to a reasonable price.

[Jurassic Shark 15,893]

15 minutes ago, Thor said:

WHYYYYYYY?

 

Because it's kind of disappointing?

[Thor 9,334]

Nah, it's great. One of my concert goosebump experiences over the years was shooting this clip on my camera during "The Egg Travels" performance in Ghent about a decade ago:

 

 

[crumbs 15,853]

Definitely one of the standout cues of JNH's career.

 

It got me in the mood for more JNH so I listened to Signs earlier... another winner! Makes me wonder why there's a lack of Shyamalan/JNH expansions?

[Datameister 2,529]

6 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

The egg travels is the best scene of the movie. At that point I still hoped, the story would be told without talking. As soon as the first animal started to speak in human language, the magic was gone for me and I was mostly bored.

 

I know what you mean. It's hard to know how well the entire film would have worked without dialogue, but there's something pretty magical about that sequence.

 

Now that I think of it, I wonder whether I knew that the animals would talk when I first saw the film? I remember seeing the teaser, which obviously had no dialogue, but I don't remember whether I was surprised when the lemurs started talking.

[Incanus 5,884]

3 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Definitely one of the standout cues of JNH's career.

 

It got me in the mood for more JNH so I listened to Signs earlier... another winner! Makes me wonder why there's a lack of Shyamalan/JNH expansions?

Well I would certainly love expansions of all the JNH/Shyamalan collaborations. 

[Edmilson 11,393]

I think Dinosaur is one of those movies where you need to have seen it as a kid and have a nostalgic connection to it. If you only saw it as an adult you will probably be like "the dinosaurs are fake looking, the characters aren't charismatic, etc...". 

 

That said, it was only after I grew up and listened to more scores that I managed to appreciate JNH's music even more. For me the brilliance of this score aren't just in the epic cues like The Egg Travels, is also in how he scores smaller, more intimate moments with great use of the orchestra, like the ending of The Courtship.

 

And not only in Dinosaur: these more intimate character moments are where some of my favorite JNH music is at.

 

A few examples:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stark 834]

I saw Dinosaur as a kid and didn’t like it then either, haha

[crumbs 15,853]

27 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

That said, it was only after I grew up and listened to more scores that I managed to appreciate JNH's music even more. For me the brilliance of this score aren't just in the epic cues like The Egg Travels, is also in how he scores smaller, more intimate moments with great use of the orchestra, like the ending of The Courtship.

 

Yeah! Not to mention the great meteor shower cue. To this day, hearing that gives me goosebumps. Another sequence the film does very well, I think. On last rewatch it surprised me how early that happens in the film, too.

 

There's a surprising lack of cues throughout cinema history for that big-ass asteroid impact 65 million years ago... pretty wild considering it was such a seismic event in earth's history.

[GerateWohl 6,361]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Nah, it's great. One of my concert goosebump experiences over the years was shooting this clip on my camera during "The Egg Travels" performance in Ghent about a decade ago:

 

 

From my experience goosebumps moments and filming with my mobile don't go together well. At least for me. I am bad at such multi tasking.

By the way, just recognized, this contains that nice 4 note Battlestar Galactica motif.

[Thor 9,334]

18 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

From my experience goosebumps moments and filming with my mobile don't go together well.

 

They don't. The goosebump was for the music. The camera (not a cell phone, a proper camera!) was just nervousness, as it wasn't really allowed. Of course, the proper WSA footage was later put online, so the clip is nothing but a personal memory now. But it was the only footage for a while. Hence 15.000 views.

[LSH 1,098]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Nah, it's great. One of my concert goosebump experiences over the years was shooting this clip on my camera during "The Egg Travels" performance in Ghent about a decade ago:

 

 

That was a superb evening!

[Cristian 68]

6 minutes ago, LSH said:

That was a superb evening!

Indeed it was!

[Thor 9,334]

I have pictures with the both of you together.