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Favorite Williams re-recordings/compilations


John Crichton
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I'm curious. I don't own any JW re-recording or compilation CDs, and I was wondering which ones are considered really good. Basically any release that's not an original soundtrack recording.

EDIT- Small error, I do own one of these, American Journey.

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1)By Request

2)The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration

3)Williams on Willams,the Classic Spielberg scores.

These are my favourite ones.

K.M.

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I'll second Williams on Williams, that's a good album. But what started it all for me was John Williams Greatest Hits: 1969-1999, a 2-disc set. It's great for beginners, and though I don't listen to it all that often anymore, I still enjoy the performances.

Ray Barnsbury

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I'll second Williams on Williams, that's a good album. But what started it all for me was John Williams Greatest Hits: 1969-1999, a 2-disc set. It's great for beginners, and though I don't listen to it all that often anymore, I still enjoy the performances.

Aye, that's one of the sets that helped get me into Williams too. Unfortunately, it's my cousin's. :-p What I do have is the 40 Years of Film Music set. Not the best performances, arrangement, and mixing, however. Hedwig's Theme sounds just awful on it. I can't really tell with tracks like "The Jane Eyre Theme," (nothing to compare it to) but I suspect the original version is much better performed.

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Yeah, that's a nice collection (the 40 Years . . .), but as you said, some of the performances are severely lacking. The Jane Eyre stuff is actually not too bad from what I can remember; Prague does better with slow, string-based pieces.

Ray Barnsbury

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For me The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration started my Williams fascination. I got it in 94, I remember I was just going into high school. I got it because a good friend-a horn player!-had it and was wild about it. In fact that CD spread like crazy among our set that was really into studying music.

It's such a good collection of stuff that is so representative of Williams. After hearing tons of his other stuff now, the Always Theme and Shark Cage Fugue are still two of my favorite Williams cues. Close Encounters just amazes me still after years of listening. The whole thing is great.

I was considering getting the 1969-99 set for a while. The 1st CD of that set would duplicate most of the S/W Collaboration CD, so I haven't gotten it.

The performances on the S/W Collaboartion are great w. the Boston Pops. What orchestra is it on the 1969-99 set?

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1)By Request

3)Williams on Willams,the Classic Spielberg scores.

These are my favourite ones.

K.M.

I'll wait wait to see whether anyone succeeds getting these two compilations. Both are on my wish-list since 1997 and I still haven't come across a copy of either.

;)

I can't recommend stronger than this against getting Filmworks II and III. They're a complete waste of time and money. They rehash the material form the first compilation except that either sequel adds a cue or two from the scores that were released on the same year as the compilation. An unnecessary upgrade.

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It was the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration that got me into John Williams, Indiana Jones, and Steven Spielberg. Most fascinating, great compilation. I recently got the Gerhardts; they're quite good too. By the way, I think I got the first CD release or something of Gerhardt's Star Wars - its cover art is the same as the LP, not the same as on David Vincent's site. Does anybody know if the sound quality is much better on the other one, or is it the same?

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I can't recommend stronger than this against getting Filmworks II and III. They're a complete waste of time and money. They rehash the material form the first compilation except that either sequel adds a cue or two from the scores that were released on the same year as the compilation. An unnecessary upgrade.

But for somebody who didn't have any of these, would "Filmworks III" be the best choice?

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I can't recommend stronger than this against getting Filmworks II and III. They're a complete waste of time and money. They rehash the material form the first compilation except that either sequel adds a cue or two from the scores that were released on the same year as the compilation. An unnecessary upgrade.

But for somebody who didn't have any of these, would "Filmworks III" be the best choice?

I myself have all three Filmworks (1993, 1995 and 1997), but you might want to decide for yourself on which would suit you best. My favorite is the second volume since it has most music from Jaws and at the time I got it that was the only CD I had to feature "Jaws 2" music. I think the third volume is the easiest to get and it practically works like the "best of" of the first two. Click on the links to see full track lists and then decide.

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The 1993 Filmtracks has the only known Williams recording of Men of the Yorktown March from Midway(longer version than the Varese re-recording)

K.M.

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Filmtracks

Filmworks :|

My favorite is the second volume since it has most music from Jaws and at the time I got it that was the only CD I had to feature "Jaws 2" music.

Actually, it's the 1993 version that features the Jaws 2 music. I seem to have Filmworks II, but that's the one with the least tracks on it? Weird.

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1)By Request

3)Williams on Willams,the Classic Spielberg scores.

These are my favourite ones.

K.M.

I'll wait wait to see whether anyone succeeds getting these two compilations. Both are on my wish-list since 1997 and I still haven't come across a copy of either.

I have them both on cassette - and they're fantastic, but I'm biased since By Request is what got me interested in Williams in the first place. Does Amazon ship to the Czech Republic? By Request. and Williams on Williams are available through them...

To answer the question, Williams on Williams is my current favorite (in the tape player in my car now), but By Request is also excellent...

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Any one that gives me suites from out of print or never printed material, like Black Sunday, Family Plot and The Rare Breed.

~Karm

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Any one that gives me suites from out of print or never printed material, like Black Sunday, Family Plot and The Rare Breed.

Silva has at least 2 compilations out with cues from these films.

Neil

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