I received my both the stereo and mono Beatles box sets and have begun to make new rips as part of my new music library. I had to explain what the situation was with the mono box set to a co-worker today, who was shocked to learn that the Beatles had little if anything to do with the stereo mixes on most of their albums. I remember reading the instruction manual for a friend's four-track tape deck that was discussing panning. It made mention of how the Beatles got interesting effects by hard-panning elements of their mixes such as drums and vocals to the right or left, but the truth is that the three stereo mixes that the Beatles actually participated in, Magical Mystery Tour, the white album and Abbey Road, don't feature much of that sort of thing.
It is nice to have the Beatles not only sounding this good, but being portable as well. I always lamented that while I could easily just put on a Beatles album on vinyl at home, but if I was traveling I have had to make do with rips of those old CDs (with the exception, of course, of the excellent-sounding Yellow Submarine "songtrack" version, which has not been replicated in the box set). As I mentioned before, the new remasters correct the issues with the old discs by re-equalizing them. The differences are admittedly subtle, but the differences are where they count, mostly on the vocals, which sound much more clear and full.
Of course, with all of this going on I have been going through something of a rediscovery of the Beatles. This has been quite pleasurable for myself and most of my friends like the Beatles. My co-workers were first amused and then annoyed by my incessant humming/singing/whistling of songs from Magical Mystery Tour, I used some lines from "Your Mother Should Know" as a Facebook status and used "The Walrus Was Paul" as the handle on my BlackBerry Instant Messenger.
The Mad Men season finale was amazing. I am totally jazzed for the next season right now (and I'm glad they finally managed to come up with some purpose for the Connie character). I was expecting something a lot darker for the conclusion of this season, and so when I saw the kind of momentum that the show was building and where it was headed, I was quite surprised in a good way. It was also nice to see the relationship between Roger and Don going back somewhat to the way that it was.
Tyrone brought in Caveman today, and now I have that Lalo Schifrin theme stuck in my head! Now it can be stuck in yours: behold as man invents music!!!
The problem with any new video format is that while there are indeed releases to get excited about, the releases of catalog titles can sometimes be a slow trickle. While Blu-ray weighed in early with a good showing for the works of such filmmakers as Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese, we are only now getting the first titles from such luminaries as Robert Altman and Alfred Hitchcock.
The Master of Suspense has made the leap to high def with the Warner Classics release of North by Northwest, and it is actually the perfect inaugural title for his body of work. Psycho may be more iconic and influential, Rear Window and Vertigo may be deeper, but North by Northwest was Hitch and author Ernest Lehmann's attempt to make pure entertainment and the result has been called the "blueprint for the James Bond series" and has been the template for a wide array of movies, including the recent Bourne series. And like those films, they are more enjoyable the better they look and sound.
And holy crackers, North by Northwest is stunning on Blu-ray! The negative was shot in VistaVision, which would feed standard 35 millimeter film horizontally through the camera (like a still photo), and the larger surface area meant a superfine grain structure. On Blu-ray, this means that apart from a few embarrassing rear-projection shots (the Achilles' heel of any Hitch movie), the image is pristine, as finely detailed as 1080p can get with less grain than many recent Hollywood blockbusters, and all without the need for intrusive Digital Noise Reduction. The cool color palette of the film may bear the characteristics of emulsions of 1959 color film stock, but is accurately conveyed, matching in every respect (save, obviously, scope) the theatrical print I saw at the Paris Theatre a few years ago.
Sonically, the 2000 5.1 mix has been presented in Dolby TrueHD; ordinarily I would gripe about the lack of an original monaural track, but the Perspecta-sound stereo elements have apparently been lost and the previous "stereo" mix for the MGM UA laserdisc was a complete disaster, and so this is as legitimate a means of listening to the film as any currently available. The mixing engineers thankfully didn't really go overboard trying to make everything noisier and artificially immersive. As a result, while there are a few flashy moments, including the film's signature crop-duster sequence, for the most part the film's soundtrack is restrained aside from Bernard Herrmann's by-turns intense and explosive score, which has better sound than the Rhino CD of the original soundtrack recording; the isolated score track from the DVD has been retained, still in Dolby Digital 5.1, but here at a higher bitrate.
Speaking of Benny Herrmann, I was listening to the FSM disc of On Dangerous Ground on the way to work today. This disc was released in 2003 as a limited edition of 3,000 copies and it still hasn't sold out, most likely because it was sourced from acetate discs from the University of California at Santa Barbara's Bernard Herrmann collection, which were the only surviving elements. The sound quality ranges from just limited to having very intrusive surface noise, and I can understand why that would be off-putting to listeners. It certainly makes the audiophile in me cringe and hope for a clean new stereo recording of the full score someday.
But even if this dream were to become a reality, I wouldn't want to give up FSM's CD. In addition to showcasing Herrmann 's skill at getting an exacting performance out of an orchestra, it also preserves Virginia Majewski's performances on the viola d'amore for Ida Lupino's character, which are quite beautiful. Herrmann recordings abounded in the 90s, but unfortunately this gem wasn't one that was prominent enough to mount such an expensive project on; hopefully one day Varèse Sarabande or Tribute or Tadlow will tackle this one…
This article by Ophelia Benson is an interesting look at how dogma can make non-believers behave suspiciously like believers. A belief system can change, but the behavior surrounding it may be the same.
Part of the problem is in the question posed by the originating post wherein the author starts out lumping all atheists into an amorphous group before correcting himself, then takes for granted that all atheists are interested in spreading their views. Before you think I'm getting defensive about atheism, I point that Ms. Benson's more incisive commentary mentions that there is, indeed, a movement amongst atheists which does include "getting the word out there." Absence of faith doesn't mean that people aren't as prone to the passions and prejudices of our species, and like all tribal primates, people of like mind do tend to create communities. If the atheists that band together and (anti) proselytize constitute the analog of a sect in religion, then so do the people that don't want to have anything to do with it, they're just not really an organized one (yet).
With the fires of my youth somewhat muted, I am left uncomfortable with the aggressive attacks that Richard Dawkins visits upon religions, not so much because I think he's wrong (I agree with him on most counts) but because I feel that his approach clouds the central issue, and it ends up being a negative — that is to say, reactionary — rather than a non-presence — the product of a skeptical reasoning — which is where I feel it firmly lands as a credo. Of course, part of the problem is that many atheists have deep-routed feelings of betrayal surrounding religion, and as a result are very hostile to it for reasons that have nothing to do with scientific method, and in many ways Dawkins' notoriety allows him to be "entry level atheism," giving you the "facts" to back up the belief system, that is to say, they work as affirmation. Which means, from an atheist perspective, that his books essentially serve the same purpose as a prayerbook, don't they…?
I must be skeptical about skepticism, or I'm just paying lip service to it.
Lest anybody be confused: I am in no way softening my stance on religion or its place in the United States today. I am a firm believer of the separation of church and state and was long before I ever would have called myself an atheist. Religion has no place in our law or public school system. I am only amused at how extremes have a tendency to resemble one another, even if they are on opposite ends of some spectrum.
John Ratzenberger will running for a Minnesota Senate seat. Interesting. Looks like you've got some kind of alternate universe in there or something.
I agree with Neil Gaiman and Stephen Marche about vampire oversaturation. Yes, I know I did enjoy Let the Right One In, but I'm haven't been this sick of fangs since I was bit by that dog bringing misdelivered mail to its rightful owner.
"Kate Hudson says she's not pregnant, she just gained weight after she stopped smoking. Besides, it's not like A-Rod could ever hit a moving target like that."
Somebody was throwing away a perfectly good framed print of Claude Monet's "The Artist's Garden at Giverny" on Monday. I took it into the hole and put it up. When I did so, the night tour commented that I was setting myself up for some ridicule from Charlie and Dre on Wednesday morning. This did not occur, but I think that this had more to do with them not noticing it (it's in a weird spot; I put it on a mux that was installed then abandoned eight years ago) than any appreciation for French Impressionism. It gives my little corner a nice bit of extra color.
Last night I was on my way home from having dinner with my family and I listened to the Blade Runner edit I had created a few months ago. I had also listened to it a few days earlier and again a few days before that. What is notable about this is that, while the movie is one of my all-time favorites as well as Vangelis' score, before I created my own edit, in the past I rarely ever listened to Blade Runner material, finding all previous versions to have been somewhat lacking in content or sound quality. What is even more surprising to me is how different the impression my version gives from the 1994 album when the differences between the two are relatively subtle.
After spending a week listening to Marvin Hamlisch's score from Bananas over and over again, I wised up and put the movie on my Netflix queue. I hadn't seen it in many, many years (although I had very vivid — and as it turns out, very accurate — memories of the magazine scene), but this was a very funny movie!
"This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character, to assure you that The War of the Worlds has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be; The Mercury Theatre's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying 'Boo!' Starting now, we couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night, so we did the best next thing. We annihilated the world before your very ears and utterly destroyed the CBS. You will be relieved, I hope, to learn that we didn't mean it, and that both institutions are still open for business. So goodbye everybody, and remember please for the next day or so the terrible lesson you learned tonight. That grinning, glowing, globular invader of your living room is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch, and if your doorbell rings and nobody's there, that was no Martian, it's Halloween."
I have taken The Executor in for an oil change and inspection. When I called the shop yesterday, they informed me that I could get a ride from there to Main Street this morning when their driver comes in at 7:00. Unfortunately, the driver didn't show up until 7:30, which made me somewhat late for work. Thankfully I had already called the office and let them know what the situation was. I have made arrangements with Art to be able to pick up the car this afternoon before they close.
My Scrabble addiction ran into an unfortunate snag in that the EA application for Facebook doesn't work very well anymore. I can't sign in due to communication errors and whatnot. It takes forever to sign in, and is very frustrating.
On the other hand, I have found several people from work who play. We have gotten a Diamond Anniversary Edition of the game, which is a full-sized set that folds into a handy case. It has wheels to spin the board around and a pair of drawers to hold the tile bag and letter trays. I highly recommend it for both convenience and aesthetics!
Speaking of Facebook, the Blackberry application for Facebook seems to be pretty useless. I may as well uninstall it and just use the browser.
As I mentioned earlier, I have been rather hooked on Kritzerland's new CD, a pairing of music from two early Woody Allen movies; Marvin Hamlish's score for Bananas with Mundell Lowe's for Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex * But Were Afraid To Ask. They're both quite nice (Sex is quite "sweet" sounding, if you know what I mean), but I'm finding myself seriously addicted to the Hamlisch score, which is surprising because while I've never actively disliked Hamlisch, his music rarely ever really set me on fire. Bananas is just a delight, however, one wonderful track after another with Latin flavoring, allusions to silent movie music, bouncy comedic setpieces and a very pretty love theme. And, of course, one of the best track titles in soundtrack album history: "Hey Ralph, How Much for a Copy of 'Orgasm?'"
Speaking of Latin American flavoring…
There are many great scores for lousy movies; Jerry Goldsmith practically made a career out of doing that sort of thing. It makes sense that if a film music enthusiast is stuck watching a crappy movie with a good score, they'll come out of the film remembering that it was one of the few aspects of the film that was any good (e.g. the interminable Slipstream with its grand score by Elmer Bernstein).
On the other hand, what makes a score really obscure is when it is attached to a film that is pleasant but forgettable. A good example of this is Maurice Jarre's amiable score for Moon Over Parador. I can barely remember the movie itself, a political comedy with Richard Dreyfuss, Sonia Braga and Raul Julia (the plot as I remember it is actually not too dissimilar from Bananas), but the score, which came to my attention because of the theme on Maurice Jarre at Abbey Road, is great fun. My only issue is that no CD this convivial should be only a half hour long.
I don't usually listen to "seasonal" music for Hallowe'en, but this year Intrada had released a whole slew of James Horner scores, including Something Wicked This Way Comes, which has become one of my favorite Horner scores. In pursuit of similar music, I loaded Humanoids from the Deep (not so out of the way as I was going to load Battle Beyond the Stars on anyway, which is on the same GNP Crescendo CD) as well as the bootleg CD ofWolfen and Deadly Blessing.
I think that everyone reading this far knows where I'm heading with this. I have included Horner music on many of my compilations (indeed, his contributions are a major force on Excelsior! and all but dominate Silver Screen Star Trek), but I have never before made a dedicated Horner compilation. Of course, the pieces are coming together quite easily — this is James Horner after all — and I've decided to add some cues from non-horror scores that touch on the genre, such as the crystal spider sequence from Krull and material Aliens and the whatnot (if anybody has any suggestions for this mix, please speak up).
The only unfortunate aspect of it is that I'm not sure that I'll be finished with it by Saturday. It will, however, be a nice companion piece to my previous two horror-themed compilations, the Jerry Goldsmith Omen trilogy compilation The Face of the AntiChrist and the new version of my Alien quartet mix The Beast Within.
My tentative title will be A Touch of Dark and I'm searching everywhere for a high resolution image of Jonathan Pryce as Mister Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes that I could use as the cover art to no avail.
I have not abandoned my work on the revision of my Jerry Goldsmith Star Trek compilation. I am just taking a little break from it for a few days.
As I mentioned in the edit to yesterday's entry, iRobby has thrown in the towel due to disc drive damage and I was forced to purchase an new iPod. Given that I'm replacing one 160 gig 6th Generation iPod Classic for another 160 gig 6th Generation iPod classic, the interface is identical and so the "Ooh, new gadget" thrill is considerably muted. Actually, I'm kind of annoyed that I had to spend the money on a new player, but the problems with iRobby were severe.
I will, however, mention that I've noticed some slight differences between iRobby and this year's player. The most obvious change is that the player itself is slimmer, matching dimensions the 80 gig iPod of iRobby's year (2007) and lighter, which despite being an advantage is nevertheless taking some getting used to because I keep thinking that it's not in my pocket. The click wheel is not quite as responsive, although this has not proven to be a terrible difficulty, it just requires a slightly firmer hand.
So far, the most major operational change I've noticed from iRobby is that since I bought the as-yet-unnamed iPod yesterday, I have not had one instance where the player paused the music in progress, either between tracks (iRobby's gapless playback had always been hit-or-miss) or during the track, which could be extremely frustrating. It would appear that Apple has addressed the major design flaw of the 160 gig iPod, which was that it would have to pause music in order to scan the hard disc (note that they did not offer a 160 gig iPod Classic last year, only a 120). Given my affinity for gapless musical presentations, I have to say that I am quite pleased about this. I'm not sure if I'm $250 pleased, it takes some of the curse off of it a bit.
Raz and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are last week. He liked it but wasn't thrilled, but I absolutely loved it. It is in many ways the anti-Disney family film, with Spike Jonze stylistically announcing on the outset that this material will be treated in a decidedly "indie" idiom and emphasize the characters' experiences and emotions rather than a story. I found it remarkably effective; the opening of the movie is very visceral and really did put me into the mindset of a nine-year-old boy, which was essential to accepting the fantastical elements of the film, which operate on kid logic.
Before the film begins, there is the obligatory unending scroll of the involved production companies, but here they are defaced by the scribblings of an unruly child. Max (Max Records), who is not necessarily always a pleasant child, prone to fits of anger, and some of the choices he makes are ones that will make an adult squirm and/or cringe but is perfectly consistent with the way an actual child might react to the situations and characters he encounters. Max isn't the sweet, scrubbed kid that one tends to see in this type of film, he comes across more like a real boy who is just as capable of going too far as he is to do the right thing.
The titular Wild Things are, of course, personifications (monsterifications?) of different elements of his psyche, though between intelligent casting and breathtaking animation, they also can be read as characters in their own right. The all-star voice cast, featuring amazing use of James Gandolfini in particular was recorded together, allowing for a Robert Altman-esque mix of voices for the wild things, which gives those scenes a sense of verisimilitude that shades their characters beautifully. This is matched by the excellent work in creating the creatures themselves, which despite their cartoonish proportions, look like they're biological organisms. The music by Karen O and Carter Burwell acts as a mirror for Max's emotional state and is remarkably effective in that respect.
Ultimately, I think the furor over the film is not so much that it is scaring kids, but that parents are finding it disturbing not so much for its narrative content (there really isn't much of one) but because it hits emotional truths a little too close to home to be comfortable viewing. I can't say how children will respond to this film — I expect that it would appeal to the same kids who enjoy the book — but as someone who grew up with Maurice Sendak's story as well as having had a single parent, I found it remarkably refreshing and real for the genre.
We know how much the British love their traditions. I mean, how many millions of public monies are still being wasted on something as stupid as having a royal family in this day and age? And we know how rousing they find any victory over their longtime rivals, the French. It seems, however, that they have been cooking their books even more than Raphael Holinshed would have you believe. It's apparently a tough pill for the Limeys not only because it makes King Harry's victory just a little less impressive if the two forces were more evenly matched, but also because the conflict inspired William Shakespeare to pen one of the most rousing calls to arms in the history of the English language. Before Mel Gibson, Bill Pullman or Viggo Mortensen spoke their inspiring pre-battle speeches, there was St. Crispin's Day.
WESTMORELAND: O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day!
KING: What's he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin; If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more methinks would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is call'd the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day!
Now, doesn't that make you want to go out and kill people?
I think that there is something very wrong with my iPod.
When I attempt to sync, I get disc write errors. iTunes then freezes, and if I disconnect the iPod it doesn't recognize that it has any music on it, or if it does, only a few tracks from a couple of albums.
Windows - Delayed Write Failed
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file R:\iPod_Control\Music\?? The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save the file to a different location.
The errors are not in consistent locations (hence the "??"), nor does it seem to occur when writing specific files, so it doesn't seem to be a particular corrupted file, but it always occurs near the end of the sync sequence and so may be bad sectors on the iPod hard drive.
In terms of troubleshooting, I poked around the internet to see what sort of solutions other people were having with this issue, and tried just about everything, starting with the obvious (changing ports, changing cables, reinstalling iTunes) and moved into the more esoteric (reassigning drive numbers). None of it worked. Each time I sync the iPod, it only gets so far before it just freezes.
I am wondering if the issues I am seeing with it right now is what may have caused the recent crash in the first place as the iPod itself was behaving somewhat twitchier of late; there were times after having added music to it that it would come up as "No Music." Hooking it back up to iTunes usually fixed that; I knew the crash was a more extreme situation because the devices menu customizations had disappeared. I have, admittedly, put this iPod through a lot more writing and rewriting than it was ever really designed for, and wonder if I haven't ridden it a bit too hard. On the other hand, I'll feel pretty damned stupid if I spend the money on a replacement iPod only to find the same issues.
It is out of warranty, however, so it may not be worth getting repaired.
This is the sort of thing I might have found much more frustrating in the past, but having built a solid database on a dedicated drive allows me to play around a bit with my settings with the knowledge that the music, at least, is safe.
EDIT: I narrowed the problem down; it was definitely a problem on the iPod itself. The hard disc may had gotten corrupted, causing incrementing errors during the sync process. My attempt to reformat the drive failed when the formatting process itself froze up. The warranty on iRobby was up, so I had no choice but to get a new iPod. The new 160 gb Classic is, however, much cheaper than it was when I bought it, so it wasn't quite the expense it might have been.
The newer model is identical to the old except that it is a bit slimmer (it's about the same size as the 80 gig version of the Classic was the year my old one came out). And sure enough, it synced true, so it now has the full content of the previous iPod — more, actually, as I had added Bananas (the track "Hey Ralph, How Much Is a Copy of 'Orgasm'?" is a new favorite) and a couple of Seattle grunge records (Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mad Season, etc).
The bulk of my music listening is taken up by film music (I know, big surprise), but I do listen to other genres as well. I tend to find that what I listen to has a seasonal quality to it, with harder rock in the summer and more folksy stuff around the winter, and so I am in a transitional period in that respect. One other genre that I've noticed I listen to year-round without variation, however, is jazz. Granted, some of the jazz I listen to is film music, but I also often play jazz on Sundays out of a personal tradition held over from when the jazz section was moved into the classical room when I worked at Tower. This weekend I was going through my collection (see below) and rediscovered a few gems such as McCoy Tyner's Expansions and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.
Last week I mentioned that I had an iTunes crash that rendered the music on my iPod inaccessible either through iTunes or through Windows (via the iPod_Control's music folder), forcing me to restore it. However, since I had been very careful to preserve most of what was on it because of the last time something like this happened, it was a fairly easy task to throw on it my most frequently played music. This event has finally spurred me to do what I should have done in the first place; I went out on Saturday and bought a disc drive that I have dedicated entirely to being a mirror for my iPod and from now on will be synching the iPod to the library located on that drive. This makes me a little less mobile with respect to where I can add music or not, but I have tended to find that most of the time I'm loading it I'm on the desktop anyway.
I do not believe this should be necessary (I have had plenty of players in the past that did not require this sort of thing), but I have to do what works best with what I have. And the iPod does, indeed, seem to like synching better, although it doesn't solve the major problem of the Fifth Generation iPod Classic 160 gig, which is the pause to read the hard drive that sometimes occurs between and during songs. I am not certain if the new version does this or not (Apple skipped the 160 gig version of the Classic last year in favor of a 120 gig), but it might be worth it to me if this issues has been rectified.
What the hell is up with Facebook Scrabble!?! It keeps freezing while loading the flash screen, sometimes listing a communication error, other times just telling me that I can't get in. I can usually load it if I'm persistent, but there is no rhyme or reason to the portal that finally works (sometimes it's just a matter of reloading the page) and it is occurring on every computer I use, my personal laptop, my desktop and my work laptop. I know it's working if I get all the letters in "Loading." It also isn't necessarily updating when moves are made, nor always giving me a notification. Once I get in, I have no trouble moving around the games I have going on, but I have never had this much trouble singing into anything. It wouldn't be so bad, except that I need my Scrabble fix.
It turns out that a few of my co-workers also play Scrabble, which has led to some interesting tournaments and showdowns. Plus, I got a triple word score on my own name the other day, which is always a neat thing to do, not to mention having the eight-point "J" and the four-point "H!" You know you have a Scrabble problem when you start adding up the point value on street signs.
It was an extremely busy weekend, although it was chock full of (mostly) good stuff.
The Fellowship of the Ring at Radio City Music Hall was quite amazing. I wish I had been able to go the second night. When I go see The Two Towers next year, I'm going to spring for the more expensive seats. The sound was THUNDEROUS and there were a couple of places where you could hear ins and outs that aren't as apparent on the albums or films. Also, because the CDs have that cavernous sound, the brass isn't as well defined, which was jarring, but not unwelcome. There were a few cues that didn't appear in the theatrical version as well as some that were completely exclusive to the live performances, and, this being the theatrical version of the film, that beautiful chorus heard when Galadriel waves to Frodo as part of "The Great River" was intact, and spine-tingling. And the more epic passages, such as the reveal of Dwarrodelf took on an awe-inspiring quality that is impossible even with the best sound system.
Only disappointments: the Watcher in the Water sequence didn't have the full battery Taiko drums and the audience kept applauding, sometimes after difficult choral parts and solos, but other times because Legolas showed up or something. They applauded at each name in the credits, which I felt was very disrespectful to vocalist Kaitlyn Lusk (who handled all of the female solos in the score such as "Aníron" and "Lament for Gandalf"), who was singing "May It Be." I was also kind of annoyed when they applauded at the Ford of Bruinen sequence as I was eager to hear the aleatory string passage that is played by horns on both the original album and Complete Recordings edition. These are, however, extremely minor issues, and were nothing compared to the thrill of hearing this music being emphasized so.
The film itself was (obviously) without its music track, but the sound effects track was also dialed down. While the dialogue track was preserved, but the orchestra and choir would often drown it out during louder passages (which was intentional), so the film was projected with subtitles so one could still follow the story. It was an odd experience; it wasn't quite like watching a movie, but it wasn't a concert either, but rather somewhere in between. I honestly think that it was a better way of presenting film music in a concert hall than having defanged concert arrangements and narrators (one of the main reasons I am ho-hum about Star Wars In Concert).
I will also say that it was a testament to the power of these films that Radio City Music Hall could be filled with people who want to see an eight year old film that they all already own on DVD… twice!
Of all of the grand sights associated with the epic Lord of the Rings film series… Dwarrodelf, the Pillars of Argonauth, the Black Gate, Minas Tirith and all… the single most impressive image that I will forever associate with Lord of the Rings is what I saw when I entered the auditorium on Friday night….THREE HUNDRED MUSICIANS sitting there ready to perform, in full, one of my favorite pieces of music yet created. Simply overwhelming.
It was also rather nice to have the opportunity to meet up with glenniebun for the first time in person. Do to a slight error, he had forgotten his ticket and I was able to show him the glamorous world of telephone company special services technicians in order to retrieve his mail and get a ticket printed, We also had a nice Italian dinner during which we had one of those discussions about Star Trek only true geeks can have. You can read his own account of his adventures in New York!
If anybody else has been having trouble with Facebook Scrabble, try this link instead.
The primary shoot for the project I was helping out with was on Saturday. It ended up being a pretty marathon session, and while I was ostensibly there primarily for sound, I ended up doing quite a bit all over the place. I had apologized to the filmmakers because I felt like I might have been stepping on their toes, but by all accounts they were quite happy to have my input. I was also drafted to play a small role involving a mesh shirt and a bathroom, but we're not going to be discussing that.
It has come to pass. Once again, iTunes has crashed while my iPod was plugged into it, and it would not recognize any of the music that was on it. This is similar to what happened last April, but this time all of the raw files are irretrievable. However, since this had already happened to me once before, I was wily enough to keep a good infrastructure, and so while replacing all of the music will not be instantaneous, it also isn't the wholly daunting concept that it was the last time.
I am now currently building a database on another hard drive that will mirror all of the music on the iPod. Should this occur again, I will be able to easily sync everything up in one swell foop.
I worked on Monday. I had thought that it would be a very quiet day, but it really wasn't. There was a lot of work out there; I had one trouble which turned out to be a cable failure and another that was due to a malfunctioning 37th Street DCS. I am responsible for neither of these issues, but nobody could know that until I went out there. I earned my double time and a half yesterday!
They had better not be writing Sal off of Mad Men, he's one of my favorite characters!
Although we are in something of the home stretch for shooting The Early Mixes, when organizing the footage already taken I found that we needed more connecting footage to fill in some of the characters. Dan and I met last night to write two scenes for the film for the first time in a year. It was a very different experience than before in a very unexpected way, however.
The screenplay was, of course, complete when we started casting the film. We needed to find actors who fit the roles we had on paper. However, this time around not only did we have every role we were writing for cast, but we also knew better how the actors approached the roles. We wrote the new dialogue with the actors' voices in mind and with their character's speech cadences, a great advantage especially seeing as the scenes were comedic in nature.
I've never written dialogue for a specific actor before. I should plan to do that more often now.
Kudos to Kritzerland for their release of Bananas (Marvin Hamlisch) and Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex * But Were Afraid To Ask (Mundell Lowe), along with a bonus track from Sleeper… all scores to Woody Allen movies made back when he was actually funny (Take the Money and Run is another hysterical picture). Unfortunately, Bruce has informed us that all other usable elements for the Dixieland jazz score for Sleeper are lost, which is a damn shame as that would have made a great album in its own right!
The jig is up! The upcoming Film Score Monthly Miklós Rózsa box set looks to be a cornucopia of great music, including some original tracks from the ever-elusive Quo Vadis? The contents of the box set can be perused through the online liner notes. I have to say that I am also quite pleased to be getting an FSM-style remaster of the original Graunke Symphony Orchestra album recording of El Cid!
How is this a surprise to anybody anymore? The information has been out there for years, and is readily available in any biography of Carl Sagan.
I volunteered to work on Monday and got the day. Yeah, I'm gettin' ♫ paid ♪ !!!
The following information is being disclosed because it came up in conversation yesterday: Kate Beckinsale had a topless scene in the film Uncovered (1994), but that all of her nudity in Haunted (1995) was a body double.
Yoinked from Andy:
I can't editorialize on this or the customer service conversation one can listen to through that link for obvious reasons, but… damn.
I received the Blu-ray box containing The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Mirrormask this week. I have not yet had a chance to watch the latter (which I've never seen), but I can say that both The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth look outstanding in high definition.
The Dark Crystal, which has always been very difficult for home video to present with any sort of accuracy (even, surprisingly, the "Superbit" DVD edition), is finally given the justice it deserves. Sequences were designed with a specific color scheme in mind, which mean that previous video incarnations had a monochomatic, filtered appearance to them. The additional resolution and color saturation of the high def format allow for the film to have the painterly appearance I vaguely remembered from the theatrical prints, and it now looks like a Brian Froud illustration come to life, which was the exact intention of Froud and Jim Henson.
Since the focus of The Dark Crystal was to immerse the viewer into the world being depicted onscreen, I can not express how much more effective it is in this format. The image has such detail and depth that the extreme attention to minutae that characterized the production now pays off in a way that it hadn't since its theatircal release. Oswald Morris' crisp Panavision photography is razor sharp. The sound is an improvement over the previous lossy codecs, but it is still a front-heavy stage with mild distortion in the music track, which I suspect is an element of the sound mix (the isolated score track on the original DVD has not been carried over).
Despite the fact that it is less of a visual cornucopia than The Dark Crystal (although it is still quite visually striking), the more conventionally shot Labyrinth has tended to fare much better on home video, and for the first time the earlier film eclipses the latter in picture quality. This is not due to any defect of the transfer, however, it is because of the different nature of the photography and special effects for each film. Labyrinth had more location photography and as a result tends to be a bit grainer; it also has more optical effects (most of the effects in The Dark Crystal were achieved in-camera). All of these issues are extremely minor and are aspects of the original film that have been accurately transferred to video. The movie looks outstanding, with the same level of detail as The Dark Crystal has. And, of course, the Dolby TrueHD track is much better than either the Dolby Digital or DTS tracks on the DVDs; the sound on this film was much more dimensional than that for The Dark Crystal and has none of the distortion issues on the music track, which presents both Trevor Jones' score and David Bowie's songs in full and rich sound that makes the old EMI Manhattan CD sound pretty pale in comparison.
While The Dark Crystal is about presenting a world that the viewer had not seen before, Labyrinth is the film that resonates more for me because it is about finding the proper place in one's adult life for fantasy. It is also rather subversive in that it uses the Great and Powerful David Bowie as a representation of sexuality. Each time I see it, I am surprised anew at how well-wrought the movie was, both as a contemporary fantasy and as a metaphor for adolescence.
There are a few concepts that need to be added to the set of cartoon cards for Risk, including "Blood Lust" and "Six Shooter." I have done preliminary illustrations for each, but have to refine them before they can be added to the existing set.
The game last Saturday was notable because "The Golden Hand of Wisdom" was awarded during the game to yours truly for the first time since its inception, the reasons for which have been long forgotten. I earned it by keeping track of whose turn it was during the placement phase, which we always somehow mess up. We still messed up (or rather I should say Nate still messed up), but on the whole that normally chaotic portion of the game proceeded without a hitch. Those who are superstitious may relate my receipt of the Golden Hand to my luck with the cards this game, but I am too pragmatic for that sort of thing. And it's not like my victory was easy, either. At one point I had to mount a two-pronged attack on Brad, sweeping through him in Asia, which was expensive and difficult and exhausting (what with all of the die-rolling), only to realize after that massive campaign that I still had to sweep up the rest of him in Europe from South America (which meant plowing through Pete's border armies in North Africa to get there). It was worth it, though, as that move left me with no less than eight cards and only one opponent with only two. And my victory dinner of Vietnamese food was most delicious. Dan and I went to the street fair on Atlantic Avenue on Sunday and saw a performer there named Tiga Jean-Baptiste, who does not seem to have a website outside of MySpace. They put on a great show, it was fusing 70s funk with various Moroccan, African and South American idioms as well. They have a gig at L'Orange Bleue Bar on 430 Broome and Crosby in Brooklyn on October 19th, which I might go to. Speaking of live music, only two days left until I get to see The Fellowship of the Ring at Radio City Music Hall! I am most eager not only to experience the film with live music, but also to meet up with some people I only know from online! For those wondering, the title of this entry is part of the tirade one of the little creatures in Labyrinth goes on when Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) marks the direction she's heading in with her lipstick, which is paraphrased in the Blu-ray's subtitles.
I was surprised at how many people responded to yesterday's post about autumn in the city. This is really one of my favorite times of the year, Hallowe'en is right around the corner with Thanksgiving not far off and it is nice to know that I'm not the only person who feels that way
Speaking of seasonal changes…
…Au Bon Pain has a butternut squash and apple soup that I've become addicted to.
"Bob, what the ☼♦§۩۞ is with that smoke, man? Whaddya got in there, a couple of hamsters blowing smoke rings, ferchrissakes?" *
I am now helping someone else out on yet another film project, mostly in a sound capacity. I went to a cast reading last night and it was strange not being responsible for the performances and not being able to just make my own changes on the spot. On the other hand, I had much less responsibility, which was also somewhat liberating.
Be polite or he'll lop your freakin' hand off, man!
Last week I mentioned that Kritzerland was releasing a remastered edition of Franz Waxman's album recording of Taras Bulba. It arrived yesterday, although I assume that most of the east coast of the United States already knows that because I blasted "The Ride To Dubno" as soon as I unwrapped the CD. This is score is an explosion of Russian-flavored orchestral music and Waxman gets a spirited performance out of the orchestra that is now done justice by the sonics, which are much improved over the Ryko CD, which I gave a glowing review upon its release; I complemented the sound, which was pretty good for an archival release of the era, but improvements in sound technology have overtaken it.
The bonus tracks are interesting; the instrumental version of "The Wishing Star" sounds completely different without the chorus over it. Bruce Kimmel said he included it partly to provide some sort of "added value" for people who already had the Ryko disc (as if the improvements in sound weren't enough) but also to showcase some of the fascinating orchestrations by Leonid Raab. Bruce's notes are very nice as well, but the Rykodisc edition had Waxman's original liner notes for the LP which had a breakdown of the primary thematic material, and I wish that had been preserved. But other than that, a fantastic presentation of a cornerstone of my collection.
I look forward to the possible Tadlow recording that James Fitzpatrick has hinted at. This would (of course) utilize the much larger orchestral forces that were used in the original soundtrack recording and possibly contain some of the Cossack drinking songs that were heard in the film, some of which were pretty damned catchy.
"Ah, Gandalf, my old friend…
…do you know the Easterling proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold on the Caradhras."
I have tickets for the Friday showing of Lord of the Rings at Radio City Music Hall. I was planning on going both nights, but Dan then informed me that we would be shooting material on Saturday, making it impossible for me to return. Now he tells me the schedule has changed, leaving me with a week to decide whether or not to return the next day. We shall see.
I am pretty excited about this as well. I have been on a self-imposed Lord of the Rings embargo right now to keep myself from gorging myself on the scores before the show. It will also be nice to hear some of the theatrical cues that were changed and/or expanded for the extended versions like old friends that I haven't met in some time. I am curious also to see if the live performance will utilize the blaze of aleatory brass at the conclusion of both "Flight To the Ford" from original soundtrack album and "Give Up the Halfling" from the Complete Recordings (which are otherwise different takes of the same cue) or the more restrained take for strings heard in both versions of the film, as it is clear which was Howard Shore's preferred version.
Silver Ponytails in Space!!!
After listening to Insurrection and Nemesis again, I've decided to completely rethink my approach to presenting music from those films on my revision of my Battlestations compilation. I'm not sure if my new strategy will work (it could end up being a complete disaster), but one of the beautiful things about my new set-up is that I can do much more experimentation!
I find it interesting that Jerry Goldsmith's score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture somehow managed to transcend the disappointment of the film itself to become such an icon of the franchise, especially considering that his first return to it was the even more disappointing fifth film. Of course, a good deal of this is because of its adaptation for use on the much more successful Next Generation series, with which it is now primarily associated (and his return to the movie series for First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis leaves Generations the only Next Generation story that doesn't feature his title march).
Goldsmith often used to mention at concerts how he never understood Star Trek, as it was "too cerebral." I had always thought that this was something of a joke partly because that was the exact wording that NBC used in their rejection of the original pilot, but mostly because his musical contributions to Star Trek were more far-reaching than any other composer other than Alexander Courage. While Star Trek: The Motion Picture remains a work apart from his other Star Trek films because of its treatment both of the universe of Star Trek and the mystery at the film's core which place the score firmly in the science fiction genre while his other scores (save the gorgeous, questing Voyager theme) were for films that concentrated more on the action/adventure aspect of the franchise.
And yet, listening to these scores over again in pursuit of selections for the new version of Battlestations I have to say that in many ways he nailed the franchise in a way that few of the other composers ever did. One of the central aspects to the popularity of Star Trek has always been its optimism, and Goldsmith imbued even the darkest moments of his scores with a sense of grace and beauty that seems to say "this is bad, but it is in the context of a good and reassuring future." The penultimate track of my compilation, which is the finale of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, will be retitled "The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning" for that very reason.
* — Dialogue and image from Living In Oblivion, the Tom DiCillo comedy about filmmaking, which is well worth checking out; it's on Netflix and can even be streamed.
While I understand those lamenting the passing of summer, especially considering how little of it that we had this year, I am finding myself enjoying the changes in the weather. It is now autumn in New York, which is when I find the city at its comfortable as temperatures are at neither extreme. Fall has a restless quality that Spring doesn't really have; in Manhattan there is an omnipresent breeze channeled through the skyscrapers and when one moves towards the outer boroughs or upstate, the trees are just now starting to turn to an earthy color palette.
jailnurse showed me this while I was over at his house this weekend. This short made for charity is a must-see for all 'Doctor Who' fans, just don't read the blurb, it spoils some of the jokes. It's pretty much work safe.
I received the Warner France edition of Outland, which does sound a little bit better than the GNP Crescendo version being somewhat hotter and with slightly fuller bass, which are a great benefit in some of the more explosive cues. The copy, however, is totally ludicrous, including a note that the recording venue was unknown (er… Abbey Road?) and that the score had never been released before on CD (what about the aforementioned GNP Crescendo disc) and that "The Rec Room" was not composed by Goldsmith (actually, "The Rec Room" that is on the album was indeed composed by Goldsmith but not used; the source cue that appears in the film instead was not).
In the notes, the score is compared to Alien, which I have noticed is usually the point of reference for it, mostly because the industrial landscape appears to be very similar (indeed, one can easily postulate that Con Am is a competitor of Weyland-Yutani). While there are certainly some similarities, such as the atmospheric main title (not on the album), I have usually considered Outland to have had much more in common with Goldsmith's action scores than Alien, which is much more in a horror vein. Indeed, the score that I tend to associate most closely with Outland is First Blood, as they share those jagged horn lines and many elements of orchestration.
I have also received the Collector's Choice edition of Capricorn One, which was paired with Outland on the GNP Crescendo disc. I now may hang on to the GNP Crescendo disc for its far superior liner notes, and get rid of the Collector's Choice version as in this case I can hear no difference between the old version and the new, despite assurances to the contrary.
Assorted bits and pieces:
The Season 2 set of Star Trek has shown up on Blu-ray and the new set is just as excellent as the first one. While I am not a big fan of the rejiggered effects which tend to look no more realistic than the old effects, but are more versatile because of the technology that created them. However, there are certain episodes where that versatility helps tell the episode, a prime example being one of my favorite episodes, "The Doomsday Machine." The new effects often look like a cut scene from a video game, but it is much easier to follow the story and keep track of the vessels in question. And I have to admit that Sol Kaplan's outstanding score for that episode — one of the most exciting examples of the space opera subgenre — sounds fantastic in DTS-Master Audio.
I did not like where this week's episode of Mad Men went. Not that it is bad writing (quite to the contrary), it's just uncomfortable.
I'm already sick of hearing about Roman Polanski. Yeah, the guy is a brilliant filmmaker, that doesn't mean he shouldn't have to face the consequences of what he has done, but I feel that this should not be a public trial for many reasons, not least of which is that it will no doubt turn out to be a full-blown media circus that will not only put Samantha Geimer and her family in an unwanted spotlight, but also dredge up the whole Sharon Tate incident which will do nobody any good. It should happen, but behind closed doors.
I have not been sleeping well lately. I spent most of the day pretty groggy, which wasn't pleasant, especially as my boss was hovering about my job today.
Jeez, folks, the Varèse Club disc of Escape from the Planet of the Apes CD is 28 minutes because that's how long the score is. The length of a CD has rarely (if ever) been a factor in its price-point, however (excepting singles or mini-CDs). This is true of any genre, not just film music. If you don't want to pay $20 for it, don't, but quit your bitching. It's a good deal longer than the original Project 3 LP of the original Planet of the Apes (which contained less than half of the score) and is a funky Jerry Goldsmith score from one of his most creative periods. And I'm of the opinion that the suite, while welcome at the time, doesn't cut it (and yes, I may consider revisiting my No Escape mix with the new material).
My follow-up to my Silver Screen Star Trek revision will be a new version of my Jerry Goldsmith Star Trek compilation Battlestations, and is in progress. I have already prepared a remix of the main title from Star Trek: The Motion Picture to emphasize the snare drums (which is how the 1979 and 1980 edits of the film opened) instead of the bass drum (which is how the 1979 and 1998 albums and the 2000 edit of the film opened), as well as cleaning up some of the sound on the damaged portion of "Inner Workings." I've also remixed the album track "Life Is a Dream" from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier to include the electronic bird call sound that appeared in the film mix during the concert arrangement of the Klingon theme, albeit not as prominently as what appears in the movie (an aesthetic consideration); I did not, however, include the segment from "A Busy Man," as that cue appears on its own elsewhere on the disc. As with Silver Screen Star Trek, Battlestations will take the same general structure from the previous edition, but I think that I can do better with respect to specifics.
Finally, there is some sad news:
Farewell WILMA COZART FINE 1 9 2 7 — 2 0 0 9
I'll still put up almost any Mercury Living Presence recording up against a modern recording.
Last week I mentioned that I was working on revising my Silver Screen Star Trek compilation from a few years back to take advantage of the vast sonic improvements of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan the Retrograde Records provided over the wretched-sounding GNP Crescendo disc.
This coincided nicely with the added flexibility that I have with the new set-up and the additional capacity provided by the Hewlett-Packard inkjet printable CD-Rs I now use (which seem to top off somewhere around 83:25), the time seemed ripe to correct some glaring mistakes on the old disc as well as make a slightly more rounded presentation of the material from these four scores. I specifically wanted to include at least one version of James Horner's Klingon theme from The Search for Spock and the choir intoning taH pagh taHbe' (Klingon for "To be or not to be") in the "Rura Penthe" sequence from The Undiscovered Country. I also wanted to give Leonard Rosenman's score for The Voyage Home, which I always felt I had shortchanged somewhat, a bit better of a showing.
Ironically, while all of the other material was being moved around or added to, the selections from The Wrath of Khan remained pretty much what they'd always been and for the most part where they'd been. I had an edit where I included "Enterprise Attacks Reliant," but it was just too much at that point in the album. So while I took full advantage of the better sound on the new issue of the score, I didn't use any of the additional music; if anything there is slightly less this time around, but only because I shortened "Battle In the Mutara Nebula" to remove some of the more textural material.
The selections and sequencing weren't the only things getting a facelift with the new version. I have replaced the rather droll cover art with something much more graceful and stately. While I initially liked the idea of keeping a group photo of the movie-era original crew on the cover, I instead decided to concentrate on stately images of the Enterprise to adorn this edition. The CD artwork is quite striking, if I do say so myself.
I have just completed what I think is going to be the final edit of the album (thus far running 83:12 83:17), but I want to give it a few days before I finalize anything. I think I nailed it, though, much better than the last time. And yes, I am planning on revisiting my Jerry Goldsmith Star Trek compilation Battlestations; I've already remixed the main title to match the original film version.
Today marks the fourth anniversary of International King's Commissioner Day. In your travels, if you encounter any individual who uses speech patterns indicating an affinity for piracy, you are fully urged, nay, commanded to capture these miscreants and summarily hang them in the name of the Crown. Ignorance and recklessness are the marks of the pirate, and they pose a threat to all of our civilized institutions. They must be severely dealt with, lest their plague spread and undermine the very order of our society.
Do your part. Find a pirate and string 'im up today.
Hoist the colours of your sovereign and hang a pirate today!
I have written before in praise of Kritzerland, the record label established by the writer/director/songwriter/co-star of The First Nudie MusicalBruce Kimmel. Through his label, I have rounded out my Bernard Herrmann collection with his albums of The Bride Wore Black/Twisted Nerve, A Christmas Carol/A Child Is Born, my Elmer Bernsteins with God's Little Acre and Laurette/Prince Jack, introduced me to Mario Nascimbene with Scent of Mystery and, of course, inspired a deep appreciation for the music for André Previn with the release of the absolutely sublime Two for the Seesaw, not to mention formerly out-of-print or previously unreleased music by Alex North, Laurence Rosenthal, John Morris, John Addison and others.
Bruce writes the liner notes himself and usually concentrates on his own personal connection to the music that he's releasing. These records are clearly a labor of love for him, which is certainly true of many album producers, but the small scale of the label (usually only 1000 to 1500 copies per disc are pressed) and his participation on the Message Board at Film Score Monthly gives each release a more intimate flavor than most other labels in this admittedly niche hobby. Furthermore, I was funds were low when they released of Neal Hefti's How To Murder Your Wife/Lord Love a Duck, but Bruce set aside a copy for me before they were all sold out so that I could order it the next week.
The FSM thread that announced that Hefti CD (which is great fun, by the way), several suggestions were thrown at Bruce, including Franz Waxman's album recording of his explosive score for the 1962 version of Taras Bulba. The album had been issued by RykoDisc in 1998, and quickly became one of my favorites, but the sound was very dry and tinny. Several posters chimed in with their interest in a remaster of the title, and Bruce himself expressed his affection for the score. On August 12, he pledged to look into the score and later updated on his progress. On midnight of September 16, he announced that the next Kritzerland release will be… a fully remastered edition of the Taras Bulba album with two bonus versions of "The Wishing Star."
I am warning everyone out there right now that as soon as I get this CD, I will be playing it so damn loud that they'll hear it on the West Coast from here. I just have to remember not to drive while listening to "The Ride To Dubno" lest I get a speeding ticket.
Farewell HENRY GIBSON 1 9 3 5 — 2 0 0 9
WORK SAFE (You may question the taste of this excerpt from Kentucky Fried Movie, but I think he'd have wanted to be remembered making people laugh)
I'm putting the Jaws quartet on the backburner for now as I am presently working to update my Silver Screen Star Trek compilation to switch out the tracks from the horrible sounding GNP Crescendo CD of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with those from the sonically pristine Retrograde Records edition, and I'll probably do a little tinkering along the way. Yes, I know that there will eventually be expanded releases of the other scores, but I don't think it is prudent to hold one's breath for them. I may revisit my Jerry Goldsmith Battlestations compilation with a few new tricks I have learned since I put that disc together.
I haven't heard all of the Beatles remasters as yet, only Rubber Soul, Revolver the white album and Abbey Road. "Only," obviously, is relative, because if you're going to listen to the Beatles in good sound, these records are obviously an excellent place to start.
Now, I've come across some criticism that the differences from the 1987 editions are very subtle. This is true, but I think the differences, while indeed subtle, are key. The problem with the old discs was never really clarity so much as it was frequency response. The original album masters were prepared with the sonic properties introduced by the cutting, playback and amplification of the vinyl format, and the initial CD release of the Beatles catalog just presented them raw. And the new discs, unsurprisingly mastered at much hotter levels than those previous issues, are not quite as "warm" as what one hears when one plays the albums on vinyl, but they are precise and well-rounded for a change.
The thing that one notices more than anything is how the remaster improves the sound of the vocals, which now have an immediacy to them that they never had on CD before. Sweet songs are sweeter, raw songs more so. There hasn't been any remixing that I've heard, which makes me quite happy. The Beatles were the most influential musicians of the Twentieth Century, touching many people's lives all over the world, and their music ought to be heard in the best condition possible exactly as they recorded and mixed it. These new discs are exactly that.
I have ordered the Stereo Remasters box set, but I am waiting for a better price before ordering the Mono Remasters.
I'm still keeping my vinyl though. These new discs sound better than the old ones, but all things considered, I don't think they improve upon the sound of the LPs so much as present an alternate presentation best suited for their particular medium.
Whilst apple-picking I saw a goat pee on its own lips to cool them off (you could tell because he pursed his lips into the wind). No, you didn't really need to hear about that, but I didn't need to see it either, so now you're stuck with the thought. My shudder is your shudder.
hungry
bouncy
chipper
busy![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
mellow
uncomfortable
complacent
mischievous
contemplative
tired
