Upcoming CDs

This Fall will at least see 1 Tiomkin (if not 2) as well as a Bernstein and perhaps others

MV

About four minutes. If you're happy with the Intrada that's probably fine. I can only say that we did considerable work on this, getting rid of numerous dropouts and other anomalies, fixing the irritating crimp in the opening main titles, and removing some of the washy reverb that was added - at which stage it was added who knows, but it's not a natural room ambience and that's what I wanted for ours - the ambience without the extra verb was just wonderful and results in a more tightly-focused and present sound, which, for this score, I prefer.

The sound on the bonus cues is not good, but we did the best we could (thank you, Chris Malone), and I felt it was important to include every note of music we could. There was one additional thirty-nine second cue that was beyond saving, otherwise this is now complete. It will be up to each listener or buyer to make the call, but having just heard our new master I can say that it sounds great and I'm very happy with it (thank you, James Nelson).

On The Waterfront is certainly an American landmark in film, particularly due Brando's performance... and Leonard Bernstein's triumphant score. One of the most compelling ever composed, it also offers what might be the most powerful fortissimo ending to a film score of all time. Scored as if it were a symphony itself, the final bars develop the main theme into a crashing powerhouse of orchestral might. It's especially powerful in the context that this theme originally starts as a lonely, unaccompanied melody for just ONE French horn. Wow! And also of note: the love theme, a truly expressive major key idea, makes an appearance AGAINST this crashing orchestral finale - on ONE solo trumpet, piercing through in opposition to all that orchestral might! The instrument reaches up, through, in and about the thundering main theme, doing its own thing completely against it, all alone while the entire rest of the orchestra pounds away. The love theme and the main theme. Two completely different themes with nothing in common, playing at the same time. And it works magnificently. Another wow! All just in the finale no less. One could spend oodles of time talking about the brilliance of this masterpiece of film scoring.

Sadly, some misinformation is going around with respect to the newly discovered masters and the Criterion Blu-ray. So people, here are the facts... straight from the vaults.

Yes, the complete elements have been located and are being readied for release. But EVERYTHING is in mono. Superb mono, but still mono. There are NO stereo masters. I repeat - no stereo masters. None. Nada. The Criterion video in fact is a new 5.1 remix of the MONO music and effects tracks. Because the score includes so many solo colors and has a lot of exposed solos for tympani, the reverb and stereo-izing of the mono elements - combined with the panning of the mono sound effects - does indeed have a nice aural sense of space. But it is still derived from MONO elements. Yes, mono. This was all done with the expertise of the good folks at Chace, who literally lead the industry in audio restoration for home video. And it does make a wonderful listening experience combined with the effects and all that unforgettable dialog. But that is for the film.

Those original music and effects elements have been around for a while - albeit only recently worked into a 5.1 mix by Chace. They are NOT suitable for an album release, however, because they have the abrupt edits and trims that are in the film itself as well as the dips in volume to accommodate the dialog. They always did. They always will. And... they have the sound effects. Here again, they always did. They always will.

BUT - the GOOD news is... recently, in their exhaustive searching, the COMPLETE actual scoring session masters with the music intact exactly as recorded by Leonard Bernstein HAVE been located. These were made directly onto acetate for safety checks during the recording sessions and happily survived intact. Yes, complete. Every note of this masterful score survives, albeit in mono and from acetate discs. These are the ONLY scoring session elements in existence, preserving the complete cues without any edits, trims, volume dips and other anomalies of the film's M&E tracks used by Chace to enhance the audio for the film itself. These mono safety discs are the only sources for the true, unedited music cues Bernstein recorded. And it is dream come true that they were located.

These original session discs have been cleaned up as much as is practical without any attempts to pretend they are from anything but discs. An overuse of noise reduction and other gimmicks that remove not only the clicks but also the very life of the music itself have not been employed. Some may prefer the noise to be completely squished, no matter that important string harmonics and other instrumental timbres are heavily damaged, while others prefer to hear the orchestral colors as genuine as is possible with requisite de-noising kept to a minimum. That is our camp. Some restoration, of course, is necessary with 1950's acetates, including using state-of-the-art Sonic Solutions software to reduce clicks and pops, but digitizing everything into the 21st century CD sonic realm, while perhaps quieter, is not particularly musical in our opinion.

So, yes, this masterpiece of film scoring is finally coming to you at last, complete, in mono audio from discs, with all of the string harmonics and delicate colors playing crisply against the most powerful orchestral crescendos you could ever hope to hear... everything from that lonely opening solo French horn to that final thundering full orchestral coda.

A historic soundtrack event if there ever was one.
--Doug

We have been working on this expanded edition for a few months. We hope to include all the songs of Elliot Smith which appear in the movie. His songs are so specific to the mood of Gus Van Sant's movie.
But we need to fix many legal issues... as usual!

VACATION NOTE:

La-La Land Records will be closed starting Friday, Aug 16 at 12 pm (NOON) pst and will reopen on Thursday morning, Aug 22 at 9 am pst .

Our website will still be taking orders, but nothing will be processed and shipped until we return on Aug 22.

We will do our best to answer emails during the course of our vacation, but please be patient awaiting our responses.

Since we will not be present next Tuesday for our usual "pre-week" announcement I will let you know right now what is coming Aug 27, 2013 at 12 pm pst:

THE MATRIX RELOADED - EXPANDED 2 CD SET
MUSIC BY DON DAVIS
LIMITED EDITION OF 3500 UNITS
RETAIL PRICE: $29.98

The first 150 customers who purchase The Matrix Reloaded directly through the La-La Land website will receive a signed booklet at no extra charge. Quantities are limited and you are not guaranteed a signed copy.

AND

JOBS
MUSIC BY JOHN DEBNEY
RETAIL PRICE: $15.98

More information to follow on both titles when the email blast goes out on Aug 26.

Now, go out and enjoy the remaining days of Summer! Fall is coming and some incredible releases are just around the corner!

When the dust settles Varese will still be standing. If the rumors are true they have some truly incredible product in line for the future. Consider this the lull before the storm.

Thomas Glorieux wrote

Because the JNH of back then is still unbeatable.

PawelStroinski wrote
God, that's one of his worst!

justin boggan wrote
RUMOR CONTROL


Over at FSM, somebody was statign they thought they had read Intrada was doing the score "The Outlaw Josey Wales".

Roger has chimed in at the Intrada forums about a possible release from their label: