JOHN WILLIAMS

I am perfectly in favour of Williams handing over the reins.
It'll serve all the better to distinguish between Star Wars and "that Disney thing they did a few decades later").

That said, I'm far more excited about what Abrams will come up with than anything Clone War related, prequels, games or cartoons.

I have to agree. I find much of the Desplat and Hooper HP scores to be quite pleasant, some of it quite beautiful, and some of it appropriately thrilling, but overall there's just a dramatic inertia that I think really fails the key emotional moments in the series. It's not even so much that they did or didn't match up with the Williams scores because the last five films are so much different than the first three. I suppose AZKABAN came closest to the solemn tone of the later films, and of course it's IMHO the best score in the series, but I also think Doyle really hit it out of the park with GOBLET OF FIRE. So for me it's not necessarily that I wish Williams had scored the final film(s), but that I wish the final film(s) had gotten better scores.

How odd. I find Desplat's scores have ample emotional punch. I certainly would never have associated Zimmer with Desplat's music for those films either!

It goes without saying I'd love to have heard Williams' take on the last two films, but I do think Desplat delivered. (And he was smart enough to end on Williams' music.)

Come on...the middle section of Deathly Hallows 2 during the Battle for Hogwarts is exactly like an RC score. Desplat does it much more cleanly and pleasantly than someone like Djawadi or Orvarsson would have done, but its all very Batman/Bourne ostinato-ish temp track love. Which happens to work BRILLIANTLY in marriage to the picture, but it ain't no Duel of the Fates. It could have been another Duel of the Fates if it were Williams.

On the other hand, do we really want to hear a Williams score where he's been ordered to emulate the RC sound?

But sometimes it takes a composer stepping up and getting through the director's thick skull by saying, here, look what I wrote, isn't this better than your electronic crap? Isn't this pure magic?

Of course for most younger composers that would probably be bad for their careers, but Williams can do whatever the heck he wants!

That's excellent news!
I *did* miss it the first time around (and got hold of a VERY dodgy Russian copy instead...).
So very happy to retire that one and get the proper release!

Awesome!

Really excited about this, missed out on the Varese and always hoped for a reissue. Thrilled that the original album recording is still included.

<--and everyone else who thinks the same

Over at FSM somebody pointed out 18 minutes of score, and MV had this comment on the set:

Does somebody else want to tell francis?

I don't know but if he does happen to have any fans then they may be interested in some news I just received. Williams himself took out not one but SEVENTY NINE full page adverts in today's New York Times, all of which said "La-La Land Records will shortly be releasing a double CD edition of my score for The Fury."

Meanwhile, the president of the United States himself, Barack Obama, cancelled all his engagements and convened a special session of Congress at which he said "La-La Land Records will shortly be releasing a double CD edition of John Williams's score for The Fury."

In an incredible turn of events, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Boutros-Boutros Ghali, appeared on a series of giant screens that had been installed in the central square of every single town in South America with a population greater than 100. His announcement was simple - "La-La Land Records will shortly be releasing a double CD edition of John Williams's score for The Fury."

Scientists at NASA formulated a special beam that was directed in such a way that it blasted several asteroids into small pieces. These pieces were each infused with a special magnetic charge that made them appear in the sky and formulate the phrase "La-La Land Records will shortly be releasing a double CD edition of John Williams's score for The Fury." This was then moved through the sky all around the world until it had been seen by every man, woman and child currently alive.

Over at maintitles.net, Justin Boggan was overheard saying that he did not consider that any release of The Fury had been confirmed.

Breaking news. For those that missed out on the previous releases of John Williams' masterpiece The Fury, La La Land Records is re-releasing the score on February 26th.

Check it out!

-Erik-