I just found this version at my local record store (3$) and I was surprised how much I liked it.
I already have the La-La 3-disc set and the Intrada edition, but this CD sounds like it's almost in mono at times, which gives some of the action cues some extra umph (especially First Blood/First Victory).
The sound is clearly inferior compared to the newer releases, but I did find some value in it.
I think "The Attack" on the older release sounds way better than the Intrada and LLL edition. It's totally in your face on the older releases, but sounds muffled on the newer ones that allegedly sound better.
Johnny, you're clearly even more of an admirer of this score than I am. Years ago, I almost went for the Sony because, not being aware of any other brand, the urge was to get it without any further ado.
What is interesting is that you've discovered a dimension that would have been impossible to predict without empirical sampling. Glad you found something else of added value - and for letting us know.
I remember doing a lot of comparisons between the Sony Legacy CD and the Intrada when the Intrada came out, and to my amateur ears I concluded that the Intrada CD was just louder than the Sony CD and really didn't do much for the source material. Also, I felt that perhaps there had been slightly more magnetic tape "wow" in the tapes between 1995 when the Legacy CD was transferred and when the Intrada CD was transferred. On the other hand, the LaLaLand CD sounds a lot better to me and sounds like there was some aggressive (but generally beneficial) equalization done to make it more pleasing to the ears.
I just found this version at my local record store (3$) and I was surprised how much I liked it.
I already have the La-La 3-disc set and the Intrada edition, but this CD sounds like it's almost in mono at times, which gives some of the action cues some extra umph (especially First Blood/First Victory).
The sound is clearly inferior compared to the newer releases, but I did find some value in it.
I just found this version at my local record store (3$) and I was surprised how much I liked it.
I already have the La-La 3-disc set and the Intrada edition, but this CD sounds like it's almost in mono at times, which gives some of the action cues some extra umph (especially First Blood/First Victory).
The sound is clearly inferior compared to the newer releases, but I did find some value in it.
Well now, that sounds as if you didn't want the music to end. How do you rate this score with other epic 60s scores by Goldsmith? What is it about TBM that make it a standout?
For me, one of the distinguishing features of the score is the strongly typed germanic/teutonic sound that is central to it. And it's all embodied by the strings, principally violins and cellos. Of course, the brass is no shirker either. Somehow, out of the mix come the assertions of flight, competitive ambition, love, hate and fatally flawed heroes. What more could one possibly expect?
I think one of the things that makes this score stand out among other scores of this era and genre is the sense of flight that Goldsmith brought. I heard this score long before I ever saw the film (courtesy of the Sony Legacy edition), but that main theme stated unambiguously that the film was about flying.
My preference is for the La-La Land edition. While the Sony Legacy may have an extra bit of punch here and there, it isn't enough to make up for the overall brittle sound of the Sony Legacy.
The Sony CD doesn`t sound bad at all. I even think that the old Len Engel Varese CD although a bit compressed wasn`t so bad. But the Intrada CD and especially the LLL CD are definetely superior. IMO.
Listening to this score today I can't help but think this sounds like a John Williams score. Perhaps Jerry Goldsmith was a genius after all!
As someone who was a kid in the sixties, "Johnny" Williams will always be for me the guy who did the themes to the kind of crappy Irwin Allen shows. I know it's not fair or correct at all, but I can't help get rid of a decades old concept of Williams as "the poor man's Jerry Goldsmith."
And being the Jerry Goldsmith fan that I am, I'm still pissed to this day that Goldsmith lost that coin flip over JAWS.
Oh, and yeah, the old Sony Legacy CD of THE BLUE MAX sucked big time! Poor fidelity, poor stereo separation, overall shrill sound. The original recording obviously wouldn't have had the remastering and restoration its had done on it if it wasn't deemed necessary by people better able to judge such things than we CD buyers.
"And being the Jerry Goldsmith fan that I am, I'm still pissed to this day that Goldsmith lost that coin flip over JAWS" ---------------------------- This!!?? Again!!?? You do know it's complete bullsh!t, don't you? There NEVER WAS A COIN FLIP! Spielberg started out writing his stories/screenplays to the LP of The Reivers, bagged JW for his first ever feature film (Sugarland Express). THE REST IS HISTORY! This Goldsmith 'lost out' nonsense MUST STOP!!
"And being the Jerry Goldsmith fan that I am, I'm still pissed to this day that Goldsmith lost that coin flip over JAWS" ---------------------------- This!!?? Again!!?? You do know it's complete bullsh!t, don't you? There NEVER WAS A COIN FLIP! Spielberg started out writing his stories/screenplays to the LP of The Reivers, bagged JW for his first ever feature film (Sugarland Express). THE REST IS HISTORY! This Goldsmith 'lost out' nonsense MUST STOP!!
There never was a coin flip? OK. well I stand corrected, but it's too bad because it's a nice story. But excuse me, but I still wish Jerry Goldsmith had scored JAWS....
And STAR WARS.....
And RAIDERS.....
SORRY, BUT I LIKED JERRY GOLDSMITH BETTER THAN "JOHNNY" WILLIAMS, OKAY?!!!!!!
Sorry Rory But this story is startin' to get trotted out on a regular basis around here!! Before yer know it, it's on Wikipedia and it really happened!! It needs nippin' in the bud, EVERY TIME!! Peace
Sorry Rory But this story is startin' to get trotted out on a regular basis around here!! Before yer know it, it's on Wikipedia and it really happened!! It needs nippin' in the bud, EVERY TIME!! Peace
Would you happen to know how it did get started? Because it's sort of a strange, implying that JAWS should have gone to Goldsmith but fate intervened. It's been out there for a long time. I can't remember when I first read it, or where, but I swear it's like twenty years ago.
As much as I like indulging in revisionist fantasies (My favorite is "What if Charlton Heston hadn't been so dumb as to have turned down THE OMEN?"), I wouldn't try to start false stories.
