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I take it on a case-by-case basis. Some scores weren't even written or recorded in chronological order, so putting it out on CD like that doesn't always make a workable program. I say some basic guidelines are in order (these are off the top of my head). If a label is not going to put the score in film order, it needs to: Make sure appropriate opening and closing theme remain where they are (unless there is some prologue piece that would go beforehand). Key cues that belong in certain spots in a score, should remain about there (for example: the "Flight of the Phoenix" cue from Trek 8 should remain around the end). Better versions of a cue shoudl be used instead (unless it disrupts the flow). Un-used cues should be considered for basic programming and not moved as bonus cues to the end. The score should have some kind of flow or story to tell; not shifting from some dramatic set piece to some low key cue. Songs and source cues should be moved to the end (unless a source cue sounds like the score and works inside the programming). I have my own, for example, arrangment of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home", which moves tracks around and even uses mastered cues from the old CD (personal preferences), and even leaves off two or three tracks.
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I don't have a single answer to this question. To my ears, some scores lend themselves better to a C&C presentation, while others work better in form reconfigured for listening. My preference is completely on a case-by-case basis, and is often inconsistent. For example, both John Williams and Elliot Goldenthal create albums by mixing cues and re-arranging the scores, but while I'm generally not fond of how Williams does this, I love how Goldenthal does. And I often like both variations — I like both the albums and the complete scores of titles like Bullitt, Capricorn One, E.T., Outland, The Lord of the Rings movies, and many more. I also have to respect how well-crafted some of the albums of yore are given the requirements of the LP format.
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Almost always chronological. One of the things I like most about film music is its sense of narrative—the journey you're taken on from "Prologue" to "Aftermath"—the story that unfolds in musical form over the course of a 45-80 min. listen. Narrative is inherently part of a film score's identity whether it was written that way or not (think of the many library cues that make up "Night of the Living Dead" or "Dawn of the Dead" for example). When I edit my own playlists for optimal listening experience, I begin by arranging all cues in chronological order, then I narrow them down to the cues I enjoy most, while maintaining a good balance between beginning, middle, and end to preserve the overall sense of narrative structure, ensuring smooth transitions from the end of each cue to the beginning of the next, and ensuring a good, not-too-overly-repetitive balance of themes throughout. Most of the time this is all pretty straightforward business, but occasionally it can be a real challenge to get a score I like into just the right form for optimal listening experience—and that's what makes it that much more rewarding when I finally do succeed after attempting countless variations and sometimes even trimming and/or combining cues when possible in an editing program. I don't always stick hard and fast to chronology, however (just a vast majority of the time). In my own cut of "Batman Forever," for instance, "Rooftop Seduction" plays just before "Capsule" instead of after because I enjoy listening to them better in that order. Suites and themes that don't appear in the film sometimes start off the album or appear at the end as a kind of alternate end credits (as I've done with "Anakin's Theme" for "The Phantom Menace"—I like the way that slow, ominous variation on the Imperial March closes out the album) or sometimes they'll even appear in the midst of the album where narratively appropriate, for instance in the place of a scene that prominently features the character for which the theme was written. Occasionally, I will come across a score I really like for a film I have never seen and have no real intention of seeing, and for which I find its album presentation not at all a satisfying listening experience. This was the case for Brian Tyler's "Timeline." I couldn't find any mention of its chronological order online, and while I suppose I could have asked, instead I decided to listen through the music on my own and see if I could find a narrative flow in the music itself and assemble for myself a satisfying listening experience based upon an imaginary film. This took a lot of work and I went through a lot of different variations, but I finally came up with a 17 track, 42 minute-long album that plays with what to me sounds like a clear beginning, middle, and end—regardless of whether that sequencing comes anywhere close to the score's actual chronology. This is a rare case, however, and if I was familiar with the film or knew the proper chronology, this sort of innovative album sequencing would never have worked for me. Or in other words: what solium said.
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