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The original release is perfection!
2 discs is , well you know. Ask Thor
bruce
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Okay so I've been listening to all of my Die Hard Kamen scores and am stuck on them! Since digging through the recent Lethal Weapon box I've had a hankering for some Die Hard music and since I started listening to the original trilogy (done right of course, the deluxe complete editions) I just can't seem to stop. You know the feeling. You can't seem to move on to any other scores because you keep wanting to hear the brilliant stuff over and over. "I have to hear this track again!" and start it from the beginning as soon as it's finished. "That section of action music is so awesome, back up!" and rewind a bit in the track to hear it again. Just enjoying the musical playground, which Kamen delectably provides with his Die Hard scores. I do love the Lethal Weapon music but listening to these DH scores again I'm reminded in spades why I love them so much.
Particularly Die Hard 2, showcased perfectly in the recent glorious Varese Deluxe Edtiion. The whole score is just breathtaking and mach-3 adrenaline fueled, my favorite of the three Kamen DH scores.
The part of the score that I marvel the most at (again, and again, and again...) is the roughly 41-minute stretch of almost completely action/urgent/thrills 'n chills music that begins with "Landing Esperanza's Plane" and culminates in the "Fight on the Wing" cues. Seriously now! These 40 minutes do not let up and contain some of the most brilliantly complex, ingeniously structured, and cleverly written action music I've ever heard. Going back and listening to the cues again, I continue to rewind and repeat tracks because I keep discovering, after countless listens, even more and more layers and clever motifs and little nuances in the writing. This 41-minute action section is joyously dense with complex and intricate action and suspense music, expertly weaving in themes and motifs from the first DH score and slam-bang barnstorming new material. It is truly genius and I can't stop listening! The rhythms, the orchestration, the powerful and energetic performance by the players, the nobility of McClane's theme, the occasional wintery/Christmas sleighbells and such, the pounding anvils, the quick-change brass blasts and racing strings...it's sublime.
I had to write here and express my joy for this music and for this CD release in general. It has always been one of my most sought-after previously unreleased (except for the short original release) score in my life, and hearing it in all its glory is one of the greatest experiences. I take nothing away from DH 1 and 3, which are insane awesomesauce in similar and different ways, but DH2 will always be the cat's pajamas to me, the absolute zenith of DH music, Kamen action music, and my favorite Kamen score the man has written.
Thanks Varese!
Like you, I've going through to the Die Hard scores again (in my case, cause I'm still waiting for the LW boxset). DH2 remains the most difficult one for me though. Like someone else already said, the first half is rather dull. For me, it lacks the playfulness of the first half of the original Die Hard. But once the action starts, the fun never stops! The last 40 minutes of DH2 are indeed some of Kamen's finest action writing. While I play the second DH score the least, I'm still glad I picked it up.
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I'm going to give the score one last try. I have the 2-disc Edtiion and just haven't liked it much, but after your enthusiastic endorsement I'll try again. It's just that almost all of disc 1 is a bit of a snoozer for me. !
That's why i recomend the original release!!!!!
bruce
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Man I am still loving the f*** out of this release! This is one of my favorite expansions ever, along with the Total Recall deluxe expansion, the Friday the 13th box set, the Rambo expansions, Mimic and Scream deluxe, and many others. This is just one of the greatest action scores ever written, and treated so well by Varese in this 2CD set, in my opinion a true hall-of-fame expanded score release. I'm so grateful to have this and I never tire of it!
Thanks again Varese!
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This is one of my favorite expansions ever, along with the Total Recall deluxe expansion, the Friday the 13th box set, the Rambo expansions, Mimic and Scream deluxe, and many others.
So really, it's not a very distinguished honor.
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I've always felt that Die Harder and With a Vengeance were near classics just under the first. Live Free is overall enjoyable, but I've yet to see A Good Day. Their respective scores share the same critiques.
So, when is We Don't Say Die Hard, We Say Kill coming out?
the guy was the right artist at the right time for the right job.
Story of his life...
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