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I love Providence. I wanted to do Providence. I'd been sent a CD of it and these bonus tracks are exactly what was on that tape - weird sound and all, so something disingenuous is going on here. But I was also sent a CDR and the tape from whence that had come and everything on that, save for some hiss, was in really excellent sound, including all of these bonus cues. I wish someone had asked.
The album presentation sounds fine.
The CDR and open reel tape of the score which Bruce holds and which he says is in excellent condition was passed to him by a collector. I know this because I put him in touch with the collector - a regular poster on this Board. This was two years ago when I had suggested to Bruce that he look into doing PROVIDENCE. I didn’t hear the tracks myself but at that time I had the impression they were not of optimal quality because Bruce had said there were limitations and dropouts (there was also a tape of the complete score which had going around collectors; a CD of which I had previously passed to Bruce).
I heard about the Digitmovies project at a late stage when the master was more or less ready to go to the pressing plant and without hearing the disc in advance. Neither did I know at that stage whether Bruce was still planning his own release. Obviously it’s unfortunate if indeed some of the tracks which Bruce has are of better quality than that released on CD but neither Digitmovies nor Sugar Music/CAM can be expected to know what material is being held by collectors in an unauthorised capacity. I hope Bruce will pass his disc/tape on to the rights owners so that they can at least assess and preserve the material.
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Digitmovies used the session mastertape for their CD release and NOT the bootleg CDR that has been circulating around in the hands of collectors. The session source had great stereo sound including the sound engineer's voice and Dr. Rozsa and Director Alain Resnais' voices. When you buy a Digitmovies release you are getting TOP QUALITY in every aspect. I do not have Providence yet but I have NO DOUBT that it is the only release of this wonderful Miklos Rozsa score that I will ever need!
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Let's get a few things straight here:
Everything is exactly as Doug says save for one thing - what he sent is what I said had the dropouts and occasionally weird sound. The other tape (and CDR from it) was hissy but otherwise had no real problems and probably could have been made to sound better via mastering. Since that tape had approximately the same amount of music, one has to assume they're all comprised of the same cues. It's very hard to tell with the tape that came from the other person because cues are edited together (one track runs ten minutes). So all I can tell you is that the first three of the bonus cues on the Digit CD sound exactly as Doug's tape did, with the one cue very left-heavy, with the occasional dropout, etc. So, perhaps Doug's tape originally came from the CAM masters sitting in storage - who knows, who cares?
Claudio Fuiano is a very nice guy and I take him at his word. That does not negate the fact that I have what I have and that it sounds better for those few missing bits where I've done the comparison directly - sorry, but I do. They're all over Facebook saying that posting what I did was horrible. I don't think so. I'm all over this board praising other labels' releases whenever it's appropriate and I can, and that includes this one, before I'd heard one note of it. Not many of us do that. Concerns were raised very early in this thread about the sound quality of the bonus material and not by me. Doug, who is also a terrific guy and someone I really like, and whose notes are terrific, knew I had this other tape and I would have been more than happy to send it on its way.
So, here's the bottom line: For the score as it appeared on LP sounds great. Nice packaging, excellent notes, good sound. Reason enough to buy it immediately. You do get all the bonus material, which is great. Some of that material doesn't sound great but that, for me, isn't a big deal and shouldn't deter anyone from having the release. It's a wonderful Rozsa score and it was clearly put together with a lot of love.
I could hazard all kinds of guesses about why the LP presentation was insisted on - all speculation on my part and, in the end, pointless. But since I brought this up earlier, I felt it was interesting enough to comment on after I'd actually heard it. Again, I recommend the CD and am more than happy to have it. But every label has had stuff that people complain about - and some of those complaints are fine - we do what we can do and when people pay their dough, rightly or wrongly, they can complain. But no one here has been complaining about the release - a few people have brought up the sound quality on some of the bonus tracks - it's not the end of the world, but should it be mentioned? Of course.
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Thanks for sharing your information, Bruce. I cannot find anything wrong in what (and how) you've written here about this release (well, I'm still waiting on my copy, so I cannot give my own evaluation of its sonic quality yet).
My opinion of soundtrack fans and their frequent premature "heresy!" calls is gradually starting to resemble Jerry Goldsmith's.
Thank you for being one of the few to comprehend. The craziness of the reaction this morning is so out of proportion.
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Sounds like the threads for Kritzerland's "Legend of the Lost" all over again, but in reverse.
Very off-putting.
Better if the people involved share their information before we buy their wares, rather than tell us afterwards that something better should have been possible.
Here's the difference - people complained, I explained what had happened clearly, and we made the missing track immediately available as a free download. I didn't go to Facebook and call people EVIL because they complained, because once word got out they had the right to complain, and we did the best we knew how.
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Digitmovies used the session mastertape for their CD release and NOT the bootleg CDR that has been circulating around in the hands of collectors. The session source had great stereo sound including the sound engineer's voice and Dr. Rozsa and Director Alain Resnais' voices.
The boot has Rozsa and Chris Palmer counting down before some cues.
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I'm pretty convinced at this point that Digitmovies doesn't even listen to the shit they pump out.
Really? Is this opinion made after hearing their Providence?
I ask because I've heard very differently from several Rozsa fans, that the Digitmovies was a different matter entirely from their Sodom and Gomorrah...meaning obviously improved sound and presentation to the CAM.
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I'm pretty convinced at this point that Digitmovies doesn't even listen to the shit they pump out.
Really? Is this opinion made after hearing their Providence?
I ask because I've heard very differently from several Rozsa fans, that the Digitmovies was a different matter entirely from their Sodom and Gomorrah...meaning obviously improved sound and presentation to the CAM.
Both things can be true, WagnerAlmighty, which you will see if you thoroughly read this thread. The sound on the Digitmovies *is* improved over the CAM, and there is more music on top of that. The sound issues are with (some of) the *new* music, which Bruce has discussed in detail in this thread. So yes, the sound is much better than S&G overall, but there are still issues which make the Digitmovies not definitive as it should be.
Yavar
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I'm pretty convinced at this point that Digitmovies doesn't even listen to the shit they pump out.
Really? Is this opinion made after hearing their Providence?
I ask because I've heard very differently from several Rozsa fans, that the Digitmovies was a different matter entirely from their Sodom and Gomorrah...meaning obviously improved sound and presentation to the CAM.
Both things can be true, WagnerAlmighty, which you will see if you thoroughly read this thread. The sound on the Digitmovies *is* improved over the CAM, and there is more music on top of that. The sound issues are with (some of) the *new* music, which Bruce has discussed in detail in this thread. So yes, the sound is much better than S&G overall, but there are still issues which make the Digitmovies not definitive as it should be.
Yavar
Hmm...sounds like a hoped for reissue. I'm still glad I scooped the Digitmovies, as this score has turned into quite a grower for me. Though I still haven't had the resources for the Time after Time CD, to me Providence is his best as far as late era work goes. Again, I might be a bit uninformed... besides this one I thought J. Edgar Hoover was a great late era entry.
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I think the chances of a fixed reissue are probably pretty low, unless Bruce decides to learn Italian!  But who knows...maybe Quartet can come to the rescue on this title.
Yavar
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Just ordered a decent copy of this from Screen Archives yesterday. Anyone have a good English translation for the track titles?
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Thank you.
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