BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM - score by Shirley Walker. This is the first release in our new line of EXPANDED ARCHIVAL EDITIONS. This cd features the complete score along with a few bonus tracks. It is limited to 3000 units. Retail Price: $19.98
Expanded Archival Editions, huh? I like the sound of that.
I haven't seen this film since it was in theaters (I was 10 years old). I assume if I liked the Batman: TaS album, I'll like this...?
I think so. It's an excellent score. Walker basically took alot of the concepts and sound of the series and ratcheted it up several notches, even including choir (as in the classic "Main Title" cue). The samples will probably give you a clearer idea, but I'd say if you're a fan of TAS and its music, you should grab this.
I bet anything LeHah is gonna scream like a girl when he sees this.
This is great news. I love Mask of the Phantasm (I even like the Tia Carrere song) and am glad to have it complete at last. Wuthering Heights features one of my favorite Legrand themes. I don't remember the Boogeyman score especially (that was the one with Barry Watson and Emily Deschanel, right? I tend to confuse it with The Messengers featuring Kristen Stewart), but I'll happily pony up for that as well.
From my FSMO interview with Shirley, just a few months before her passing:
"I have to say I’m most proud of Mask of the Phantasm. Because I think I did … not only was it dramatically what we all wanted to happen for the movie, but I actually wrote to a deep, deep musical level that … I really haven’t had a project that afforded me that opportunity since then."
It's not very difficult to argue that this score was Mrs. Walker's magnum opus. It fills me with joy to know that people are finally going to be able to listen to it in its full form. Thanks for once again bearing us such good news, MV.
Dictionary definition aside, I thought it was pretty well established - as far as soundtrack CD releases go - that "archival" means that there is something wrong with the audio. For instance, FSM's release of "The Satan Bug" is subtitled the "archival edition".
And wasn't the Film Music Society release of Miklos Rozsa's "The Jungle Book" referred to as "archival" due to it's less than pristine sound quality?
I didn't say archival meant mono, I was just trying to guess what the problem with the audio might be which would cause it to be labeled "archival".
An expanded version of PHANTASM is more than fans could have hoped, and this is on top of the fantastic Vol 1 release of B:TAS. Truly a musical feast for fans of Shirley Walker and B:TAS and I for one can't wait to not only hear all the additional cues but also improved sound as well. The sound quality on the original album always did sound muffled and a bit buried.
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