Well, believe it or not, when I got to work yesterday, what was waiting for me was none other than the queen mother of all music CD box sets, the long-awaited eight-disc "Superman" soundtrack box set of all the music from the four feature films and the 1988 Ruby-Spears animated series. Just looking at this box set makes my mouth water with excitement!
I've got to tell you, I've only sampled a few tracks from the set thus far. I started out with some of the action-oriented pieces from "Superman IV", then checked out some of the variations on the Main Title theme as heard in II and III, followed by the long-awaited alternate version of "The Dome Opens" from STM (which was adapted as the villains' theme music and some of the action music from SII) and the Main and End Title themes from STM. All I can say is this...
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The music thus far is solid and clear, reproduced from the very best elements around! Mike Matessino, Lukas Kendall, and the guys at Film Score Monthly have completely outdone themselves with this CD box set! Everyone needs to stand up and take notice, this is how the game is played, and this will no doubt be the benchmark for all soundtrack CD sets for years to come in terms of sound reproduction, extensive research and liner notes, and all-around fun and excitement in just listening to the music. And not only that, but with "Superman IV" you get the complete score to the original 120-minute cut of the film that was in progress but never completed after the Orange County sneak preview, which in my opinion could have benefitted from another 6-8 months of completion on the visual effects. With this score, coupled with the 2006 Deluxe Edition DVD and the 93-minute international print (which should have been released on DVD), you get a very clear picture of how the film would have turned out, and it would have been much broader in scope than the B-picture budget revealed.
Hands down, this is the CD soundtrack set of the year to beat, and it's going to be completely impossible to top this set with any other release from any studio. Once I have a chance to listen to the complete set, I'll provide a further detailed review, so look for that soon.
Congrats to Mike, Lukas, and everyone for a job well done!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Indy returns, Superman flies, etc.
With the release of the fourth "Indiana Jones" film Memorial Day weekend, Paramount Home Video is re-releasing the first three films on DVD in all-new special editions. Apparently none of the extras from the original four-disc box set will be on these new re-releases, though it looks like there will be a host of exclusive bonus features including a preview of the upcoming "Lego Indiana Jones" videogame. Will it be worth the double-dip? Hopefully I'll be able to provide a review soon.
The latest word on the "Superman" score box set is that there are fewer than 600 copies left from Film Score Monthly's initial pressing of 3,000. According to Lukas Kendall, there should be a second pressing down the road in a few months. From everything I've read thus far, it's been an extremely big hit with Superman and music fans. I'm trying to get a copy for review, but it's been no luck at all with nearly all of my leads. Hopefully I won't get left out of the party.
On a side note, I'm in early talks with album producer Mike Matessino to conduct an interview for one of the Superman-based web sites. I had the privilege of hosting a special online chat with him back in 2000 upon the release of Rhino's 2-CD "Superman" set, and he and I have kept in touch on occasion since then on different things. He's quite knowledgeable about the material he's worked on, and he's quite a nice guy to boot. Look for that interview soon.
Finally, I heard this morning that with the upcoming release of "The Dark Knight", the late Heath Ledger has delivered such an extremely powerful performance as the Joker that talks are in the works of considering him for a posthumous Oscar nomination. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that happens.
On that note, I'll touch base again soon. Take care!
The latest word on the "Superman" score box set is that there are fewer than 600 copies left from Film Score Monthly's initial pressing of 3,000. According to Lukas Kendall, there should be a second pressing down the road in a few months. From everything I've read thus far, it's been an extremely big hit with Superman and music fans. I'm trying to get a copy for review, but it's been no luck at all with nearly all of my leads. Hopefully I won't get left out of the party.
On a side note, I'm in early talks with album producer Mike Matessino to conduct an interview for one of the Superman-based web sites. I had the privilege of hosting a special online chat with him back in 2000 upon the release of Rhino's 2-CD "Superman" set, and he and I have kept in touch on occasion since then on different things. He's quite knowledgeable about the material he's worked on, and he's quite a nice guy to boot. Look for that interview soon.
Finally, I heard this morning that with the upcoming release of "The Dark Knight", the late Heath Ledger has delivered such an extremely powerful performance as the Joker that talks are in the works of considering him for a posthumous Oscar nomination. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that happens.
On that note, I'll touch base again soon. Take care!
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