"As far as the old MCA releases back then, yes the sound is disappointing but they didn't have the technology we have today and it wasn't until the late 70's, that sound did sound much greater thanks to the advent of digital recording and mixing."
I don't know if the comment above was specifically about MCA's 1970's orchestral soundtrack releases, or vinyl orchestral soundtracks in general at the time. If the latter, this is a massive generalization. The trouble with MCA, is they didn't know how to render orchestral soundtracks on disc, when they should have been treated as classical recordings. It's hard to say whether the problem was with the recording or the mixing. However there are numerous classical recordings of the time which are sonically stunning. As typical of the time (i.e. before the advent of specialist soundtrack labels) people who listened to orchestral movie scores were regarded as somewhat suspect by mainstream record labels. In fact, one reviewer spoke to a British record executive in the early '70's, and was told that the people who bought these recordings, didn't care what was on them! We should be eternally grateful to labels like Intrada for treating us, and the music itself, with the respect merited. (Just a last word on MCA soundtracks of the '70's: there were a few which did have decent sound quality, such as MacARTHUR and SWASHBUCKLER. But I do recall one reviewer's comment on MCA's release of RICH MAN, POOR MAN: that he'd heard better sound on LPs recorded 20 years earlier!)
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