Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Have to say, very interesting column you wrote today, Doug. It's a topic I've often thought about, which albums work better longer or shorter. I know there's a lot of film music fans out there who prefer to have 70-minute albums in all cases, and take length as a major factor into whether or not they will buy a score. However, in my case, I'm not really sure many scores demand lengthy treatment. As much as I would love to have expanded albums of certain Goldsmith scores, I prefer his careful approach to creating an album, rather than the "let's fill the cd with 79 minutes, regardless of how diverse or interesting the score is" approach taken by James Horner.

Completely agree with you about "Basic Instinct"... it was just about right at forty minutes. On the other hand, I was thrilled with the deluxe edition of Jerry's "Total Recall". Then are big scores that work great at an hour, but are stretched a little thin when you turn them into a 2-cd set. Morricone's "Marco Polo" is a good example of this... I love the score, but it's kind of difficult to get through the whole thing, seeing as it doesn't really change tone very often.

If a score is going to require more than 45 minutes or so of my time, I expect it to be worthwhile. Great music is great music, and if it's worth my while, I'll be glad to make the investment. Something like "Captain from Castille" comes to mind. But if it's just a good score, but not particularly great... maybe Horner's "Four Feathers", or Beltrami's "Underworld: Evolution"... it tends to fall under that category of "scores I like that I just don't listen to that often." If I feel like Horner, I'm more likely to reach for "Iris", or if I feel like Beltrami, I'll pick up "Hellboy". Shorter albums are certainly more appealing when it comes to 80% or so of film scores.

Fortunately, in this age of cd burners, I'm able to make my own versions of lengthy albums, simply trimming bits that are either somewhat uninteresting or are simply repeating material. Loved David Arnold's "Casino Royale", but found the album overlong, and some pieces in the midsection to be really rather dull. So, I cut it from 75 minutes to around 50 minutes, and also added the song to the beginning. An easy solution, and I'd far rather have to do that than have too little material. So, you won't catch me complaining about albums that are too long, for fear of going back to the days when many albums were too short... but seriously, there really aren't many scores these days that need more than 45-50 minutes at most. I listen to Elmer Bernstein's wonderful "Frankie Starlight" album all the time (another great example of a perfect little short score album)... I suspect that if it were 70 minutes long, I would listen to it far less, and that would be a shame.

Back at ya later

I would have a really hard time choosing what to leave out of Captain from Castile...

Yavar

Well, regarding mentioned Underworld Evolution I prefere this CD (presenting almost complete score in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER) to mix of a couple of tracks from Hellboy which are not even the best pieces. Underworld imho works fantastic the way it is. changing the order of tracks (messy I robot or Hellboy CDs) cause a lack of themes development and then lower down the listening experience.

There is no general answer but I will always welcome the most complete release possible and then sometimes make my own version than buy a CD and then discover the piece for which I bought is not even there (eg SPHERE, HOOK, etc).

There probably are some CDs that would probably work much better if they were not so long - recent Brian Tyler's scores Partition and Fast and Furious III or Children of Dune but I fully understand the reasons and second everything he said in this interview:


"Here's another thing that comes up, some people say "this album is too long," or too short, or whatever... I do like to try and pretty much include what's in the film. Because I know when I go to get a score, a lot of times I'm frustrated, the cue that someone thought was incidental and left off was my favorite. Sometimes you read stuff, and you can see this on the internet with film score reviews, they'll say, "the CD didn't need to be that long," or something, and it's like, "yeah, but... well, no.
It's the same cost to put it on there, and I don't know what piece is going to grab someone when they watch the film, and... so, I kind of do from the perspective of someone that... for me, all my life, as a film score fan, when I get something I want to make sure it's there. The thing that really bothers me more than anything is when they don't include much score and feature a bunch of songs that weren't even in the movie."




Well, also start wondering what that summer treasure might be :)

_________________

Is Pan's Labyrinth too long ? I don't think so.

Cheers to Brian Tyler. Yes, sometimes albums are too long, but better that than leave off something someone might love, IMO. I edit down a lot of albums.

Yavar

Time available for listening plays a big role, too. Between work and family and movies and chores and whatnot, when I've got time for music and pull out a 2-CD set for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK or RAINTREE COUNTY or something and play it all the way through - I'm pretty well spent.

In any case, with current technology letting us program our music, I'd rather have all the food on my plate and choose what I want and how much of it to eat rather than have someone else deciding what's on the menu for me. Or something like that!
--Doug

Doug, I gotta say I disagree with you completely on First Blood. "No Power" was a great addition, and it certainly didn't bring the album to a stop or anything.

Basic Instinct was never a favorite of mine among Goldsmith scores, so I'll accept your judgment. Bandolero! is another that worked just fine in its original release, but First Blood? Gotta have it all! And of course Night Crossing was improved in many ways including the quality of the recording itself.

See, it's all a matter of opinion and one person thinks one score works best in complete form that another person would only prefer 20 minutes of, and THAT person may be more attached to another score that the first person finds draggy. It's an imperfect world, but the best course is just to include everything (Doug has sometimes done that one better -- witness Inchon, with two presentations of the exact same music).

Yavar

By the way, there's a lot of smoke and noise being generated over at that other film music message board, and I want to offer a (probably unnecessary) word of support for Doug's columns. His comments are always thoughtful and concise and offer genuine food for thought in this small but passionate world of soundtrack enthusiasts. I frequently learn something from Doug's short reflections that's much more important than a release date or forthcoming title: I learn what film music looks like from the perspective of a noted producer and composer, and that in turn enriches my own appreciation of the field. Bullseye, Doug!

I completely disagree. My "Titanic" CD isn't long enough (don't have Volume 2 yet).

The FSM "CHiPs" is like 79mins, but I still crave more.

The bootleg complete "Star Trek: First Contact", about 80mins, isn't long enough -- and that's the whole darn tootin' thing.

Yared's "Troy", while about 79mins, is still not enough.


Skip buttons and programs to skip track cna be for the people who can't stand long, complete albums, but for the rest of us we at least have the option to enjoy it.

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"Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself"
"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages."
"Everyone votes for a dictator."
THE PRISONER