Intrada Soundtrack Forum

INTRADA Announces:



THE LAST CASTLE
Music Composed and Conducted by JERRY GOLDSMITH
INTRADA ISC 451

Intrada's latest release features an expanded edition of Jerry Goldsmith's score from the 2001 Paramount Pictures film The Last Castle, courtesy of both Paramount and Universal Music Group. Goldsmith was no novice at scoring military-themed features, having scored the early '60s A Gathering of Eagles early in his career through to Executive Decision in the mid-'90s. Goldsmith's fondness for solo trumpet was a hallmark of this military sound, a masculine sound that could represent the military aspect of a character (most notably in scores like Lonely Are the Brave and First Blood). It's a sound he employed generously in The Last Castle, capturing prisoner General Irwin's past glories as well as his competence at inspiring his fellow inmates. The trumpet is performed here by Malcolm McNab, who also contributes a few thoughts to the album's liner notes. It is a brass dominated score, but that's not to say woodwinds are not given their due for moments requiring more sympathy. It was Goldsmith's last full-blown military score.

To present the complete score for The Last Castle, Paramount provided Intrada with access to the complete scoring session elements. Originally recorded on 48-track digital tape, veteran scoring mixer Bruce Botnik had created both 5.1 film mixes and two-channel stereo mixes. Both were used in assembling the 2-CD set, which features the complete film score on disc one, followed by several unused alternates. Disc two features the Goldsmith-supervised classical source music, including the Salieri "Concerto for Oboe, Violin, Cello and Orchestra in D Major," courtesy of Naxos Music. This is followed by a remastered presentation of the original Decca album program.

The film tells the tale of conflict between the warden of a military prison and a revered general, imprisoned there, who eventually earns the respect of the prisoners and leads a revolt against the cruel, petty prison commander. Robert Redford plays the general and James Gandolfini the jail warden.

INTRADA ISC 451
Barcode: 720258545107
Retail Price: $29.99
Starts Shipping October 27th
Note: Due to local restrictions related to the pandemic, shipping time may be slower than usual
For track listing and sound samples, please visit http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12180/.f

Ordered, thank you so much !

_________________
Rame Tep! Rame Tep! Rame Tep!

This great release seems to have gotten a bit overlooked (understandable when its partner is The Land Before Time I suppose), so we at The Goldsmith Odyssey decided to shine a Spotlight on it!



http://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/ ... astle-2001

Thanks to Doug for joining me on another delightful conversation, and to Jens for editing it so quickly. Hope you all enjoy this celebration of the score and Intrada’s exciting new release.

Yavar

I agree, thanks for this great title Intrada.
Thanks Yavar

Fixed the size of my podcast cover image; sorry everyone! It didn't show up as oversized on my iPhone but I just viewed it on my desktop and WHOA!

Does anyone have further thoughts on this release? I think the score plays out wonderfully in complete form; doesn't wear out its welcome at all despite the longer length.

Yavar

And also an update:

Yavar was able to send me the original master audio that Intrada sent him to preview the album for disc 1, and the crackle is just as present there (no surprise, actually). But Yavar also sent me a rip of his own original 2001 album, the Decca release. He wasn't sure if his disc had the well-documented mastering issue or if it was the subsequent replacement disc. From listening to it, I presume the latter, as this audio does not exhibit the crackle. It's not perfect, but the crackle is gone.

Specifically, in The Rock Pile, at 4:25, as the solo trumpet plays and a moment before the note transitions, there's a faint "zhwij" noise that can be heard. It lasts a fraction of a second. On all the other audio files i have access to, that zhwij is a lot louder and begins a 20-second or so segment where the crackle is very prominent over the quieter section of music.

So, cleaner sources than what was used for Intrada's 2020 expanded release exist. Decca used it in their replacement pressing of their 2001 album. But Apple Music's presentation of that album (presumably Decca's first pressing), Intrada's presentation of that album, and Intrada's expansion of that album, all exhibit a fairly prominent (to my ears) flaw in the audio.

Again, I'm perplexed that a) Intrada's expansion appears to have come from the same flawed sources as Decca's first pressing (that a number of people complained about at the time); and b) no one [else] seems to have noticed it.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not trying to be nitpicky. I don't think I really expect anyone to do anything about this. All the producers, editors, and mastering technicians in the industry that I know of are consummate professionals and absolute perfectionists. Not only because they care about their reputations and they care about their customers and they care about their products, but (as Doug mentioned in one of the Goldsmith Odyssey spotlight episodes), they care about the music--they wanna listen to the absolute best version of the music as they can possibly produce. I'm more just curious if anyone else notices what I'm hearing, and how it came to be that these guys--that I know pour their hearts and souls into these releases--didn't.

I had never noticed any audio anomalies while listening to my old album, or Intrada's expanded program. (I confess I never got around to listening to Intrada's Disc 2 with the original album program plus the source music conducted by Jerry...in fact I still need to rip and/or listen to my physical copy, even though I took the shrinkwrap off over a year ago.) At least you seem to indicate that the issue is *less* prevalent on your copy of Intrada's Disc 1, and is more noticeable on the original album program on Disc 2? So maybe my ears aren't that terrible... for what it's worth Tom I don't have fancy listening equipment -- I usually listen on wireless Apple Airpods these days, and my best sound system is in my Subaru, but then I'm usually driving when I listen to things there; with added road noise and such it's easy to miss things. An audiophile I am not, so maybe I should run your issue by one of my Goldsmith Odyssey cohosts, as they are generally more sensitive to sound quality issues than I am. (Of the four of us I'm the most okay listening to old recordings from the 30s and 40s and 50s, and still being able to enjoy them...) But Jens, probably the most audiophile of us all, never commented to me about noticing any issues, and I know he does like this score.

I haven't had a chance to check out the specific spots you mentioned, but I'll try to do so soon. It is indeed very strange if Intrada somehow ended up with the old flawed Decca master, rather than the improved one (which your ears seem to confirm is a real thing, since my copy of the original album doesn't have the bad flaws). It's also strange that you're the first person to notice and comment on the issue... since it was thoroughly-discussed two decades ago when the original album came out, I would have thought it would be the first thing checked by nitpicky Goldsmith fans once the Intrada expansion came out!

Yavar

Yavar, the issues would definitely be detectable on your AirPods. I have some super detailed Shure in ear monitors, but I’ve been listening more recently with Jabra wireless earbuds, and that’s where I’ve experienced this. Most loud speakers, you would hear it if listening closely but it wouldn’t be especially bothersome unless quiet passages were turned up.

Regarding its prevalence on disc 1 vs. disc 2, it’s almost like the cues I listened to on the disc 1 expansion were spliced from two sources, where—like the latter half of The Rock Pile— they were sourced from the faulty master, but the first half was a different source that didn’t exhibit the issue. The original album presentation uses the whole cue from the single faulty source.

I’d love for Jens to give a listen. If I can hear it with my Jabras, his fancy cans will definitely do. That is: if he can’t hear what I’m talking about with those headsets, then he shouldn’t be spending that kind of money on them!

We actually didn't use the Decca masters. We used the unassembled original session masters from Paramount. We'll take a look. Or listen.

Thanks, Roger. I didn't think you did use the Decca masters. If I implied that that's what I thought you did, that's a failure in clarity on my part. Doug was clear in his Tech Talk that you'd remastered. But nonetheless, I'm quite perplexed that I hear any issues at all, and that they seem (from my cursory comparisons while on vacation this past week) to mirror the issues I hear on Apple Music's stream of the original album. I only presume that Apple Music's source was the faultily mastered Decca original, though I admit it's wholly possible that the source in their library has some more complicated history i don't know about. I don't have either of the original Decca mastered-discs, so it's all purely conjecture on my part that what I'm hearing is at least akin to the mastering issues they subsequently addressed.

Now that the best authorities on this release are looking into it I'll stop speculating and let you assess what I've noticed. I'm eager to hear what you learn from your own observations and paper trails.