Intrada Soundtrack Forum

1- When did you start your soundtracks CD/LP collection, and how old were you ? 2005. I was 20. Prior to that I was solely a STAR TREK/STAR WARS/SCI FI music collector, which I had since I was 11.


2- How many original soundtracks CDs and LPs do you own (roughly) ?
Too many.

3- From which composer do you collect the most ? Right now it seems to be Rozsa.

4- From which label do you collect the most ? Varese.

5- What is the rare item you’re the most prouf of ? Godzilla.

6- What would you pay for a truly rare item ? I paid $40 for Godzilla.

7- How do you classify your soundtracks (label, composer, chronological,…) ? Composer/Franchise

8- What is the most beautiful item of your collection (cover art, booklet, picture disc, boxset) ? LOTR complete recordings?

9- Which of your items has the most incredible sound ? Not sure.

10- What do you think of mp3 ? Do you think it’s gonna end the collecting pleasure ? I listen to everything through MP3. I only use the physical CD if i want to listen to something in the car. Also in case of power outages, I can listening to something on a disc man, plus theres always the possibility of hard drive failure.

I thought you would inquire about bottlecap-collecting.


1- When did you start your soundtracks CD/LP collection, and how old were you ?

My first score LPs, thanks to my mother:
E.T. (1982, I was 8 )
Gremlins & Ghostbusters (1984, 10)
Batman (1989, 15)

My first CDs, with my first CD player (same acknowledgements):
John Williams Conducts John Williams: The Star Wars Symphony and Twin Peaks (1991, 17)
The collection grew modestly until I became a teacher a couple of years later (earning money, even relatively not much, does help collecting).


2- How many original soundtracks CDs and LPs do you own (roughly) ?
Score LPs: 4
Score CDs: 1127-- and very very very few true disappointments (regrets) (probably not even 1%)


3- From which composer do you collect the most ?
Jerry Goldsmith.


4- From which label do you collect the most ?
No idea, and it's not a criterion.
Varèse being the most prolific, I suppose they are the ones I have the most CDs from.


5- What is the rare item you’re the most prouf of ?
Young Sherlock Holmes, I guess.
Also my E.T. and Gremlins LPs.


6- What would you pay for a truly rare item ?
Not too much; 45 euro in July was the most; this was for a mint sealed The Old Man and the Sea (Broughton); it was a good deal for me, but I was sure it was worth it-- and it was.
It surely depends on the item (out of print, several CDs, limited run, signed, ...).


7- How do you classify your soundtracks (label, composer, chronological,…) ?
I have different categories:
- my absolute "Favorite" ones (any composer & genre)
- a few selected "Composer" categories (Goldsmith, Williams, Broughton, Poledouris, Elfman, Horner)
- genre (any composer, thus including the above) (western, action/adventure, sea, Star Wars, Star Trek, Bond, War, ...).

Besides the mere visual satisfaction of color uniformity, I don't see the point of label / spine color classification. Sure, it looks nice; but when I want to play something, I want to listen to a western score, or quiet music, or action music, or something atmospheric, ...-- never to a score "by such label" or "whose spine is such color".


8- What is the most beautiful item of your collection (cover art, booklet, picture disc, boxset) ?

The Goldsmith & Bernstein sets.
The leatherette editions of the TLotR scores are very nice.
The Star Wars Anthology box (great book).
The Music of Disney-- A Legacy in Song (superb book & box).


9- Which of your items has the most incredible sound ?

I have no idea. I most certainly have noticed splendid sound on several CDs, but I could not list them.


10- What do you think of mp3 ? Do you think it’s gonna end the collecting pleasure ?

Music ought to be released on CD and/or as uncompressed audio files-- no compressed format, whether mp3 or other.
CDs are easier (everyone does not have the equipment nor knowledge to download files) to get and safer (scratch one CD, it's just one CD; crash a hard rive, you love everything).

The only advantage of electronic storage is saving room have having (nearly) everything on hand-- plus backup.

I have made backups of rare CDs, and intend to do so for all the rare ones I have (rare as in out of print, limited, ...). Actually, I am currently doing just that, as I got a new external hard drive yesterday (Iomega, 500Gb-- ie, 465Gb actual capacity).
Since buying my laptop a few years ago, I have also been copying tracks or whole CDs as mp3s onto its hard drive, so that I can play them anywhere or, when at home, without having to search for something (I also like using my laptop in bed, so it's very handy).

Allow me to add these...


11/ Are you a bottlecap (that's a "completist") collector?

No for the sake of it.
Now, when nearing completeness, I guess you might as well go the whole stretch and fill in the last few gaps.
I never got Goldsmith's City Hall, for instance, because it had not appealed to me in the movie.


12/ What are your deciding factors in buying a score? (hearing it in the movie first, reading reviews, trust in the composer, sound samples, ...)

I trust my favorite composers, but even with them I may sometimes be wary because the movie might ask for a kind of music I am not to fond of.
I may wait till I have seen a movie and heard the score before buying the CD, but the greatest part of my collection comes from movies I may never have a chance of ever seeing.
The decision is made depending on the composer and genre; sound samples can be helpful, and so can reviews (with good, consistent, reviewers, you know where you stand, what common tastes you have or not), but instinct also plays an important part.

As stated above (in my previous reply), I have had very very few regrets.
Morricone's The Island is one; the samples (some of the very first Varèse added for their Club releases, I seem to remember) featured sounded good, but they turned out to be the only interesting things to me; I like a few moments, but overall, I was very disappointed with this CD. There was not much time to decide either, and I was naturally afraid of missing out on something I might have liked.

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