Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Since no one's mentioned it here, I wanted to highlight what a magnificent release this is. Having lived with the RCA Spain CD with it's pinched sound for years, this was a breath of fresh air. Beautifully clear. I'm very particular about covers (as Joe can attest...if he gets an ulcer it will be over this particular topic), so I took the booklet from the RCA Spain release and slid it into this release. Just not complete without that LP cover art. So now, with that modification, this is the perfect package! One of Elmer's finest scores.

Check it out if you haven't already.

Roger

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My wish-list at this moment: any Barry score, PSYСHO, SPY HARD.
Not much, really?

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Karl Morton IV

"Enjoy every sandwich."
-- Warren Zevon

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My wish-list at this moment: any Barry score, PSYСHO, SPY HARD.
Not much, really?

It's one of his best scores and this release is supreme. On a related note, I replayed PRIDE/PASSION/KINGS GO FORTH yesterday twice, it is that damned good. Just a real thrill to have these on cd all purty with pretty bows.

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WE HAVE COME TO VISIT YOU IN PEACE AND WITH GOOD WILL.

How could it not have been the same source, albeit one that was one generation away from the masters here? And I've yet to be told how one can remove reverb from a recording that has it. There's no "If" Roger - do you doubt what I'm telling you - we did nothing to the tapes but EQ them in a nice way so they were not quite as shrill, just like you would have done with any of your releases from similar-sounding tapes. Beyond the small amount of EQ, nothing at all was done. Do you think we added reverb to one track? Just in case you do, let me say it again - no. No. No. No reverb was added to anything. The only time we add a little reverb is when a recording is so ugly and dry that it sounds pathetic, i.e. Taras Bulba, and the result of adding natural room ambience to THAT recording was, for everyone who heard it, astonishing. So, unless Cloud Nine was done from some other tape, which would most likely be completely impossible since it duplicates the LP program straight down the line, I have no idea what any of this is about. To my ears, the Cloud Nine is rather ugly-sounding, as is its companion piece, which is not nearly as good as the first generation tapes, which I listened to as well. And every comment we've gotten on this release would seem to support my feelings about the Cloud Nine.

Are you really saying there is only drier sound on one track, the main title and therefore you prefer a release that is quite obviously not as good sounding and not from first-generation sources? I think you can see the problem here - it makes no sense unless they took that track from the film itself and why would they have?

Regarding KINGS GO FORTH, I hear what Roger does. This is one of the all-time great EB main titles. Just snares, bass drum, cymbals and full brass. The crisp high end of those instruments has been diluted somehow on the Kritzerland CD. The original Capitol album sounds great, albeit the surface noise issues. The Cloud Nine CD seems to be identical to that LP but without the noise... which is great. The Kritzerland CD seems to have muffled this sound and it does "appear" to have some kind of phase shifting or reverb-like enhancement that just doesn't sound as crisp and dynamic to me.

Reverb and other enhancements work best with strings and especially when desiring a smoother and wider string sound out of one that seems weak. But brass and most percussion... and especially snares and cymbals, really don't sound good when the sharp edges are removed, in my opinion. Tympani, maybe. But that's not an issue with this main title since it's all snares, bass drum and cymbals, plus the brass.

I prefer the Cloud Nine audio on this one.
--Doug

On topic, however... this SUMMER AND SMOKE is sweet sweet sweet!
--Doug