Mail Bag Friday 6/1/01

I am actually out of town this week so I had to prepare this Friday column in advance. So, no news today -- instead some letters from around a month ago when we announced our Towering Inferno CD. At the time, I printed a few words about being disappointed because one or two yo-yos emailed me saying they didn't care about our FSM release -- they already had some shoddy bootleg of it....

I read your comments concerning the TOWERING INFERNO and the previous Bootleg release of this score. You say you've heard from various sources, that since some folks already own the boot-cd, they do not intend on buying FSM's official and greatly improved release.

Well, I have bought your INFERNO CD, and anxiously await hearing it. I know I'm gonna love it! Recently though, I had the chance to buy that bootleg on Ebay. I did actually bid, and won. But, I just knew you guys were going to re-release it. I reneged on my winning bid and this caused the Ebay seller to post some negative feedback on my Ebay profile. No big deal!

I also have a friend who ownes the boot INFERNO disc. I informed him about FSM's release, and he quickly checked out your website and ordered a copy. So, it just goes to show that not everyone who owns bootleged soundtracks are going to pass on the oportunity to get something far better. I have dished out A LOT of bucks for some fairly decent and even crappy sounding bootlegs. But I'm also willing to dish out even more money to get the real thing.

Perhaps this is why you should inform your buying public as to what upcoming scores you plan on releasing. This way, everyone could plan their soundtrack budget more carefully and avoid having to empty their wallets for black market junk! It might also stop some of these pirates dead in their tracks, if they're aware as to what's exactly is in-the-works.

Food for thought!

I too was about to purchase The Towering Inferno a few years back on cd, but I had heard about the terrible sound quality. Plus I knew that it was a boot. Boots are a hit and a miss, Hook was a somewhat of a hit, but you can hear some flaws in it, but I have heard parts of The Towering Inferno and was shocked about the really, really bad sound quality.

The Towering Inferno was the very first soundtrack LP I purchased as a wierd youth, that I was. My Mom and Dad really got tired of John Williams and Me. And still today I still have the original copy that I purchased way back in 1974!

Eversince 1974, I have purchased all of John Williams soundtracks, and expanded my listening to John Barry, and Jerry Goldsmith. And in the future I hope that all of thier wonderful soundtracks will be rereleased expanded version onto cd's.

Whilst I agree in principle with Lukas' views on bootleg soundtrack CDs (i.e., that they should be avoided like the plague, where possible), there is an argument in their favour that twenty- or thirty-somethings may not have considered.

When you're old enough to realise (I mean REALLY realise) that your past is far longer than your future, and that the ratio is increasing alarmingly every day, you get a little selfish. If you have been waiting for a favourite score for decades and there is no sign of a legitimate release, your attitude to bootlegs (regardless of quality) softens somewhat.

I bought the CLEOPATRA LP in 1963. I bought the bootleg CD about thirty years later. I bought the wonderful new restoration last Saturday. I waited thirty-eight years for it, but I made it.

How many fans died waiting?

Just read today's mailbag about those who have the bootleg CD. SCREW THEM. I saw THE TOWERING INFERNO on TV in the early Eighties, I do not remember the music at all, I do not have the bootleg CD, but I ordered your new CD because I love John WIlliams and know it will be stunning. I've also ordered UNTAMED even though I know nothing about it because I want to support FSM and all your hard work. PLEASE DON'T STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING. FSM kicks ass with all these amazing soundtrack CD's!

So, it's only two or three people who pooh-poohed your licensed, expanded version, because they'd rather live with a piece of crap dub of the LP, but it makes me horrified at how many others might be out there with a similar attitude. Well, I sure as hell ain't one of them. F*** 'em!

You're series continues to amaze me. There's not a single dud disc in the bunch, indiscriminate sod though I may be. I disgree with your views on Alex North (at least, they don't apply to me) but you can't have everything, can you?

Keep fighting the good fight, man - it matters to some of us. :)

I already own a TOWERING INFERNO CD (coupled with a BLACK SUNDAY suite), and I have to say it sounds really OK, so I don't know which boot you're talking about.

BUT: Rest assured I will buy your edition as well, firstly because you surely have done a wonderful job as usual with it, secondly there's MUCH more music on it, and thirdly I of course support your ongoing efforts to release legitimate film music editions for us poor geeks out there ( :-) )...

BTW How do you imagine us, I mean, do you have any images or clichès in your head what the "typical" soundtrack fan looks like? Are you thinking of something like the Comic Book Guy from THE SIMPSONS, maybe...? Fat, long hair, no girl-friend...? (none of the former is true for me!)

Keep up the good work, Alex!

i haven't received the fsm cd version of john williams' "towering inferno" score yet, but i can tell you it most definitely IS something i want. i've never heard the bootleg cd mentioned in your article, but i own a copy of the original vinyl lp...and the recording quality STINKS! while i'm glad to have the music in any form, the few times i've tried to play this flat, lifeless recording, i've put it through any compressors/reverbs/equalizers i own to make the sound a little better.

maybe the booklet information in the new release will chronicle the story of this mishandled score. but let the naysayers understand this: if the bootleg cd is indeed taken from the lp recording, and if you do like the "towering inferno" score, YOU DO WANT THIS NEW VERSION!

remixed, remastered, extended? there's no comparison. it's GOT to be better!

I was dismayed to hear about the response expressed by "some fans" to your new CD of The Towering Inferno. I have wanted this score on CD for many years, more than any other (apart from the remaining Barry scores yet to see the light of day, Hanover Street, The Appointment, Jolly Bad Fellow et al). I don't have the Inferno bootleg, but even if I did, I would still have ordered your disc. As you point out, this new CD has much more music than the old LP, and so any real "fan" should be interested in it. I'm sure you will get many emails from people who express this sentiment.

We had a debate on the John Barry Group recently about bootlegs (Mary Queen of Scots, Robin and Marian etc.), and while nobody actually condoned them, we all have at least a few. My take on the whole business is that if you are a real enthusiast of a specific composer, or composers, you will want the music. The fact that it is a bootleg (or not) is a moot point. I bought the original Robin and Marian boot on vynil. I was then lucky enough to obtain a copy of the limited edition promo that was produced for the release of the film. I then bought the bootleg CD (that was obviously sourced from the isolated track on the old Pioneer laser disc, which I also have), and I will purchase the new re-recording when it is released later this year. If a legitimate CD of Barry's original ever appeared I would buy that too.

This may all seem rather anal, but my point is that real fans, those people to whom the music means something more than just a collectable disc, will always want a definitive recording, even if they have a previous edition. So keep up the good work and don't be discouraged. You are providing a vital and unique service to film music fans around the world, and I hope that you continue to do so for many years to come. The Towering Inferno is a dream come true for me, and I suspect for many others. I can't wait to get my copy.

PS A huge thanks for the Monte Walsh CD, this is one score that nobody else would have touched with a barge pole!

You're grateful?!!

It's me that's grateful that someone has finally got around to giving The Towering Inferno the attention it deserves. I'm looking forward to hearing the results. By coincidence, this issue is timely because i only just recently recorded my precious LP onto CDR. The recent partial re-recording by Varese was appreciated, but it just didn't contain anywhere near enough. This is the first time I have ever ordered anything on the net so, if all goes well, I'm sure i'll be back for more. Great friendly website - keep up the good work.

I was horrified to read your comment about some soundtrack collectors claiming that they wouldn't trade a boot for an official record...

I myself have many boots, but would certainly trade, or at least complement, with any commercial release.

And I must say that the last FSM releases were absolutely terrific! I already have the original LP and CD of "The Towering Inferno", but I'm intending to order your new CD as soon as I can, since I'm sure it contains unique material, not only previously unreleased, but also properly remixed and remastered, surely giving us a new perspective on this impressive score.

I just read your April 10 article about the Towering Inferno bootleg vs. your official release. To me Towering Inferno on CD (and produced properly) is something of a Holy Grail. I can't believe how collectors can be happy with an inferior illegal copy when they can purchase yours- especially given your track record in the CDs you've produced. I'm an avid JW collector and excluding SpaceCamp and Towering Inferno, have every filmscore (and non-film music) written by JW that was released on CD EXCEPT bootlegs, which I make a specific point of avoiding. Why? They're illegal, the sound quality is dubious and- given time- persons like yourselves will eventually (hopefully) release a high quality full / "definitive"version rendering the bootleg obsolete. I'd rather get my collection by throwing my money at legitimate producers like yourself who do the decent thing by the composers and the collectors.

Having said that, the reason why I haven't been so quick to yet order your Tinferno is not because I'm happy with my humble LP version, but because I'm waiting for our Australian Dollar (currently only buying your 47.5 cents- a record all-time low for us down under) to climb back to some respectable level. If you have a mortgage and are totally reliant on yourself for income as you run your own business (like I) then you need to be highly discriminatory and patient with your spending.

I will be buying many more of your products when our country (and my finances/business) recovers from the economic mess it's currently in. I hope by the time that happens your products will not have sold out (especially Tinferno). I don't know how large your Australian market is but if there are other Australians out there regularlary buying your products at the moment I'd like to hear from them to see how they're able to buy in such a climate.

Thank you for the great quality of the few CDs I've purchased from you to date and for the work you are doing. Please don't apologise or make excuses for the selection of works you release on CD.

I understand the concern you expressed yesterday, Lukas, about those apparently content to own the awful TOWERING INFERNO boot, as there should never, ever be any substitute to a licensed product: such reasoning is of course, pointless. But piracy aside, I could think of at least one reason to stick to the original LP: Williams' own incredible re-recording of his ebullient "Main Title", by far the most electrifying, charismatic, pumped-up version of this dazzling track I ever heard, superior to the original performance used in the film, or Joel McNeely's by-the-numbers take on it from the 1999 Varese "Disaster Classics" album (VSD-5807). I for one wish that you had decided to add it at the end of your CD, instead of all those allegedly "damaged" outtakes... But yes, yours is "the real thing".

Likewise, how could one disagree there are ample grounds for celebration in this new double release of CLEOPATRA? Personally, I've been in Cloud Nine ever since: better late than never, as they say. But, I DO regret that the producers, in their commercial wisdom, had not pushed the envelope just a little bit further on the second CD, and hadn't been diligent enough to accommodate that so-called "palace music" associated with Cleopatra's bath, the cue preceding "Cleopatra's Barge" in the film (called "We Shall Meet in Egypt" on the Tsunami boot, 2:40), a delightful, wonderfully witty instrumental arrangement, on winds, harpsichord and chimes, of a song heard early in the story. I dig this piece so much, that it will force me to cook a homemade, updated recording of Disc #2, just to consider this soundtrack truly "complete"! Well, there's always that precious snippet missing from everything... But this minor omission surely pales, compared to the sheer magnitude of the balance of this Score of Scores, 38 years after the fact, made available at last in all its restored - AND licensed! - glory.

As for the ongoing, almost obscene controversy surrounding the CLEOPATRA composer's abilities, didn't I read somewhere that the late, great Henry Mancini, always referred to Alex North, with reverence, as "The Boss"?

That should be more than enough to brush aside any criticism of this man's blinding musical genius.

Those few people that would prefer to keep their boots of CD's such as Inferno are a stark minority. Basically, they are lazy cheapskates. Don't worry, most of them come around eventually!

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