 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Nov 27, 2018 - 12:57 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
jackfu
(Member)
|
Wow!
Awesome, LLL, many thanks!
I'm still trying to soak it all in, but this is a wonderful work!
So glad to finally hear Kamen's intended tracks for Hans' death scene (Happy Trails, Hans) and Al and John's meeting (Aftermath/Powell's Comeback!)! I have to say, I'm not disappointed in the least. We've Got Each Other and Resolution and Hyperspace are burned into my brain after 30 years, but they're not irreplaceable, really.
"As Kamen intended" are three words that are very important to me. I've always tended to go with what the composer felt as the way to go for a filmscore. After all, they typically but not always, have studied the film and wrote the score as they were impressed to do.
I listened first to the complete score, as it were (D1 1 - 26 and D2 1 - 10) and loved it.
I'll likely tweak it some for my personal pleasure.
Do we need a separate thread for "Die Hard, Whittler's Versions"?
Thanks again La La Land Records! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Nov 27, 2018 - 4:17 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
MartyM
(Member)
|
Thanks a lot Mink!! If you have other stories like that to share, please don't hesitate.
“Thanks for the advice” 
Hahaha, my pleasure guys! I haven't seen the booklet yet and don't want to spoil anything for you, aside from the fact that it would also be unfair towards Eric Lichtenfeld and Jeff Bond who did the liner notes for the release. So let's just wait before I go all in on those details and slate numbers ;-)
One story I can share though is how we found the missing reel in Michael's LA storage: FOX had provided all of their DIE HARD material for the Estate's digital library and there was one multitrack reel missing, which you can imagine was pretty frustrating. From the documentation and a magnetic sessions tape (that had no Kurzweil overdubs and was therefore unusable), it was evident that the cues in question were the original Main Title, as well as "Bill Clay Part 1" (10M1 - originally slated as 10M0) and "John Is Found Out" (9M1). Ironically both cues were heavily doctored with for the film using the multitracks, so no chance to ever recreate those versions, or so I thought ;-)
About a year later, we found a bunch of Word documents for the contents of some VERY old boxes in the LA storage. Out of curiosity I skipped through them and one just read "DIE HARD reel, 1M1, 10M0, 9M1". I couldn’t believe what I saw and thought the chances of that reel containing the exact same cues that were missing was too much of a coincidence to be one. So I asked the Estate's LA team to take some pictures and (as you can probably guess) it really was the missing reel!
Now, why the heck it ended up with Michael's personal recordings I can't say but I'm really happy that it turned up after just lying there for 30 years, haha!
So, long story short, we (and I mean all of us DIE HARD fans here) got those cues in good quality plus the respective film mixes because I spontaneously decided to read through some old documentation files that we had found on some hard drive. And I'm not saying this to celebrate myself (lol) but to point out through which crazy circumstances these things turn up sometimes!
Amazing story Mink!! It reminds me among other stories of the one where Mike Matessino found by a mix of distant contacts and pure luck the E.T. theme park track that was included on the equally awesome E.T. score release last year. We are all really lucky to get some of that material sometimes! As for you, I thought that you were just a well-informed person that had gathered all kinds of information on the score for many years, I did not think that you were working so closely with the material. In that case, a big thank you for your involvement and especially your attention to details. It showed on the score analysis that you posted a few years ago and obviously turned out to be an invaluable asset for that latest release. If you are still around for future Kamen releases, we have nothing to worry about!
As for the updated liner notes by Lichtenfeld and Bond, this is no doubt going to be fun to read. What they had written for the previous Die Hard editions was already educational and extensive, it can only be even better now. I see what we discuss on this board only as an extension to those liner notes but I also see your point: as you have a foot in the process, it is wiser for you to wait for the official set to be out to more people first to avoid repeating what may already be in there.
Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for my package to arrive. When I look out my window, I don't see no mail truck, nor do I see any cute lady on the phone in the house across the street. Sigh... Lucky McClane!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I received this Monday, and have finally had a chance to listen to it and read the book.
This is about as definitive as it gets. I think that the 3 CD presentation was the right way to go, because so much of the score had been tinkered with, moved around and edited in the final mix, many of the more iconic moments aren't necessarily what Kamen intended, but they're iconic for a reason. Many of the alternates, edits, tracks and remixes on the third disc are really great to have, and in this uniform pristine quality.
It is fantastic to have the cues that were previously available in mono sounding as good as the rest of the score. The issue I had wasn't that the mono cues were in mono, it's that they didn't really sound all that great. I didn't complain about this because I know they did what they could with what they had, but the limitations of the source were apparent. Some of those cues really needed to be able to breathe, sonically speaking.
It is nice to finally hear what Kamen intended for the finale. I understand why the temp track love happened there, though… what Kamen wrote for “Happy Trails, Hans” is very good, but wouldn't have brought the scene up to eleven the way the that tracked music from “Under the Table” really does. The same is true for the James Horner piece, and the John Scott cue gives the meeting of John and Al a more cathartic moment than Kamen's. On the one hand, I have to acknowledge that the Scott and Horner cues work better in the film than Kamen's, but I also think that if Kamen had a chance to work on those scenes a bit more, he would have come up with something as effective with his own material.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, this release is now the first of any Die Hard soundtrack releases I ordered.... looking forward to it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coming home tonight after train delays and soaked because of heavy rain I was hardly in a great mood until I saw my plant tub outside the front of my house pushed to the wall. That meant only one thing the Postman had left a package hidden behind it! Low and behold it was a bulging Jiffy bag. And yes inside it had the Michael Kamen magnum opus - Die Hard!!!
What a triumph this set is. Truly spectacular. The sound is incredible considering what we have had before. The attention to every conceivable detail! Wow! Even the samples on the website don’t sound as good as what the CDs sound like to me. Listening to this score now feels like the first time and I’ve listened to it umpteenth times over the last few decades via a number of sources.
The full presentation as Kamen intended plays so well and his original intentions for a number of edited sequences are a revelation even though they turned up in DH2 and 3. Yes the finale needed something more but to hear what was originally intended and new Kamen music was wonderful. I remember asking him about this in interview and he said that he’d had enough by then and suggested they go with the temp tracks.
As much as the action sequences are my favourite moments I did shed a tear or two listening to the various versions of a Message for Holly. Finally to be able to play this highly emotive cue in glorious clear stereo was a special moment. What a score! What a release! - full score, new music, edits, remixes, source tracks - it has it all. Thank you La La Land Records and the incredible team of people to make this definitive release a reality.
Hans, bubby, La-La Land are your white knight!
Totally agree with this. Sound quality is amazing and well worth the upgrade.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Nov 30, 2018 - 12:13 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
WillemAfo
(Member)
|
This release is great, but I have to admit that I'm a little confused about what is the film presentation and what are alternates?
For example, disc 1 "Going After John" starts with the guitar strum, yet disc 3 "Going After John" doesn't have the guitar but it's labeled as "film mix" (is it just the true mix of the orchestral elements for the film?)
Then disc 1 "Under the Table" is not in the film at all really but disc 3 "under the table" is?
And disc 1 "Attention Police" is apparently in the film but disc 2 "Attention Police" says that this one "was used in the film".
The unfortunate thing is the booklet, while great, describes every song EXCEPT what's on disc 3 so we only have the song names to guess.
AND, while I'm assuming page 23, "A Note About Track Titles" is the definitive list of music cues as used in the movie, it's missing some like "Main Title", "The Phone Goes Dead", "Wiring The Roof", etc. so I'm really lost.
Does anyone know how to piece this album together?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Nov 30, 2018 - 12:54 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Trent B
(Member)
|
This release is great, but I have to admit that I'm a little confused about what is the film presentation and what are alternates?
For example, disc 1 "Going After John" starts with the guitar strum, yet disc 3 "Going After John" doesn't have the guitar but it's labeled as "film mix" (is it just the true mix of the orchestral elements for the film?)
Then disc 1 "Under the Table" is not in the film at all really but disc 3 "under the table" is?
And disc 1 "Attention Police" is apparently in the film but disc 2 "Attention Police" says that this one "was used in the film".
The unfortunate thing is the booklet, while great, describes every song EXCEPT what's on disc 3 so we only have the song names to guess.
AND, while I'm assuming page 23, "A Note About Track Titles" is the definitive list of music cues as used in the movie, it's missing some like "Main Title", "The Phone Goes Dead", "Wiring The Roof", etc. so I'm really lost.
Does anyone know how to piece this album together?
"Going After John" for the film the first part uses the track from Disc 1 then the second half (which is a separate cue) uses the mix from Disc 3.
"Under The Table" IS used in the film, watch the scene again...it's where John kills Marco.
For "Attention Police" only the opening part is used in the film. The rest was left out.
I've done an edit using the film mixes in the main score then the others as a bonus. If you want..drop me a line, email in profile and just label subject as "Die Hard" and let me know who you are.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
