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Concur with the assessment of fuddyduddism in the soundtrack collector ranks. I love La-La Land, but I don't think they'd ever consider using marginally abstract stuff to try and sell say, SUPERMAN RETURNS or STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. I think they need to be conservative in the graphics area, and I can't blame them; after all, the music (and sales) is what really counts. But this abstract re-conceptualization for LP re-issue art is an innovation that's been a long time coming. Soundtrack album art has, until recently, never been about taking a chance, has it? Here's a caustic proposal for MV Gerhard: Get the license to reissue John Williams' JFK score and put Zapruder frame 131 as the CD booklet graphic. Never will happen, but I'd love for the guys at La-La Land to be able to consider it! Or maybe La-La Land should get into vinyl as well?
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I really think a label like LLL is perfectly positioned not only to do vinyl, but to do it extremely well, and to define and own a revenue stream where other, less knowledgeable labels are making out like bandits. They have the industry connections, production & restoration savvy, and creative talent pool (designers like Jim Titus & Dan Goldwasser, writers like Jeff Bond, John Takis & Frank DeWald) necessary to create a quality production. To me, it's tremendously exciting to think about what people like that could do with a deluxe vinyl edition of a classic score. I understand the need for conservatism in business, and I am sure there are a number of compelling reasons why not to get into this area of the industry. I am not super knowledgeable about it, but I understand that vinyl represents a very different, and much more expensive, production model than CDs do. It's a very different beast and it's probably fraught with unique risks. Just the same, I feel like most labels are severely underestimating the amount of interest in this kind of thing, and they're leaving money on the table by not even considering it.
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I really think a label like LLL is perfectly positioned not only to do vinyl, but to do it extremely well, and to define and own a revenue stream where other, less knowledgeable labels are making out like bandits. They have the industry connections, production & restoration savvy, and creative talent pool (designers like Jim Titus & Dan Goldwasser, writers like Jeff Bond, John Takis & Frank DeWald) necessary to create a quality production. To me, it's tremendously exciting to think about what people like that could do with a deluxe vinyl edition of a classic score. I understand the need for conservatism in business, and I am sure there are a number of compelling reasons why not to get into this area of the industry. I am not super knowledgeable about it, but I understand that vinyl represents a very different, and much more expensive, production model than CDs do. It's a very different beast and it's probably fraught with unique risks. Just the same, I feel like most labels are severely underestimating the amount of interest in this kind of thing, and they're leaving money on the table by not even considering it. Vinyl is certainly under serious consideration. I just dread the emails from customers and their bent corners or dirt on the lp. MV
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This cover is not bad, but as I already mention in the lp covers thread I really do not undrestand why these modern LPs do not use as a basis the actual movie poster art and logo! I am actually considering buying this particular vinyl just for the cover and display purposes. I think it is actually pretty cool to have soundtrack releases on vinyl that set themselves apart from the usual tie-in look by using graphics and design not directly based on the movie's promotional materials. I mean, just about every soundtrack release usually features promotional movie tie-in art. Mondo's approach, on the other hand, puts the music in the foreground as a separate artistic entity. And in this particular case, I think the cover art is actually well done. Nice touch.
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I am amused, as always, by the rampant fuddyduddyism which sweeps through this board like wildfire whenever the topic of vinyl releases from the likes of Mondo, Waxwork, Death Waltz et al comes to the fore. Nobody seems to ever consider the possibility that these might be quality products designed for fans and non-fans alike, which give a fresh spin on some familiar classics and also reintroduce them to new generations. Well stated. My sentiments exactly. :-)
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I understand the intention to create something "hipper", I just can not believe soundtrack collectors actually prefer this kind of cover to something based on the poster art. It's not as if cover art based on movie promotional art (including film posters) has never been done before. ;-) Seriously, I have the original THE OMEN (or POLTERGEIST, for that matter) cover art already on the original vinyls. So why not do something different? It is such a common standard thing to have poster tie-in cover art on soundtracks, so I for one thing it is actually a neat idea to have such special LP re-releases that feature original cover art purposely designed not to be related to the promotional art done before.
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Posted: |
Mar 9, 2014 - 8:48 PM
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By: |
Dalboz17
(Member)
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products designed for fans and non-fans alike, which give a fresh spin on some familiar classics and also reintroduce them to new generations. This hits the nail on the head. Not every soundtrack re-release needs to be expanded and completely remastered: sometimes they just need to come back into print / get noticed with a new release so a different audience has a chance to experience them. Using myself as an example: I never felt the need to own Carpenter's original "Halloween" score before Mondo released it on vinyl. The artwork was gorgeous, the score is a classic, and it's downright fun to spin it on a turntable. Also it was $30 - the same price as La La Land's "Matrix Revolutions" release, which I LOVE and am happy to have and listen to... but I'm not displaying it in my home. On the use of "original" key art: Soundtrack re-releases having to use the original art / logo of the film's premiere theatrical run is, to me, mind-boggling. Studios THEMSELVES don't often prescribe to this notion, even with some of the great classics of cinema (see: Mary Poppins or The Wizard of Oz, which change their poster designs & logos with EVERY subsequent release - seriously, just do a Google Image search.) It's certainly not meant to "trick" people into thinking it's a new movie; often, the ad campaigns play UP the fact that it's "the movie you already know and love." So why bother changing the advertising art? There are LOTS of possible reasons: to update with the design trends of the time, to reflect changing cultural feeling about the film, perhaps the studio doesn't feel like the original art was actually the best reflection of the film, or maybe they just want to give someone new a crack at it (or the new guard wants a crack at it). Film posters/logos are very much COMMERCIAL art: created under great stress and intense deadlines. And, sad as it is to say, sometimes they just aren't an artist's best work. (And, of course, there's also the factors of talent & skill, who's working at the top of their game, who's just trying to get a paycheck, and who's facing more or less interference from studios and producers. And, separate-but-connected, I think we can all agree that the majority of DVD/Blu covers we see in stores now are way less about "artistry" and more about "recognizable elements at a glance"... so there's that to consider too, about how a film is marketed/perceived.) But even if the first poster IS an artist's best work, why shouldn't another artist be allowed to take a crack at the same material and release something as WELL? There were certainly enough alternate Star Wars posters all circulating at the time of its original release that I GUARANTEE even amongst people who saw its initial run, not everyone thinks of the same poster design. And even first-run title like "The Fountain" or "Breaking and Entering" or, hell, even Pixar's "Wall-E" official soundtrack eschew the theatrical one-sheets for something a little more subtle, or a little more interesting. Drew Struzan's name has been mentioned in this thread as someone Mondo's stable of artists should aspire to, but they've actually hired Struzan himself to REINVENT POSTERS for films that ALREADY HAVE THEM. Is it purposely a slap in the face to the original artist, or is it just downright FUN to see what another artist can do with the same story/base? (There's certainly a lot of comparisons that can be made here with Renaissance paintings, their artists, and the same Greek myths being used as bases over and over again...) As a graphic designer myself, it's absolutely fantastic to me that typography can become so entrenched into someone's memory/feelings about a movie that they can't possibly think of a movie WITHOUT thinking of those letterforms (i.e. it's tough to think of "Jurassic Park" or "Indiana Jones" without their logos!), but it's also extremely limiting to think that an alternate representation of that movie isn't also possible and completely valid as a piece of design or a piece of art. Since studios are, obviously, wildly protective of their valuable properties (once they've realized what they've got) I think it's wonderful that Mondo has achieved a status where they can toss a project to an artist and say "here, reinterpret this as if it's NOT already engrained in the public conscious." Because, honestly, why not? ESPECIALLY this many years after its initial release. Tom Jung, who designed the original "The Omen" logo with the "666" in the "O" is, without question, a master of design (seriously, Wikipedia him if you aren't familiar with his oeuvre). But that doesn't mean someone else can't play in the same sandbox and make a different castle with the same sand. As someone who loves design AND loves soundtracks, I applaud Mondo for giving us that alternate graphic vision ON a soundtrack cover. It makes the release all the more special.
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The odd thing is that the original LP release on TATOO RECORDS sounded AWESOME back in 1976... Ford A. Thaxton
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On a side note, why has the '666' been removed from the 1976 Omen logo on recent DVD and Blu-Ray releases? What's that all about?
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I'm of the newer generation (26 yrs old) and IMO that Mondo cover is just...awful. If I were to buy a vinyl copy, I'd definitely seek out the 1978 album with the much cooler, original poster art.
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I'm of the newer generation (26 yrs old) and IMO that Mondo cover is just...awful. If I were to buy a vinyl copy, I'd definitely seek out the 1978 album with the much cooler, original poster art. Burk, if you'd been around in '76, when Goldsmith had the power to seize you with those Satanic Voices, you might feel differently. The front cover of the Mondo release is the big reveal of the movie; the confirmation of the reality of all the monstrous implications the clues had been leading to. Don't get me wrong: this movie was a boner in some ways. But Goldsmith worked wonders on all us ten-year-olds. The music where Patrick Troughton gets speared by the church spire gave me more chills than JAWS.
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Great cover, front and back. The track listings and the credits on the back cover are in the shape of an upside down cross. Beautiful. The credits list Robert Townson and Erick Labson. Does this vinyl transfer re-purpose the most recent Varese mastering?
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Anyone else got this yet?
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