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And no, I know the Spartacus numbers and not only is it not in danger of selling out, it will NEVER sell out. And that's too bad. Boy, did they misread the marketplace and overproduce one of the all time great scores. They didn't overproduce. They overpriced. I'm sure a set of the complete score for $29.99 (or even $34.99 for a three disc set) would have had much less trouble selling 5000 copies for such a famous score. But to get the score people had to pay more like $120 (after shipping)! Yavar
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Posted: |
Apr 23, 2014 - 10:47 PM
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By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
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They didn't overproduce. They overpriced. You don't think it was'overproduced'? I've only listened to the first three discs and read the book on Alex North. The price was dictated to a large extent on the 'production' of the release. I think you two are using different meanings of "overproduce." One meaning is to produce more than they can sell, the other is to produce it too elaborately. I think Yavar means the former, while Paul means the latter. Personally, I think it's a shame that this turned out this way, and I'm confused by the glee a lot of people seem to take in the set underperforming. Was Townson guilty of a bit of hubris with this set? Sure, I suppose. But more, I think he was blinded by passion. His enthusiasm for this score and his desire to outdo any other elaborate presentation resulted in a product that was just too big for much of his audience. For me, this is one of my top three scores of all time (I don't know what the other two are, I just don't ever like to put a single score on top), and I love this set, overproduced warts and all. But I certainly understand that it's an awful lot for most people. Over the years since its release, I've seen a lot of posts where people ascribe cynical motives for Townson producing such a huge and expensive set, but it's very clear that the thing cost a bundle to produce, with the book, the new recordings, etc. I see no nefarious intent, just unrequited enthusiasm. Sure he misjudged, and we can all say we were smarter, and be right. But I just don't get the giddy smirks about it.
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Posted: |
Apr 24, 2014 - 7:12 AM
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By: |
paul rossen
(Member)
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They didn't overproduce. They overpriced. You don't think it was'overproduced'? I've only listened to the first three discs and read the book on Alex North. The price was dictated to a large extent on the 'production' of the release. I think you two are using different meanings of "overproduce." One meaning is to produce more than they can sell, the other is to produce it too elaborately. I think Yavar means the former, while Paul means the latter. Personally, I think it's a shame that this turned out this way, and I'm confused by the glee a lot of people seem to take in the set underperforming. Was Townson guilty of a bit of hubris with this set? Sure, I suppose. But more, I think he was blinded by passion. His enthusiasm for this score and his desire to outdo any other elaborate presentation resulted in a product that was just too big for much of his audience. For me, this is one of my top three scores of all time (I don't know what the other two are, I just don't ever like to put a single score on top), and I love this set, overproduced warts and all. But I certainly understand that it's an awful lot for most people. Over the years since its release, I've seen a lot of posts where people ascribe cynical motives for Townson producing such a huge and expensive set, but it's very clear that the thing cost a bundle to produce, with the book, the new recordings, etc. I see no nefarious intent, just unrequited enthusiasm. Sure he misjudged, and we can all say we were smarter, and be right. But I just don't get the giddy smirks about it. I think you hit it a home run on your explanation. SPARTACUS is either Townson's favorite score (as it is mine) or one of them and it was 'probably' a dream come true when he obtained the ability to produce such a set. Too bad he lost a bundle on the whole venture.
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They didn't overproduce. They overpriced. You don't think it was'overproduced'? I've only listened to the first three discs and read the book on Alex North. The price was dictated to a large extent on the 'production' of the release. I think you two are using different meanings of "overproduce." One meaning is to produce more than they can sell, the other is to produce it too elaborately. I think Yavar means the former, while Paul means the latter. Yep. Yavar
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The SPARTACUS set was an act of love by a soundtrack producer who'd always had this goal in mind. I was happy to pay $120, and would do so again if I had to. I listen to at least a part of this score weekly, so maybe I'm one of the few who got their money's worth. If this movie gets a digital re-release, we can expect a re-issue of the stereo tracks on a single disc that may defray the costs of producing the box set.
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