 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I own literally thousands of albums. I'm not going to listen to the bad ones when I can listen to the good ones.
Why would you? Why would anyone listen to music they find bad?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Oct 27, 2020 - 3:30 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
|
I own literally thousands of albums. I'm not going to listen to the bad ones when I can listen to the good ones.
Why would you? Why would anyone listen to music they find bad?
Unless you can preview the entire album top-to-bottom in advance, you don't know what is or is not wrong with it, if anything.
For example:
When you hear 30-second samples, you can't tell which releases have pacing issues with too much space between tracks.
Similarly, you typically can't preview all the tracks, so you can't tell which tracks should have been omitted entirely, or combined with another cue.
You cannot necessarily tell, from a sample, if a track has too many bars repeated, for dramatic purposes in the film, that should be trimmed for album listening.
If you can't preview all the source cues, you don't know which ones should have been included in the album lineup or not. You also don't know if the label was lazy and let the source track break down at the end, rather than fading it out or repeating the opening refrain via editing.
These may seem like minor considerations to you. I don't know if you have ever made an album or produced an album, but lots of thought goes into little details.
So it is a crap shoot. There are archival albums they play fine from top to bottom, requiring little if any surgery.
And then there are others that could have benefitted from a having a record producer involved. Those stay on the shelf until I work on them, and it may be years until that happens.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I own literally thousands of albums. I'm not going to listen to the bad ones when I can listen to the good ones.
Why would you? Why would anyone listen to music they find bad?
Unless you can preview the entire album top-to-bottom in advance, you don't know what is or is not wrong with it, if anything.
Quite true, quite true.... you may not know for sure if you like an album before you listen to it, just as you may not know for sure if you like a book before reading it.
Even a preview cannot tell me if I will like an album or enjoy a book, which is why I rarely sample or preview an album or book before deciding to listen to it or read it.
You don't know for sure if you like a dish before you try it. Even if the dish is familiar but the cook is different, there's always the chance he messed it up or uses an ingredient you dislike.
You cannot listen to or read completely new things without there being the possibility that you may not like or enjoy it. You have to stick to the familiar if you want to be sure. Quite true, quite true
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a not a knock against you personally at all, but more or less a statement on why I am against edited albums. But this is another BIG reason why I would rather see every score be released C & C. I don't want someone else choosing for me what they personally considered "a better way" to listen to the score.
Ah, yes, they are a terrible nuisance, these arrogant record producers. Just as terrible as these ignorant book proofreaders and publishers who dare fine-tune the author's manuscript instead of shoving the first draft in people's faces. Or as terrible as these pesky film producers and editors who dare cut a film instead of just releasing the rough cut for audiences to download and assemble according to their own wishes.
Who do they think they are?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ah, yes, they are a terrible nuisance, these arrogant record producers. Just as terrible as these ignorant book proofreaders and publishers who dare fine-tune the author's manuscript instead of shoving the first draft in people's faces. Or as terrible as these pesky film producers and editors who dare cut a film instead of just releasing the rough cut for audiences to download and assemble according to their own wishes.
Who do they think they are?
Welp. They're the makers of those works. Involved with the initial release, for better or worse. Except where you're not, you're a reissue producer. You're not Picasso or his publicist/agent/producing partner. You're museum manager with access to the painting. With due respect, who are you to say how much curtain covers up that painting?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hahahahaaa Well, that's sort of an apples to oranges argument you've come up with for comparison's sake because a film's score is actually heard in it's (usually) entirety and (mostly) in sequence in the film it was written for and is actually released for the public. A rough cut of a film or a book or play is not. A film's entire dailies shot on film/digitally is not the same as an official score release since it was not designed to be released or seen publically; where as a film's score was actually fully heard by the masses in it's original release. Likewise, a book being written before being published is a work-in-progress not intended to be released and sorted by the public.
Mais non, not apples and oranges at all. As soon as a film score is released on an album, the score album needs to stand for itself - the music then stands outside the film, on an album. It becomes like any other piece of art/craft, just like a book or film.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Once i've paid for an album, i do whatever the hell i want with it !!!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indeed. It’s soothing to read these comments from Caldera and OnyaBirri— small pockets of reason in this mad, mad world of ours!
Caldera + OnyaBirri + Thor - a soothing Holy Trinity of reason.
They'll go far in FilmScoreMonthly after undergoing some judicious pruning to reduce those mood-busting spaces & redudant syllables.
First, we'll castrate the Birris off Onya. Then we'll remove that repeated "a" from the record label.
There now.
We have the improved sound quality of CalderOnyaThor after summoning my unimpeachable artistic talent.
CalderOnyaThor ... ah ... so much BETTER-sounding, isn't it?
So tasteful!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I wish this board had had a poll function. I would have loved to poll the membership just to see how big the C&C majority is. It would probably look something like this, to catch the whole spectrum:
"How do you prefer your soundtracks presented?"
C&C = Complete & Chronological
A&A = Arranged & Abbreviated
(A) Always A&A
(B) Almost always A&A
(C) It depends, but most often A&A
(D) It depends, about 50-50
(E) It depends, but most often C&C
(F) Almost always C&C
(G) Always C&C
Maybe a great starting point for whenever the next round of this topic is. 
Poll option would be nifty. :-)
I'd chose "it depends". But not assign a 50/50 ratio or any other to it. (Not because I don't want to, but because I am unsure what the ratio would be.) There are probably a great number of film scores that benefit from some sensible editorial decisions. There are also film scores where the chronological order is not so relevant. Take ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. It has always annoyed me that (on the LP and earlier CD) the "Morton" theme was not on there. A beautiful, mourning lament and oddly enough missing from the LP. The later expanded releases rectified that, but the score does not benefit from a chronological presentation at all... which seems to be the reason why most albums throw that -- rightfully -- out of the window and open with "Once Upon A Time In The West" (which is a variation of "Jill's Theme").
Unlike LOGAN'S RUN, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is not constructed with a musical dramatic narrative structure, it's not like a Mahler symphony, but more like a palette of themes. The order is of lesser importance in scores like that; many Morricone albums don't have to be C&C, they play just fine in various orders. Though even that is not universal, as some albums like THE MISSION made some very poor sequencing decisions. (Opening the album with "On Earth As It Is In Heaven" is a bit like opening Beethoven's 9th with the fourth movement... perhaps that's the most "pop"ular track everyone wants, but for musical development it's completely out of place there.)
Some film scores play better on their own when they are arranged and/or abbreviated (or padded... it's not just abbreviation... John Williams original album for MONSIGNOR dropped some music but added other music. And I think it plays very well that way. Some film scores play best when left alone and be presented C&C. Some might also need just very slight adjustments, others more. Quite a few play well either way. Some can't be bettered no matter how they are presented.
Yet, while I don't think every film score on its own plays best when presented in a complete and chronological form, even in those cases where I would personally be happy with an arranged and abbreviated presentation, I would still most of the time be for "complete" inclusion of all the music on the album (either the C&C or the A&A could be in "bonus sections/bonus album" or be suggested through playlists/programming), so that the album satisfies the widest possible amount of collectors. Because my own preference is just that: my own preference. Even if I think -- which I do -- "hey, Monsignor by John Williams plays just fine as presented on the original LP", I still also think those who prefer everything C&C have a point too, and ideally, everybody can get the presentation of their preference out of a release. That's why I think the boutique labels are really, really doing a terrific job releasing some wonderful scores. And one can even try out different types of presentations and does not always just have to listen to the same one. Especially today, when fewer and fewer people actually listen to "discs" and most people listen to files, just about any preferred listening order or arrangement is an option that is just a few clicks away. (It's not an option if you primary medium is Vinyl-LP, though. :-) )
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
