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Some scores from this amazing box set have been released again in the past: Jane Eyre (Kritzerland) The Day The Earth Stood Still (Kritzerland & La-La Land) 5 Fingers (Kritzerland) Hangover Square (Kritzerland) The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Kritzerland) White Witch Doctor (Kritzerland) Beneath The 12-Mile Reef (Kritzerland) The Egyptian (La-La Land) Journey To The Center Of The Earth (Varese 500) Which ones of these re-releases are worth upgrading due better sound or more music? Thanks for any info. Of those, I have Jane Eyre, Hangover Square, and Day the Earth Stood Still (plus the original Varese release of the expanded Egyptian). The reissues of Egyptian and Day the Earth Stood Still have some adjustments made to the sound while the Hangover Square album has additional music not heard on the box set. I’m not entirely sure, but I think the other ones are straight reissues of the masters used for the box set.
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This came out 8 years ago?! Wtf!
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Best 400 smackers ever spent on a CD set! Yep, my sentiments exactly. That's alot if smackers for alot of 30 second cues!
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I believe that Kritzerland's BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF improved upon the version heard in the Fox Box. Less "flutter," I think. D'oh! Just bought the FSM version ( though I am quite happy with that one )
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Posted: |
Mar 30, 2022 - 11:42 PM
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By: |
rugo
(Member)
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This treasure trove remains my most regretful miss in nearly 30 years of soundtrack collecting. Granted, a number were later subsequently released and improved upon (and I didn't hesitate on those), but still... Apologies if already mentioned in this gargantuan thread, but I count nine scores that remain somewhat exclusive to it: THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT - TENDER IS THE NIGHT - ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM - THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR - A HATFUL OF RAIN - GARDEN OF EVIL - KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES - BLUE DENIM - PRINCE OF PLAYERS All had existing releases either mostly complete, in suite form, or new recordings. Of those, only the Fox CD that paired TENDER, FLANNEL and HATFUL, is absent from my collection, though it is fairly affordable. The reason I don't have that one isn't a case of holding out for this seemingly impossible dream set; I just never got around to it. But maybe it's time to, as I wonder if any of these (perhaps MRS. MUIR?) will ever be revisited again... Coming in second to the Herrmann set: Vol. 3 of the Hitchcock Hour, which like Kamen's ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (my no. 3), all currently priced way too high for me.
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Still a very resounding set which I still get out of mostly when Im the mood for vintage recordings. Although the Herrmann re-recordings are my usual preference. I must add the THE EGYPTIAN's sound quality and perrformance here remains unmatched. I regret missing out the Rozsa FSM Megaset and the Varese SPARTACUS multi set. I actually missed out on this set because I didn’t expect it to sell out as quickly as it did. However, I have managed to obtain some of the reissues of the non-perpetuity owned scores in the set and obtained the original Varese release of the complete Egyptian prior to the set’s release. I managed to snag the Rózsa Treasury when Lukas did a limited reissue back in 2014 and still love its wealth of Rózsa goodness. That said, I passed on the Spartacus set due to a combination of costs and not wanting the two discs worth of love theme variations (it’s a beautiful theme, but two discs worth of it is overkill to say the least).
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This treasure trove remains my most regretful miss in nearly 30 years of soundtrack collecting. I actually missed out on this set because I didn’t expect it to sell out as quickly as it did. Same here, guys. At least I got the Rozsa set, but this will always be a regret. It just disappeared super fast! (I think it sold out before it was even shipping?) 1000 copies was far too few IMO; it should have been 1500. Yavar
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This treasure trove remains my most regretful miss in nearly 30 years of soundtrack collecting. I actually missed out on this set because I didn’t expect it to sell out as quickly as it did. Same here, guys. At least I got the Rozsa set, but this will always be a regret. It just disappeared super fast! (I think it sold out before it was even shipping?) 1000 copies was far too few IMO; it should have been 1500. Yavar You are correct in that assessment Yavar and I have been saying that for years. Varese underestimated the popularity of Herrmann and I also feel that 2000 copies would've been more than enough for people to buy it and sell out. My rationale of only limiting it to 1000 was definitely Spartacus and the cost of that project that I know hampered future projects like this one pretty much forced the label to join forces with Cutting Edge in late 2012 if I remember right. Spartacus got 5000 copies which later on the label discounted severely just to sell them all out and probably just to break even which is kind of sad in a way since it was Robert Townson's dream project. I bought two used copies off eBay before they discounted it at around 80 dollars for the price of one set. I think it might have been as low as 70. I forget. And all copies had the same exact problem, that slipcase always got a crack during shipping and they never fixed it. Unfortunately, he should've rethought how many copies Spartacus should've been (I think 3000 to 3500 at most for me which was more than plenty) and how many discs (I think 4 would've been enough plus the DVD in a much more tightly edited version. The different versions of the love theme were nice but you only really needed the newly recorded interpretations by the different composers they got for it on one disc). Then the Herrmann box should've been upped to 2000 copies thanks to the savings on the expenses for Spartacus (1500 to 2000 less copies) than what ended up being and doing it at an seriously underestimated amount which sold out almost instantly and still has people trying to get one and shelling out crazy amounts for it.
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Posted: |
Apr 2, 2022 - 7:12 AM
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By: |
rugo
(Member)
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You are correct in that assessment Yavar and I have been saying that for years. Varese underestimated the popularity of Herrmann and I also feel that 2000 copies would've been more than enough for people to buy it and sell out. I agree, though in hindsight. Perhaps it was a financial threshold, as 14 CDs is a lot, or a contractual thing that limited it to a 1000; I don't know, just speculation. A good amount of the music was already available, so perhaps that influenced the quantity. But from my armchair, yeah, 1500 surely would've allowed me to nab a copy. But yeah, whenever I like to torture myself, I look up what it's going for. Crazy! Of the three copies available on Amazon right now, one is at $300, another $835 and...how about one for $1,035.95 plus 3.99 for delivery!!! I know, Amazon, but that boggles my mind.
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What's clear to me is that Robert Townson and Varese had been stung deeply over the actual demand for the SPARTACUS box set in 2010. As Townson's dream project, perhaps, it was too lavishly produced -- and licensed for too high a quantity at 5,000 copies -- because he tragically overestimated the number of collectors willing (or motivated) to spend the original price. I can relate that to my own disaster in high school: when I wildly overspent, in my final semester, to bring what at the time were my three favorite movies (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, THE WILD BUNCH, and THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE) to my high-school film series... two of them in 35mm prints, because they weren't yet available for 16mm rental. Despite all the posters, flyers, and heralds that we put up inside and outside the school, and regardless of the glowing reviews I wrote as the critic for my school newspaper, I simply had spent too much money on the rentals for film (AND 35mm projectors) to earn back the cost. Ultimately I had lost track of the possibility that my 1971 high-school audience might not support or share my own values. My excesses also drained the account for my successors the following year, for which I still feel bad. The fact of Varese having to discount however many copies of the SPARTACUS set they did, just to get unsold inventory off the shelves, must have been a painful influence on their licensing and pricing decisions for their HERRMANN AT FOX box the following year. (Once so badly bitten...) We can comment today on how the market interest in Herrmann "should" have been anticipated as higher. Yet so soon after the blow of those SPARTACUS sales, it's very understandable that the label decided not to bet on realistically being able to move more than 1,000 sets. Yes, that Herrmann set is gorgeous and beautifully packaged. But having been out of work for some time when it was announced, it was tough for me to spend $200 on it the day it was announced; and I still regret that I didn't scratch together enough for a second copy for a friend who would have loved it, but was a divorced, single father. However, I felt even worse when I saw sealed copies of the set not just being listed, but selling for $400 each on eBay, less than a month after they had shipped. And for several months afterward, in fact. How do you think the Varese folks must have felt about that, over not having trusted in a higher quantity for the Herrmann set? They couldn't have felt great -- and I don't think they deserve criticism in hindsight over their decision at the time.
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