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 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 10:23 AM   
 By:   Gold Digger   (Member)

This really plays well in expanded form. Quite surprised how the film versions improve the whole listen. The presentation feels like a long suite. Not one I thought we needed in this form but I am happy to say I was wrong.

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 1:18 PM   
 By:   William R.   (Member)

The main theme's overt similarity to ON THE WATERFRONT remains a distraction. Other than that this is a great score. I've been surprised to see people being down on it over the years. At the time, it was hailed as Goldsmith's sort-of return to the days of COMA and PLANET OF THE APES. Very excited for this to arrive.

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 2:16 PM   
 By:   Thgil   (Member)

Geez, am I the only one that actually likes this artwork? It feels fitting for the movie to me.

It would be fitting if the movie was a period romance. It's totally wrong for it in my opinion.

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 5:01 PM   
 By:   simon377   (Member)

The cost if this as a lossless download is a little extreme. $34 AUD, compared with the recent Rudy at $27 AUD which was already pricey.

I have switched to downloads where i can because of the cost of shipping CDs from the US. But this is silly and they are charging 40% more for lossless over MP3, which is ridiculous. Plus the liner notes are not provided, which they used to do but stopped recently.

For comparison, the recent Star Trek Directors Edition release as a lossless download is $17 and is only $3 more than the MP3.


Ok, so I was not completely correct.
All the prices I quotes above are correct for the places i usually buy lossless audio, but now i find that Varese are selling this as a direct download on their own store. This is fantastic and the cost for me in AUD is only $24 for lossless. Sold.
Thank you Varese for offering this option.

 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 5:23 PM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

Geez, am I the only one that actually likes this artwork?

Yes.

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 6:24 PM   
 By:   ClaytonMG   (Member)

Geez, am I the only one that actually likes this artwork?

Yes.


Nope.

 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 6:24 PM   
 By:   Spinmeister   (Member)

For amusement sake:

 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 8:38 PM   
 By:   raferjanders   (Member)

Just what the doctor ordered, these humorous covers tickle my humerussmile
Love the CD Club ... while I applaud Varese for expanding these releases it would be nice if they applied the same effort in the artwork department. I mean Pearce looks like he has dandruff.

 
 Posted:   Nov 19, 2022 - 10:40 PM   
 By:   No Respectable Gentleman   (Member)

The main theme's overt similarity to ON THE WATERFRONT remains a distraction. .

I agree. The score's overt similarities to ON THE WATERFRONT, not just in the Main Theme but in the Bloody Christmas cue, seem curiosuly un-Goldsmith-like to me -- more like something one would expect from James Horner.

 
 Posted:   Nov 20, 2022 - 4:14 AM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

Geez, am I the only one that actually likes this artwork?

Yes.


Nope.


Ok, so then you two are the only ones who actually like the artwork.

 
 Posted:   Nov 20, 2022 - 4:18 AM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

For amusement sake:




That is very funny! LOL.

 
 Posted:   Nov 20, 2022 - 4:45 AM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

Just listened to it. It's worth to get this expansion if you really like the score. The expanded re-release makes the score grittier, darker, with a bit more bite.

As I observed to Tim Greiving when we recorded a Soundtrack Spotlight podcast earlier today, that's not only because of the new cues -- it's because some of the cues familiar from the old album are actually more stripped down and gritty than their album counterparts (which were probably Goldsmith's originals before he was requested to simplify them).

Listen to the opening 40 seconds or so of Bloody Christmas for a great example. On the album there's interesting stuff Goldsmith is doing on brass and strings. But I guess it was too "busy" sounding for Curtis Hanson, because in the film itself (and in the 45.5 minute film version program on this release), the dominant element in the score for those 40 seconds is the sinister synth pulse. It leaves a very different impression, IMO, even if it's subtle.


Yes, it's a different opening, the difference is clearly there. The album version of "Bloody Christmas" has a different overtone because of the brass and strings. It's definitely good the original album is included as well, it's a short score, though the two fit easily on one CD.

Of course, I have the original album already anyway. (The "Bloody Christmas" from the original soundtrack album is the one I would keep if I could keep only one.)

I don't consider L.A. CONFIDENTIAL an "essential" upgrade, as the core of the score was well represented on the album already, but it is certainly an interesting one. I will listen to both the film version and the original album version of this score from now on, sometimes this, sometimes that, as both play well.

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 20, 2022 - 10:15 AM   
 By:   MikeP   (Member)

Geez, am I the only one that actually likes this artwork? It feels fitting for the movie to me.

It's fine. It looks like it could be a picture from the pages of Hush Hush magazine. Seeing the cover, that bittersweet melody from The Victor immediately popped to mind, so the cover art did the job.

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 21, 2022 - 1:57 AM   
 By:   Hurdy Gurdy   (Member)

I think the new cover is okay too.
I like it better than their original score CD one (blurry shot of Basinger on phone).
I don't think the film gave much to work with anyway (the song CD cover is equally dull).
Like HOLLOW MAN, this is a score CD I bought very cheaply, during more recent times.
I heard the score in the film* and didn't hear anything I'd hadn't already heard - and done much better - in ON THE WATERFRONT, CHINATOWN & CITY HALL.
It's the definition of a 'bottle top' in my collection now.




*of which the film, VERY UNLIKE HOLLOW MAN, is brilliant.

 
 Posted:   Nov 21, 2022 - 2:10 AM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

I always considered CITY HALL is a companion score to L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (like I somehow consider OUTLAND a companion score to ALIEN), they share a lot of the same DNA. (And CITY HALL was a good movie too, not a classic like L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, but nevertheless a good movie.)

 
 Posted:   Nov 21, 2022 - 8:27 AM   
 By:   Sean Nethery   (Member)

I always considered CITY HALL is a companion score to L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (like I somehow consider OUTLAND a companion score to ALIEN), they share a lot of the same DNA. (And CITY HALL was a good movie too, not a classic like L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, but nevertheless a good movie.)

Hey, I was gonna make that point! Why didn't you wait for me? You coulda waited....

 
 
 Posted:   Nov 21, 2022 - 8:29 AM   
 By:   Hurdy Gurdy   (Member)

Yes, L.A.C and CITY HALL certainly do share very similar musical DNA in the way ALIEN and OUTLAND do.
The only problem for me being the latter two I mention above come from Goldsmith's Golden Period, while the former two...VERY MUCH DON'T.

 
 Posted:   Nov 23, 2022 - 11:03 AM   
 By:   W. David Lichty [Lorien]   (Member)

Clark wrote (on facebook): Here’s a brief Soundtrack Spotlight on Varese Sarabande’s new Deluxe Edition of Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar-nominated score for L.A. Confidential, featuring thoughts from film music journalist and liner notes writer Tim Greiving. Hosted by Yavar, edited by David.

https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/11750439-odyssey-soundtrack-spotlight-l-a-confidential-1997

 
 Posted:   Nov 23, 2022 - 11:27 AM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

Yes, L.A.C and CITY HALL certainly do share very similar musical DNA in the way ALIEN and OUTLAND do.
The only problem for me being the latter two I mention above come from Goldsmith's Golden Period, while the former two...VERY MUCH DON'T.


I agree both ALIEN and OUTLAND are musically much more interesting scores than L.A. CONFIDENTIAL or CITY HALL, though I certainly like the latter two scores a lot as well. There is very (very) little by Goldsmith I don't really like.

 
 Posted:   Nov 23, 2022 - 11:28 AM   
 By:   Nicolai P. Zwar   (Member)

I always considered CITY HALL is a companion score to L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (like I somehow consider OUTLAND a companion score to ALIEN), they share a lot of the same DNA. (And CITY HALL was a good movie too, not a classic like L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, but nevertheless a good movie.)

Hey, I was gonna make that point! Why didn't you wait for me? You coulda waited....


Next time it's your turn.

 
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