Received mine this week. What an earth shattering difference with the old MCA CD. The (heavy) veil has finally been lifted.
Splendid! That's just as important as having all of the unreleased music for me. I just hope that we'll get the same treatment for Fievel Goes West and The Land Before Time soon.
Received mine this week. What an earth shattering difference with the old MCA CD. The (heavy) veil has finally been lifted.
Splendid! That's just as important as having all of the unreleased music for me. I just hope that we'll get the same treatment for Fievel Goes West and The Land Before Time soon.
Received mine this week. What an earth shattering difference with the old MCA CD. The (heavy) veil has finally been lifted.
Splendid! That's just as important as having all of the unreleased music for me. I just hope that we'll get the same treatment for Fievel Goes West and The Land Before Time soon.
Looking at Intrada’s past catalog West is a sure bet.
Received mine this week. What an earth shattering difference with the old MCA CD. The (heavy) veil has finally been lifted.
Splendid! That's just as important as having all of the unreleased music for me. I just hope that we'll get the same treatment for Fievel Goes West and The Land Before Time soon.
Looking at Intrada’s past catalog West is a sure bet.
Intrada seems to do more "classic" animation scores than any other label. Anything pre 2000 is a sure bet from them.
This release is just amazing! The wealth of new music is amazing!
All the additional music is great but almost right in a row you get
The Rumble Honest John and Gussie Mausheimer Somewhere Out There (Previously released) Building The Mouse of Minsk Down in the Sewer/Chase in the Mauler’s Den Gussies Plan.
It just adds so much more to the score and listening experience to the point its like listening to the soundtrack for the very first time.
You can also pick up little motifs or musical comments in the previously unreleased music that became the basis for fully fledged themes in Fievel Goes West.
Absolutely STUNNING sound, and hearing the unreleased cues finally shorn of dialogue and sound effects reveals a breadth of new thematic material that elevates an already great listening experience even further. Shame that one, tiny cue for Fievel running away from his Papa on the boat wasn't included (I can now with authority declare it was not tracked from the later chase cue when Fievel evades capture from Warren T. Rat's henchmen in the sewer), but with almost 25 minutes' worth of prime unreleased Horner, I can't carp. Bring on Fievel Goes West…!
BTW, this is an album I kind of wish there were a master list of the session musicians for, because I'd love to know who did the violin solos. Also, was the Gilbert & Sullivan excerpt "Poor Wandering One" recorded specifically for the film, or was it taken from an existing recording?
BTW, this is an album I kind of wish there were a master list of the session musicians for, because I'd love to know who did the violin solos. Also, was the Gilbert & Sullivan excerpt "Poor Wandering One" recorded specifically for the film, or was it taken from an existing recording?
James Horner adapted and arranged it for the film just as he did with 'Beautiful Dreamer' in the film and is credited as such officially.
As for the session musicians, you would have to find out whoever made up the musicians of the LSO at that time. According to the LSO discography, it was led by Michael Davis.
The presence of this music in the bonuses, and the lack of special credits, seems to indicate that it was recorded during the film sessions, I suppose.
The presence of this music in the bonuses, and the lack of special credits, seems to indicate that it was recorded during the film sessions, I suppose.
When I answered above your post, I was not guessing.
Also, the notes indicate that Horner prepared a 65-minute program initially, but was forced to cut it down to the 48-minute MCA album due to the LP/cassette conventions of the time. That means approximately eight or so minutes of the complete score still would have been left off that potential album. What cues do you think Horner would have trimmed out? "Dissolve To Sea/Lullaby" probably wouldn't have made the cut due to being the shortest cue (not counting the still-unreleased chase cue that follows it). What else?
Listened to this again tonight, and I'm still staggered by the clarity of the new mastering...studio musician noises are now clearly audible in numerous cues (I don't mind hearing the occasional chair squeak or quiet cough or whatever...it reminds you that actual people created this music, instead of the Wall O' Noise we get today).
One tiny niggle after several listens...Papa Mousekewitz's lyric "Our family was travelling / through the snow to Minsk" in "There Are No Cats In America" seems to be missing the "K" in "Minsk" (sounding more like "Mince"). That seemed a bit more pronounced on the old MCA album. Anyone else catch that, or am I just hearing things?
Absolutely STUNNING sound, and hearing the unreleased cues finally shorn of dialogue and sound effects reveals a breadth of new thematic material that elevates an already great listening experience even further. Shame that one, tiny cue for Fievel running away from his Papa on the boat wasn't included (I can now with authority declare it was not tracked from the later chase cue when Fievel evades capture from Warren T. Rat's henchmen in the sewer), but with almost 25 minutes' worth of prime unreleased Horner, I can't carp. Bring on Fievel Goes West…!
I'm with you on this Jack. I unfortunately only had a tape dub off the Vinyl release at its time. Since the cassettes have been out of order for more than 15 years; so it was absolutely thrilling for me to hear this superb fun score from James Horner in superior audio clarity. It made for some wonderful recall of memories from the late 1980's.
With Orchestrator Greg McRitchies superb orchestrations adding to the charm of the score. (Sadly when Greg Passed away Horner's scores no longer had that special sound that was always apparent)
I'd also look forward to FIEVEL GOES WEST in the future- as I have never heard that one to date.
I have to echo what everyone else has said (finally got my copy this weekend)...the sound is SO MUCH BETTER! I never noticed just how cramped the original recording was...this one has room to breathe...it's amazing...and I hear details I never noticed before.
I always wanted the "museum" music, its one of my favorite unreleased cues. Not until this release did I realize the second half plays prominently in the end credits. I absolutely adore Honest John's theme. Likewise always loved the "making plans" music. Love the playful take off the main theme as the pigeon takes Fievel to the ground and he meets Warren T Rat. There's a lot of great stuff in this expansion. It's like a whole new listening experience.
I'd also look forward to FIEVEL GOES WEST in the future- as I have never heard that one to date.
That's a super-fun score, even if Horner's riffs on Copland are especially brazen. It's MUCH different than the first American Tail, but it makes for a varied listening experience. I'd love to hear Intrada give it a nice remastering and add the extra cues missing from the MCA album (not to mention The Land Before Time!).
I just hope that we'll get the same treatment for Fievel Goes West and The Land Before Time soon. 
