Just the same, I thought I'd voice off......
Companies like Varese and Marco Polo are re-recording a lot of scores, but for financial reasons they're usually picking scores by title with the idea that the better known the film is, the more sales they'll have of the record.

I believe this is a disservice to film music collectors because a lot of good and important scores are being neglected this way.

In posts on the FSM board and here at Moviemusic, I keep running into complaints about scores that aren't re-released or re-recorded while other scores people could care less about are being done.

So, l thought we'd put together a list of scores we really want companies to record and at the end e-mail the page around so they have some idea what film music lovers are really hoping for.

We love this music, we collect it, how about we have a say in what shows up.

Personally, my want list looks like this:

Destination Tokyo
a collection of Brian Easdale scores
the same for Leith Stevens scores
more Malcolm Arnold scores
They Might Be Giants
a collection of cues/scores from Goldsmith 50s & 60s TV shows like Thriller, Climax & The Man from Uncle

TRAPEZE
THE KEY
THE LION
NINE HOURS TO RAMA
HEROES OF TELEMARK
ROOTS OF HEAVEN
INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS
TUNES OF GLORY
THE WRONG BOX

All of the above, with the exception of WRONG BOX (Barry) are Malcolm Arnold. Nearly the whole Arnold catalog remains unreleased on CD. I know ROOTS OF HEAVEN is being rerecorded, but I'd still like to have the original with the original artwork.

Rerecordings or original track releases I would like to have are:

AFRICA, TEXAS STYLE (Arnold)
HELLFIGHTERS (Rosenman)
CRACK IN THE WORLD (Douglas)
MASTER OF THE WORLD (Baxter)
TORA TORA TORA (Goldsmith)

For MASTER OF THE WORLD, I'd like to have the complete stereo tracks, not a reissue of the VEE JAY recording.

More scores on LP but not on CD or were on CD but have been out-of-print for some time:

DOG OF FLANDERS (Sawtell/Shefter)
FORBIDDEN ISLAND (aka ATLANTIS IN HI-FI)
HONEY POT (Addison)
633 SQUADRON (Goodwin)
WHERE EAGLES DARE (Goodwin)

etc...etc...etc...

As for rerecordings, I wish Marco Polo had done the ZULU rerecording instead of Silva. I know that a 16 minute Barry score would be of no interest to them, but at least they would have done it right. Raine's reconstruction was too unfaithful to the original sound. If they still exist, then you can add ZULU to my list of scores for which I would like to have the original tracks.

Bernstein, "The Bridge at Remagen"
Tiomkin, "The War Wagon"
Conti's "Victory"
Waxman, "Cimarron"
Previn, "Bad Day at Black Rock"

1) Black Beauty
2) COMPLETE Armageddon score with HGW's work included.

Mystery Alaska

Also, here's what we have for our Post-Apocalyptic 2-CD set.
The Omega Man (Suite)
Crack in the World (Main Theme)
Crash and Burn (Main Theme)
Planet of the Apes (Suite)
Logan's Run (Suite)
Damnation Alley (Main Theme)
Escape from NY (Suite)
Escape from LA (Suite)
Terminator (Suite)
Terminator 2 (Suite)
Waterworld (Suite)
Postman (Suite)
Mad Max Suite (incorporating music from all three movies)
The Quiet Earth (Suite)
"Waltzing Matilda" from "On the Beach"

Marc
NP: Midnight Express

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT
THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT
AT THE EARTH'S CORE
WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS

Please tell me you were clueless about the Marco Polo catalog!

Indeed, John Morgan and William Stromberg do NOT re-record scores just because they're hot titles....they re-record scores that have either never been heard away from the films or when they feel they can present a better, more accurate reflection of the score as it was originally conceived/recorded. Primarily, of course, they re-record scores they love! And that's just great since their taste in film scores is first-rate.

Marco Polo's "King Kong" is not the first recording, but it certainly offers a more accurate performance in terms of tempi and numbers of instruments used. As for "The Egyptian," the only other score they've done that was avaialble elsewhere, they performed an enormous service by recording virtually the entire score featuring music written by both Newman and Herrmann and in the correct order. This particular re-recording is awesome and invaluable...certainly more significant than most re-recordings we've been treated to over the past few years, no matter how well done. "The Egyptian" on Marco Polo is twice as long as the original score recording Newman conducted for Decca in 1954.

As for other Marco Polo offerings -- the Friedhofer CD, the Victor Young CD, the Newman CD -- all offer non-commercial recordings of music that, for the most part, will never be available as OSTs ("All About Eve" on the Newman CD -- that one selection -- being the exception, since the original soundtrack has since been released on FSM's golden age label). Then there's Steiner's "They Died With Their Boots On," Waxman's "Mr. Skeffington," and Korngold's "Devotion" -- all splendid scores and lovingly re-recorded with great pains by Morgan to re-orchestrate to the composers' original specifications.

Now I know Marco Polo wants these scores to sell. Morgan and Stromberg do, too. And I think Marco Polo has been surprised by the performance of some of the titles they weren't sure would sell.

And certainly Varese definitely has dollar signs in mind when they re-record scores. And why not! It has always seemed strange to me they re-recorded "Somewhere in Time" and "Out of Africa" when more than enough of both those scores was (and is) available on the OSTs. Then, of course, we get the "strange" Varese "concertized sound" recordings that -- for me -- ruin the listening experience. Add to that some very strange interpretations of cues and you get unholy messes (such as in "Agony and the Ecstasy" and "Patton").

No, Marco Polo is doing just great without our recommendations. Many of the suggestions above are for scores readily available -- on CD -- in cutout bins across the USA. Plus, if the scores were on LP, you can get CD-Rs of them from people who have the LPs.

WHAT A WASTE to re-record someting already available when there are hundreds of worthy scores out there that may never be recorded in any way.

Ron

(1.) VARESE's recordings of both "Out of Africa" and "Somewhere in Time" SELL very well and help underwrite recordings such as "Midway", "Streetcar Named Desire",etc..
Which won't well anywhere near well enough to recoup their costs.

(2.) SILVA SCREEN has recorded more never before available film music then any other label out there, among the items they've recorded include "Raise the Titanic", "War of the Worlds", "When Worlds Collide", "Robin and Marian",etc... Film Music fans have alot to thank them for.

(3.) Nic Raine knows what the hell he's doing IMHO, Silva's recordings of Barry's muisc IMHO are vastly superior in many cases then Barry's own attempts to record his own music of late.

Just a few highly biased opinions, take them as we you will.

Of note I would mention Goldsmith's The Final Conflict for a new recording (the original on Varese has lousy sound) considering how many people post this amongst their top JG scores!

As for other CDs-- I'm aware that some of these releases have been risky for the companies involved. I understand the economics of the situation--that some scores pay for others. I also understand that it's not all business, it's also a labor of love for the people involved. I think it's great that Marco Polo did Newman and Friedhofer and Young and now Webb and Arnold.

If I'm being critical, it's because I'm being impatient. When I hear that there's going to be a re-recording of Born Free, I mean fine, I'll probably buy it, I don't have a CD of this, but I do have an LP of it which has been fine all these years. When do I get something else? I keep thinking about scores I want that nobody has ever put out as an LP or CD or re-recording or anything, things I consider serious omissions not to have. When do these show up?

Actually, some of the scores I've wanted to have have shown up--some wonderfully performed, others lifeless and hideously off the mark. Can I hope to have yet another version of an already recorded score done again closer to home?

I realize all I'm saying is just my own selfish opinion on what I think should be done, but others have their own ideas and together they point to what I think record companies should at least take into consideration. I realize I'm tough to please. I also realize that you have standards and are trying to please me. Still, there's a slack I can feel--I feel it in every bad performance and I feel it in every unneeded recording. I'm not a record producer, I can't take up that slack. But as a record buyer, I feel it.

I agree with you Mr. Winfrey about your want list. The Westerner, Tarzan and the Mermaids, and His Majesty O'Keefe are all great Tiomkin scores. I'd add wanting a more complete Dial M for Murder to the other Tiomkin suggestions (like The War Wagon) that were made earlier.