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How Do You Keep Up? Part One: CDs

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Author	Topic: How Do You Keep Up? Part One: CDs

Graham Watt Oscar® Winner	With the vast quantity of soundtracks on the market today, how many does one have to buy in order to keep up? And if you can only afford three or four a month, what do you choose? Being old, my list of priorities include selected CDs from Film Score Monthly, Prometheus, GDI and Marco Polo, and that's before we even touch on new scores by the likes of Goldsmith and Williams. So how is someone like me supposed to broaden his horizons? When would I choose a Don Davis score over something from my list of priorities? The answer is probably never, which is a pity because in the good old bad old days I'd travel miles to the best record shop and get something like Enter The Dragon, and then, because there was nothing else, I'd take a chance on some scores by Patrick Williams or Charles Fox (which were often very good, as I'm sure Don Davis is, but I'll never know). How do YOU keep up, ( or do you not bother and just live in the past like me)?
posted 01-05-2001 07:33 AM PT (US)

Stephen Lister Oscar® Winner	Yes, I remember those days when I used to wander upstairs to the record department of my local electrical store and browse through their soundtrack LPs ... all twenty of them! It was much simpler then because we film music fans were on a starvation diet - now it's an orgiastic feast. I tend to stick with composers I know, or wait until I've checked out the film. I have too many CDs, really - I keep telling myself I will sit down one day and listen to them all properly, and I probably will - when I'm about seventy.
posted 01-05-2001 08:10 AM PT (US)

Rang Oscar® Winner	I generally only buy a soundtrack if I've seen the film. This allows me to hear the music in context and I'm able to decide on whether its something I'd care listening to on its own. This has saved me time and money in the long run. There are exceptions, but only occasionally. I try to remain open as much as possible to music I haven't heard, but I'm also realistic. I know that I can't keep up with every new film and score which is released. That really goes for older films and scores, too. It's just impossible. So I try and balance my attention towards both fields and it works fairly well.
posted 01-05-2001 08:55 AM PT (US)

JJH Oscar® Winner	I haven't been trying to keep up. In fact, I've spent a lot of time and dough retro-collecting; that is, buying stuff I should've gotten when it came out years ago. or trying to nab stuff before it disappears forever, only to crop up on eBay as someone's over-valued auction item. It is near impossible to keep up with everything new that comes out. I just have to hope that groups like Ryko and Rhino keep pumping stuff out and give me a chance to buy in the future rather than pull items that haven't sold well as of yet (The Misfits, for example). NP -- Heaven & Earth.
posted 01-05-2001 09:27 AM PT (US)

Greg Bryant Oscar® Winner	With most mainstream music, everyone has the chance to listen to it first (what do you think the primary purpose of radio is, to entertain you?). Music are those album advertisements and promotions that are played between the commercials. Yet, what methods do we have to try out film music, so we don't take any chances on dogs? Which leads me to my method, like Rang above which is generally by the soundtrack after I've seen the movie. I will take a a chnace on a used CD if I haven't seen the movie, but generally it's see the movie first. Exceptions are older established soundtracks of films or composers I might be familiar with. For example, I will pick up older Goldsmith sight unseen only because of the known quality of his older works (as opposed to his current works, to which I now give greater scrutiny). I will note that the Internet has totally changed my purchasing procedures. I no longer wander around the stores, looking at every CD in the soundtrack bin (too many now, making it much more tedious and time-consuming). Instead, I take take all the info I find on the Internet (including comments from my esteemed collegues here) and go with a shopping list. Also i purchase more through mail/web order, only because I get tired of making the trip to the retail store only to find nothing new (even though what I've been looking for has been out for six months). On the other hand, I spend a lot more time in the used stores, only because I've found a lot of diamonds there, as well as CD's for half price that I kick myself for paying full price for. For further commentary on the issue, check out my posting at: http://www.moviemusic.com/mb/Forum1/HTML/004943.html
posted 01-05-2001 10:17 AM PT (US)

MWRuger Oscar® Winner	I can't keep up. I usually just try to get scores that I know I will like. Despite my best efforts it gets worse every week. I trade scores via CD-R, I get scores via high quaity MP3, I buy a couple every week, but there is always something I have to leave behind or forego. This doesn't include replace MP3/CDR scores with bought scores when I can. How can I pass up Marco Polo or Prometheus scores? What about tasty jewels like Total Recall Expanded? Then what about that boot of a score that I have wanted for 15 years? I know I am not getting as much out of what I buy as I could, but I worry that if I don't get it when I see it, it might be my last chance ever. I was in a Tower Records about 7 years ago and I saw a Knights of the Round Table by Miklos Rozsa. I didn't buy it. I wish I had...
posted 01-05-2001 11:12 AM PT (US)

Gae Oscar® Winner	Well, as a couple of people mentioned above, I'm learning to become more economical these days with my CD purchases and spend more time rediscovering treasures in my collection of CDs that I may have only heard a few times and never really got to know. I've never really been a big fan or interested in keeping up with the current music charts (whether pop or film-music) as I try to discover music regardless of whether its currently topical or not. Great music transcends "fashion" or "trends" of the business whether it is years/centuries old or written a few months ago. Get my point? I have hoarded close to a thousand albums over the years and I'm trying to give a lot of forgotten soundtracks the close scrutiny they deserve and starting to find treasures in there I didn't know I had. For example, recently we had a post discussing Barry Gray and his music for "Thunderbirds". Inspired by the conversation I dusted down my tape of "Thunderbirds are Go" soundtrack which I'd maybe only listened to a couple of times, 15 years ago, when I bought it (I only got it in the first place for the "Thunderbirds Theme" ) Anyway, I started playing the tape in the car every day, got to know it properly, for the first time, and what a great tape it is! Barry Gray was such a wonderful composer. His music ranges from excitingly dramatic (with great percussion) to easy-listening wonderfully melodic, beautifully structured and orchestrated works of art! I look forward to taping more of my collection and discovering more gems rather than wasting my hard earned money on a lot of "new" sountracks which are flashy and gimmicky on the surface, but have no "substance" or "beauty" deep down. Of course I still buy soundtracks where I have seen the movie and loved the music, but I just wont spend money on soundtracks that I dont know any more!! Gae [Message edited by Gae on 01-05-2001]
posted 01-05-2001 02:55 PM PT (US)

Richard Oscar® Winner	In a way, I'm lucky that only a few scores are ever released in shops in Australia, so I don't have that many to choose from and that way I don't have to say "should I get this one or that one", but at the same time I get frustrated because there are not many scores released so often I can't get the one I want without going to a shop, placing an order, paying a mammoth amount of money and then waiting up to and beyond 6mos for them to arrive. I can't win. Last week I finally placed an order at amazon.com. 1-2 days later and they've already been shipped. I am very very impressed with this. VERY impressed. Finally, someone who knows the meaning of the word "service". Anyway, many of the scores I buy are second hand and never more than 1/2 the price of a new cd. Most of these CDs take up my budget and they tend to be from the late 1980's through to present.
posted 01-05-2001 04:01 PM PT (US)

Obi Jok Kenobi Oscar® Winner	Richard - It really depends on which part of Australia you are from. Score CD's are quite common in Adelaide music stores, Sanity being one of the best ones as well as The Muses. The ABC Shops even carry some score CD's these days (where I got my copy of Gladiator as it was the only place that had it). My local music store carries a nice range and they even had all the Babylon 5 score CD's which I snapped up. In answer the topic question - I find it VERY hard to keep up with new releases, as at the moment I'm unemployed. I generally prefer to have seen the film before I get the score, although some scores I make exceptions for, such as some Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Hans Zimmer scores. I generally get scores in mp3 first and if I really like it, I'll go out and buy the CD if I can find a copy.
posted 01-05-2001 04:44 PM PT (US)

Will Oscar® Winner	Like some or most of u guys, it's hard to keep up. Lately, I've been on a slowdown in soundtrack purchasing... a two and a half months hiatus (September to December). I will usually watch the movie, watch it again to evaluate the score, do some thinking, put it in my wish list and then get it when I have enough money to spare. That is for the average movies. As for big movies with big composers (John Williams, Hans Zimmer, etc.) I will watch the movie and if it is good, I will get it as soon as I can. If the movie is a sequel from a big hit (TPM, Ep. 2, M:I-2, etc.) I would buy the score even before I watch the movie. There are currently 13 soundtracks in my wish list. And counting...
posted 01-05-2001 05:32 PM PT (US)

Richard Oscar® Winner	I'm from NSW, and I think that Sainty outlets, here at least, are very bad at selling scores, but I would never go back to them after the number of times they've stuffed up my orders and just lied to me. Grrrr'. I find that the smaller, non-chain music shops are the best for scores. Even places like Grace Bros. deparment stores aren't too bad, even if they don't have the most competetive prices. Same applies to HMV but their prices are sometimes outrageous. HMV in Sydney has almost an entire room for Soundtracks, or at least they did last time I was there. I haven't heard of The Muses but I did find The General's Daughter and The English Patient at my local ABC shop.
posted 01-06-2001 12:33 AM PT (US)

Obi Jok Kenobi Oscar® Winner	The Muses is I think only an SA store. Any Leading Edge Music store is usually good for scores and they have stores all around Australia I believe. Of course, there is always online stores like dstore.com.au and www.chaosmusic.com, which are both aussie stores.
posted 01-06-2001 08:32 PM PT (US)

Richard Oscar® Winner	Yeah, Chaos isn't too bad, but I'll have to check out dstore.com.
posted 01-06-2001 10:02 PM PT (US)

Camillu Oscar® Winner	quote: Originally posted by Greg Bryant: Music are those album advertisements and promotions that are played between the commercials. I loved that one. Great thread Greg! NP - Zimmer compilation
posted 01-07-2001 09:17 AM PT (US)

Graham Watt Oscar® Winner	Thank you, people, for those responses. I suppose I knew this all along, but it is indeed heartening to find that we all share the same problem! (Cue group hug.)
posted 01-10-2001 01:44 PM PT (US)

John C Winfrey Oscar® Winner	Graham, for a lot of folks like me and others who budget and have priorities, they pick and choose which they will get. There are so many good ones coming out. I start with those I collect first-Goldsmith, Rozsa, etc. and work out from those to the scores that appeal. I get around 6-8 a month most months, sometimes less. All the years when I was getting many LPs from 1979 to early 90s, I was getting 8-10 a month in sales, auctions etc. That way I built up a pretty large collection, but did not go bankrupt at the same time. Most of the time I have been a bargain shopper, with a few exceptions here and here. As a result I have gotten most of what I wanted over the years with restraint. I have 575 CDs, 1200 LPs, 200 45s, 600 cassettes and so on. Done with patience and self-discipline, but I got plenty of what I wanted. However, sometimes other priorities took presidence. And those times when buying music was not as important as supporting the family or eating. Best, John.
posted 01-17-2001 08:45 PM PT (US)

JEC Oscar® Winner	Come on, John, your too cautious. You know when you became a soundtrack collector you swore not to spend your money on non-essentials like food, shelter, and clothing. Eating regularly is just a bad habit most people picked when they were born. It can be broken. True collectors have skinny kids. Actually, on the serious side, I started out buying only the soundtracks for films I had seen and whose scores I liked. Then somewhere along the line, I started buying stuff just to collect it. Such as trying to get everything in stereo on the Mainstream label. Or everything by a particular composer, even if I didn't like it or had never seen the film. Or worse -- buying big-ticket items just because they were collectors items. (I'm talking LPs here.) The result was a large collection with only a few titles I listened to regularly. And I did almost go bankrupt. As a result, I sold my collection off in 1982 and from then until 1999 I did not buy any soundtracks, LPs or CDs. Now I am collecting again and am more cautious. Unless I know I like it or it comes well-recommended (by others on this message board), I won't buy it unless I've had a chance to sample it first. There's a lot more out there now than there was in the mid-1970s.
posted 01-18-2001 07:06 AM PT (US)

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