Varese Sarabande: A 25th Anniversary Celebration Volume 2 (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Considering the load of movie music label Varčse Sarabande gave us these past decades, it was understandable one mammoth compilation wasn't gonna cut it. So, their quick sold out anniversary celebration got a little sister / brother who went out of sale as quick as the first one. Understandable considering the price was equally cheap as hell and the wealth of music equally diverse and interesting. Because its always interesting to hear what you don't know off, appreciate what you care for and hear what else is there to be discovered. And their inclusion of everything that was missing on their first, is now somewhat available on their second. Once more it wasn't meant to include all the highlights of each score, and sometimes they follow a very distinct approach (like 10 solo vocal pieces after another) but its merely to represent a friction of the material they released these past years, again bringing us to the known and unknown composers, scores, movie magic of these last 25 years. The Cd's are packed with minutes of thrilling, adventurous, dramatic and wonderful movie music, guiding you from several re recordings to the real deal. And above all you're gonna witness some real beauties of Goldsmith, Harvey, Conti, Eidelman, ah well the whole bunch. The true highlights are scattered throughout the 280 minutes more or less, but to remember are Animal Farm and 'End Title', a marvelous presentation of the main theme in glorious wonder, Goldsmith's epic Lionheart and his amazing main theme of that score, equally Jerry's wacky The 'Burbs which will be a treat for many people considering it went out of print many years ago, Zimmer's thrilling Drop Zone trailer favorite (even though 5 minutes shortened), Newton Howard's adventurous Vertical Limit and what about Eidelman's magical Triumph of the Spirit and his stirring Christopher Columbus or Young's cool The Big Kahuna, more or less you get something of everything. But while several follow an adventurous / soft change of attitude, others follow a soft intercourse that starts well but soon bores a bit too much after a while (CD 4 at a moment anyone?, especially considering how much action music is there to be found on the 2nd CD).

But altogether, its brilliant to see so much music just on CD for that kinda price. Of course with the inevitable highlights you knew, its that time to explore and discover the unknown beauties, like David Newman's amazing moments in 'Mr. Destiny', Conti's typical entertaining The Adventures of Huck Finn, Joel Goldsmith's pleasing and flourishing Diamonds, the recent club release and real crowd pleaser Sky Bandits, the utterly cool Kull the Conqueror and theme, the thrilling assault of Terminal Velocity, Williams' as always musically breathtaking 'The Landing' from Amazing Stories, On the Beach' utter spine tingling emotional beauty, the wonderful piano tingling of Poledouris in It's my Party (not known but therefore not less interesting), The Tailor of Panama's flair of Shaun Davey and the dark minds of Elfman and Zimmer in respectively Dolores Claiborne and Pacific Heights, only to be deemed forgotten when you hear Pavilion of Women, Dead Again's Doyle or Doyle's truly exhilarating Dead Again followed by such easy soft and beautiful stuff from White Palace, The Stand, Bliss, Mobsters and many more. Of course then you hope for some to represent the moment you want while getting something else entirely. I heard Othello has some thrilling moments but 'Main Title' doesn't represent that at all, and of course I think there are many more moments where you can fill in the blank. In the end its easy to understand why so much is specifically chosen, mostly its the theme that is presented and then usually they place the main titles, end credits and suites, and not specifically the best track which is just a fragment of the score in general. But that there is so much to discover in Varčse Sarabanda's 25th Anniversary Volume 2 is naturally true. A lot of love went into this production and a load of generosity went out for the price you're had to pay for it all. Its long gone out of print and its understandable, Varčse released so much thrilling music, you wanna find more of it on these 8 CD's. And you shall, you SHALL damn it.

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Tracks

4 Edition Disc

CD 1: 75.55

Kings Row (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)

1. Main Title "re-recording" (1.55)

Mr. Destiny (David Newman)

2. Mr. Destiny (5.03)

Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (Joel McNeely)

3. Bear Mountain (3.39)

The Boy who Could Fly (Bruce Broughton)

4. In The Air (4.31)

The Adventures of Huck Finn (Bill Conti)

5. Main Title (4.43)

Animal Farm (Richard Harvey)

6. End Title (3.42) Excellent Track

Paulie (John Debney)

7. Medley (6.48)

Mouse Hunt (Alan Silvestri)

8. Main Title (2.39) Excellent Track

My Dog Skip (William Ross)

9. Main Title (3.21)

Diamonds (Joel Goldsmith)

10. Main Title (1.51) Excellent Track

Amazing Grace and Chuck (Elmer Bernstein)

11. Hometown (5.24)

Bed and Breakfast (David Shire)

12. End Credits (2.42)

Kimberly (Basil Poledouris)

13. Main Title (2.37)

Free Willy 3: The Rescue (Cliff Eidelman)

14. Awakening (4.04)

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (Thomas Newman)

15. In Her Limousine (1.57)

I'll do Anything (Hans Zimmer)

16. Matt (7.15)

War of the Buttons (Rachel Portman)

17. Front Titles (4.32)

Lionheart (Jerry Goldsmith)

18. King Richard (8.34) Excellent Track

CD 2: 77.06

Deep Blue Sea (Trevor Rabin)

1. Aftermath (2.47) Excellent Track

Evolution (John Powell)

2. Our Heroes (2.22)

The 'Burbs (Jerry Goldsmith)

3. End Titles (4.09) Excellent Track

Dragonheart: A New Beginning (Mark McKenzie)

4. Main Titles (4.49) Excellent Track

Amazing Stories: The Mission (John Williams)

5. The Landing "re-recording" (5.11) Excellent Track

Sky Bandits (Alfi Kabiljo)

6. End Title (3.56) Excellent Track

Kull the Conquerer (Joel Goldsmith)

7. Kull The Conquerer (2.01) Excellent Track

Terminal Velocity (Joel McNeely)

8. Cadillac Freefall (5.43) Excellent Track

Vertical Limit (James Newton Howard)

9. Three Years Later (4.28) Excellent Track

Drop Zone (Hans Zimmer)

10. Too Many Notes (4.14) Excellent Track

The Watcher (Marco Beltrami)

11. Driven (3.26)

Alien 3 (Elliot Goldenthal)

12. Adagio "re-recording" (4.20) Excellent Track

Man on Fire (John Scott)

13. Man On Fire (4.40)

We're no Angels (George Fenton)

14. Introduction And Main Titles (3.59)

The Big Kahuna (Christopher Young)

15. The Big Kahuna (6.10)

This World, Then the Fireworks (Pete Rugulo)

16. The Pick-up (3.23)

Touch of Evil (Henri Mancini)

17. Main Title (3.28)

The Man who Knew too Little (Christopher Young)

18. The Man Who Knew Too Little (2.40)

Cool World (Mark Isham)

19. The Cool World Stamp (4.38)

CD 3: 75.41

Triumph of the Spirit (Cliff Eidelman)

1. Main Title (2.23) Excellent Track

On the Beach (Christopher Gordon)

2. From The Beach, Silently Weeping (6.33) Excellent Track

The Last Butterfly (Alex North)

3. End Title (4.24)

Crossing the Line (Ennio Morricone)

4. End Titles (3.26)

And the Band Played On (Carter Burwell)

5. And The Band Played On (4.33)

It's my Party (Basil Poledouris)

6. It's My Party (3.19)

Careful, He Might Hear You (Ray Cook)

7. Main Theme (3.59)

Return to Paradise (Mark Mancina)

8. Looking At You (4.28) Excellent Track

Instinct (Danny Elfman)

9. Everybody Goes (3.06)

The Tailor of Panama (Shawn Davey)

10. Harry Pendel: The Tailor Of Panama (4.13)

The Linguini Incident (Thomas Newman)

11. Habanera (3.08)

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Mark Isham)

12. Into Love And Out Again (4.59)

Mobsters (Michael Small)

13. Theme For Mara (4.46)

Guilty by Suspicion (James Newton Howard)

14. End Title (3.45)

White Palace (George Fenton)

15. Main Title (3.05)

Lover's Prayer (Joel McNeely)

16. Main Title (4.16)

Lovesick (Philippe Sarde)

17. Main Theme (5.58)

Zelly and Me (Pino Donaggio)

18. Zelly And Me (4.31)

CD 4: 77.45

Dead Again (Patrick Doyle)

1. The Headlines (3.23)

Dolores Claiborne (Danny Elfman)

2. End Credits (5.14)

Pacific Heights (Hans Zimmer)

3. Part II (7.27)

Bloodline (Ennior Morricone)

4. Out Of The Past (2.47)

Bliss (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek)

5. Wedding (4.14)

Cruel Intentions (John Ottman)

6. Pussy (2.17)

Wild Things (George S. Clinton)

7. Main Title (2.56)

Presumed Innocent (John Williams)

8. Presumed Innocent (4.12)

Damage (Zbigniew Preisner)

9. The Last Time (3.01)

The Stars Fell on Henrietta (David Benoit)

10. Theme And Variations (4.18)

Rich in Love (Georges Delerue)

11. Stop Thinking About Her (3.49)

The Stand (W.G. Snuffy Walden)

12. Ain't She Beautiful (6.00)

Golden Gate (Elliot Goldenthal)

13. Golden Gate (3.36)

M. Butterfly (Howard Shore)

14. M. Butterfly (2.01)

Pavilion of Women (Conrad Pope)

15. Together Forever (2.52) Excellent Track

Tai Pan (Maurice Jarre)

16. Main Title (3.48)

Othello (Charlie Mole)

17. Main Title (3.12)

Much ado About Nothing (Patrick Doyle)

18. Overture "re-recording" (4.19) Excellent Track

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (Cliff Eidelman)

19. A Hero's Welcome (7.26) Excellent Track

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