Alien(s)

[ehowton]

I have an immediate need for all four Alien scores, and I have swashbuckler332 to thank for this. After reading swashbuckler's revisited mix album, it dawned on me I didn't actually own any of the soundtracks! All my Alien music is on Telarc discs - bits and pieces you understand. Thus begins my quest.

Apparently, the first film is out of print. Damn. The horrifically commuted "Alien Trilogy" soundtrack looks like crap, but I did find the 1999 release DVD which contains the full score as a separate audio track on the DVD for under $10 at Amazon. Thanks for the heads up, again, swashbuckler!

The second film comes in a remastered 'second edition' score which I will have to sneak by the wife to purchase, and the third film will be a sneak as well. I figure in a month I might have them all. I can get away with ordering the DVD because I have the middle two films on laserdisc, and she wants me to replace all my laserdiscs with DVD's. THAT'S going to be a chore. I'll probably never get rid of my Matrix laserdisc - one of the final releases on that media.

The fourth film's score is $4 used on Amazon. Wow.

I'm a little obsessive this way, you know.





And I'm now going to go out and purchase Homeworld 2, a game I've never before played, based on THIS alone. If you still don't get it, watch the trailer. Wow. Also, Firefly writer Jane Espenson will be writing an episode for BSG Season Three. Wow again. I don't know how I'm going to be able to contain myself until all this goodness comes to fruition. Click the image for a direct link to the trailer:





Rec'd a nice gift this past weekend, galinda822 apparently tired of hearing be bitch about not having Office Space to watch with her...bought me the Special Edition release! Woo-hoo; now we're cooking with fire! Perhaps we'll get a chance to watch it together during Friday's Movie Night? Thanks galinda! I'll grill up something special for the occation ;)

Comments

[jesskd26.livejournal.com]

Haha! Now Galinda will get the Office Space quotes now. Im glad I wasn't the only late viewer of this film.

I got Razzoo's and Office Space. Eric, I would suggest some cajun seasoning on whatever you prepare for the occasion, to keep the tradition alive.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll grill her up some engangered croc?

BAM!

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome!

Just so you know, I don't eat anything that's
engangered.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

BAM!

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

Alright Emeril!!!!! :)

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

BAM!

None

[(Anonymous)]

Glad you seemed to find what you wanted...

Christopher

Re: None

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

BAM!

[drax0r.livejournal.com]

The BSG mod trailer looks really good. I was all excited-like while watching. I can't imagine playing it, simply because RTS isn't so much my bag, but it looks hella-cool.

Now then, give me a BSG space combat flight sim and I'm all over it.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I don't really prescribe to that line of thought. I mean, I used to. One day, you wanted to play Diablo II and I was all like, "RPG isn't so much my bag." But it was fun, and I became immediately addicted. But not to all RPG's ever. Just that one (and Dungeon Siege) because it's cool. I haven't been into any RTS since Starcraft either - but I'm sure that's not because I dislike all RTS games, rather, I enjoyed that particular setting. My plan is to enjoy this BSG RTS because it's BSG, not because it's an RTS game.

BAM!

[drax0r.livejournal.com]

I've learned through the years that when it comes to video games, its all about the gameplay for me.

A game can be a fabulously beautiful piece of art set in a world that I find fascinating, but if the gameplay isn't there, it won't hold my attention for long.

I just know my own gaming habits enough to anticipate this. Your milage may vary.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

You're a hardcore gamer. I'm not. You're probably right on the money concerning this.

[drax0r.livejournal.com]

BAM!

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

I seem to have inspired you somewhat with the Alien mix... and I don't mind one bit! Alien is one of my all-time favorite films and scores for a myriad of reasons, and Aliens is one of the best sequels - mostly because it is so very different in so many ways from the original. I even have a tag devoted to the film, the score and the creature itself.

I wrote this paper for school.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I've been putting off purchasing the Quadrilogy now for some years - only $68 at Sam's Club. And I've never seen the 4th film. Not many people enjoyed the 3rd film, but I watched it often and enjoy it for my own reasons. One, the production value was incredible. Every scene was like a work of art - the lighting, the camera work; wow. I also found it very well acted. I'm not saying it was my favorite, but a favorite would be difficult to choosem, because they were all very different movies. Your paper was great, and I never really noticed the sexual themes you brought to light in the first one. I'm used to having several different recordings of my favorite classical pieces by different conductors and symphonies, but I tend to try not to buy multiples of movies (the exception being Star Wars which I have multiples of spread across laserdisc, VHS, & DVD) but I think I'll still get the '99 release even if I do pick up the box set. Now if I can only rip the secondary audio track...

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

I found the Quadrilogy version is worthwhile. While the transfer on the '99 edition was pretty good, the restored edition on the Quad set is amazingly detailed (and a bit warmer, color-wise). Scott and Weaver recorded a new commentary for the box set, different from the '99 edition. The first and fourth films have DTS tracks. Aliens has a commentary track, and there are two versions of each film available via seamless branching - the original and "director's cut" version of Alien, the theatrical and special edition cut of Aliens, an alternate cut of Alien Resurrection that was kind of just done for the hell of it (it adds nothing too the cluttered and silly film). The real prize is a reconstruction of the workprint edition of Alien³, which, while unpolished, gives a better picture of where David Fincher was going with the movie. The supplement for the film goes into a lot of detail as to why the end result is such a mess. It is to Fincher's credit that it is at all coherent.

Alien³ is a horrible sequel, doing everything wrong in that capacity that Aliens did right, but it is too interesting to be dismissed outright, and I think the intervening years and Fincher's subsequent successes have made the film play better now than when it was first released. And the fact is that it looks outstanding.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

It's nice to meet someone who appreciates the production value of that movie. Most simply dismiss the motion picture as a whole.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

It is way too interesting for me to dismiss, from the cheeky canine variation on the alien itself to the way that the religious imagery reflects the film's concieved role as an end to the trilogy. As I said, it also looks fantastic, and makes me feel it is all the more a shame that David Fincher doesn't shoot anamorphically anymore (and has some foul things to say about it) given that this, in my opinion, is the best-looking film in an oeuvre that the strong visual style established in this film is a primary characteristic of. And this was the film that introduced me to Elliot Goldenthal, for which I can not thank it enough.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to hearing the intense score...

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

I have the Alien soundtrack on Vinyl, 1979 edition.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

That would be the first edition.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

That so rocks dude. I gave Tony my turntable so he could throw down a beat.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

The LP is actually the best-sounding source of the score. Of particular interest is how much more vivid and... well... disgusting the serpent sounds on vinyl. That's the gross biological sounding instrument heard prominently in "Breakaway" and the second half of "The Recovery," which scores the deaths of Parker and Lambert in the film.

I also happen to think that the album is definitely a good presentation of the score Goldsmith intended, although there is quite a lot of music in the film that is cool in its own right, not least of which is the redo of the main title.


The Silva CD has very little low end, and the isolated score track on the DVD is very shrill and hissy, and in Dolby 2.0... the LP doesn't sound fantastic, but it sounds a damn sight better than any other presentation of the score with the exception of how it sounds in the Quadrillogy's DTS track for Alien.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

I also have Star Wars.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

My dad has the original and first Star Wars on vinyl, as well as then entire audio on 4-track...remember when they simulcast a showing of the movie in Dallas in the early 80's with the audio broadcast over the radio before stereo TV's? And you seriously need to contain all these in a single post in the future, please.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Anybody ever hear the NPR radio shows? Particularly of the first film, they kind of trailed off after that one, but Star Wars was and remains very exciting.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking I may have. I recall something in my youth on the radio which had very rich sound effects. My brother and I sat in front of my father's Hi-Fi system with him and listened like a page out of an early Americana novel.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

E. T.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Also a case where the LP aces the CD in sound quality - in this case the CD was mastered - as was the one for Jaws - from the original LP masters without any re-equalization. Those masters were created taking the sonic properties introduced by cutting and subsequently playing the record, none of which occur when one plays a CD. And the original E.T. and Jaws albums were different recordings from the score heard in the film, arranged to make better listening experiences when heard on their own. Both discs have been replaced by CDs of the original soundtrack recordings, and so there has never been a decent CD release of either one.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the informative comment. I have a few dozen soundtracks on vinyl thanks to my late brother. He died at 23 but he was a great lover of movies and music. I have few hundred movie posters and about as many records thanks to him.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

And I'll never forget thumbing through his full-color photo-book Caligula when you and I were in 8th grade...

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

Yes, you always had an eye for pornography.

And for thumbing your nose at authority.

I remember when you dropped the pornos,

in front of the vice principals.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I remember you squealing like a pig when that happened.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Heh - I've got the original release on laserdisc, the remasterd original on laserdisc, the special edition on VHS, and DVD. I also have the remastered special 2-disc set soundtrack on CD. And you seriously need to contain all these in a single post in the future, please.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

If you continue to do that, and I delete them, you won't reach your goal either. Hmmmm.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

Quite braging ARSE!!!!!!!!

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

Also could you stop being so ABRASIVE!!!!! You can be like a brilo pad sometimes!!!!!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Heh, if I recall, you gave me half the DVD's I own of Star Wars! Bill gave me the box set as a parting gift...that so rocked too. Remember when Episode I was only released on VHS? *sigh*

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

And The Rocky Horror Picture Show among many others!