Most of these copies were bought by retailers, not collectors... And as history shows, they do
not sell at any price! Patience proved to be the best advice.

If you're mad about these, they are still available from their german distributor:

www.colosseum.de

Cheerz,

David

coma, July 14, 2007; 12:23 PM

Thanks, "coma".

I just bought them from Colosseum. I suppose I was a bit impatient - but as I'm in the UK, I wasn't sure I'd get any sort of chance of ever buying them. Limited edition "classic" soundtracks like this may perhaps get into specialist shops but are unlikely to reach the big stores.

I do still wonder what the rationale for issuing a severely limited edition is. What scores are considered approriate for this rather than others? How are numbers chosen?

Anyway, thanks for your advice. I'm very grateful.

All the best

David



david, July 14, 2007; 1:08 PM

Hi David,

I'm glad you managed to get hold of them. Regarding your question, I definitely doubt that
any of these scores would sell more than two or three hundred copies, if there wasn't this
certain hype around Varèse Club editions.
They are just too special and let's be serious - Alex North and Franz Waxman are classic
composers, but in terms of sale a bit more than outdated. Don't mistake me, it's really nice
stuff, but not from a mercantile point of view.

Cordially,

David

coma, July 14, 2007; 1:37 PM

It surely involves legal and contractual reasons as far as how many, I am sure.

Also, I believe that signifying something as 'LIMITED' to a certain number and belonging to a 'CD CLUB', is a very good marketing strategy which makes the overly enthusiastic film music consumer (like myself... I'm becoming less tempted now) to purchase the cd because they feel they have something scarce on their hands.

Besides being referred to as limited and being part of the cd club, these releases you are referring to also where produced by what I would assume is considered the biggest soundtrack producing label in the world as far as film scores.

This halo of clout by some film music enthusiasts further fuels this massive domino effect hysteria when these limited releases are announced over the various soundtrack forums.

Perhaps these releases would not sell out as fast or even at all if nothing was mentioned concerning their limited production.

They are good releases though I must admit.

BTW, you might receive a special bonus from Colosseum.

serifiot, July 14, 2007; 4:20 PM

The profits are not in the first copies they sell, but in the last copies they sell. So composers like North and Waxman will never sell more than 1.000 copies. The old generation collectors is dying slowly and the new generation is after the today composers. Any collectors under 20 collect Waxman and North? What people do on Ebay is simply making money. It has nothing to do with Varese. The fools who pay these crazy prices are those who should go visit colosseum. Don't get fooled by Ebay, the cds are always cheaper by the retailers, don't wait years of course, then the cds are realy sold out and the prices go crazy.
As for Les Miserables, I saw the film many years ago and the music is great, Anne of the indies, I ordered it because I like everything by Waxman. He was a great composer. I have not seen the film and have no clue what the music will be. I trust Varese will pick the good stuff.

Enjoy the music David,
Greetings,
Sijbold (I am 49)

s.tonkens, July 14, 2007; 4:44 PM

You're perfectly right, seri. This is just a clever marketing strategy. I'm only surprised that
this doesn't seem to work with FSM, although they have some sort of religious following.

There are lots of othercompanies who market "limited" releases. In fact, apart from the
major companies, all releases from small lables are limited, but not everyone is using this as a
unique selling proposition.
I remember a mail from John Elborg of Tsunami, who pointed out that most of their releases
had an edition of 1.000 copies. Volcano pressed 500 copies of Alphaville and Gabriel Yared's
very first score, Sauve Qui Peut.

So what?

coma, July 14, 2007; 5:26 PM

"I'm only surprised that this doesn't seem to work with FSM, although they have some sort of religious following."

Don't forget that FSM has released more limited releases than Varese and it is always 3000. If FSM had originally limited some of these releases to 1000, perhaps they would have had more releases that are sold out just like Intrada.

Also, the religious following you mentioned I believe is perpetuated by the fact that FSM issues a magazine even though I'm pretty sure after going strictly online membership has decreased and mostly because of FSM's big soundtrack forum (perhaps the biggest) and the fact that Lukas Kendall frequently contributes to the various threads posted.

serifiot, July 14, 2007; 6:15 PM

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Sijbold, it looks like we have very similar tastes in film scores. I saw the 1952 "Les Miserables" many years ago on TV but don't remember the music and know nothing at all about "Anne of the Indies" though I have recently fallen in love with Waxman's music - particularly the later scores. Thinking about it, I am really buying both of these CDs without having the slightest knowledge of a single bar of the music. Normally I wouldn't do that, but I guess the "sold out limited edition" issue has worked.

I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed, though. And what's this about a "special bonus", Serifiot? Now I really AM intrigued!!

D




david, July 14, 2007; 7:22 PM

You are not alone David. I also purchased these two without even ever having seen the movies and without even listening to any of the music samples. I want to suprise myself with something old yet fresh. I like and appreciate scores from ~The Golden Age~ and listen to them when the mood is right. After all, this is where it all started.

As far as the bonus... I remember reading in one of the threads (I believe it was SC) something about the Varese limited releases being more expensive at Colosseum and someone commenting that people who had ordered from Colosseum received an extra cd as an extra something just for ordering through them.

If I find the thread, I'll let you know.

serifiot, July 14, 2007; 7:46 PM

Yep, don't completely rely on that, but usually Colosseum adds a promo CD to VCL orders.

Good luck and good listen!

coma, July 14, 2007; 10:51 PM

Hi David, i agree that some of the Limited Editions could be too small a release but you have
to look at whos buying and how popular a title might be and of course all the legal issues
involved. I missed a couple titles that i wish i had picked up back when they were available
and i ended up payed a little more for them. Glad you could find your copies. Now Varese
could do something to prevent say a lot of it's sales going to retailers or people who are
buying up copies just to sell by putting a limit as to how many copies of a title one is allowed
to order. As far as i know there is no limit to how many one can order. Also those Varese CD
Club titles were available for order July 2, the July 16 date you are reffering to is when they
will start shipping. Varese CD titles are usually available to order before the shipping date thus
in this case that is why they are sold out before July 16.

tranzishun, July 15, 2007; 10:50 PM