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Forum - General Questions |
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Question
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Bond Scores Re-Mastered
Hi - I have recently dumped some of my old 'Barry' Bond soundtracks in favour of the re-masters and wow! Are 'Dr. No' & 'From Russia With Love' worth acquiring in the re-mastered format? I know the material is the same but how is the sound compared to the originals?
Thanks
Dominic
dljmann, May 21, 2008; 5:56 PM
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Answers
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I think it is appropriate to say there is no significant difference with regard to sound quality. For sound quality reasons, there is no need to replace the previous editions. Eventually I did replace them though, but only after they were on a really good sale (5€ each Bond CD).
Regards,
Urs
handstand, May 21, 2008; 9:05 PM

There is however always the advantage of the extra liner notes by FSM's Jeff Bond, a picture gallery and a unified sleeve design matching with the other expanded releases.
42zaphod, May 21, 2008; 10:30 PM

Thanks guys - I'll hang onto the old ones and wait for a sale to appear!
Dominic
dljmann, May 21, 2008; 11:39 PM

The out of print ones that you have Dominic are probably worth more than the remastered Capitol ones. I am referring to the EMI Manhattan ones, etc.
The Capitol ones are not that hard to find (at least where I am) and are usually discounted.
Urs had provided a nice link not that long ago with discounted Capitol Bond titles
Anyway, I'll agree with the previous posts that there is no significant audible improvement in sound quality other than the fact that some of the Capitol ones are expanded and that their liner notes are more detailed and interesting with some fun trivia and look nice and alike when placed together.
Hopefully one fine day we will see full and complete scores from all the Bond films especially the Bond films that Barry composed music for. Even though the Capitol ones are expanded, I believe that music is still missing. Whenever I watch a Bond film with Barry's music I get the feeling that more music is on these films that is not on the cd soundtracks.
The recent Ultimate 2 DVD Edition releases of all the Bond films have excellent picture quality especially evident in the early Bond films but I don't understand why this so called Ultimate Edition was not released with isolated score tracks.
All DVD's should be released with isolated score tracks!
More likely the conglamerates involved with this milking cow of a franchise are saving this isolated score track feature for another set of Bond DVD's (Platinum Edition?).
If these Ultimate Edition DVD's had been released with isolated score tracks, that would have done it for me since I (we) would have been able to listen to all the great Barry music in its entirety the way it is actually presented in the Bond films.
serifiot, May 22, 2008; 11:15 AM

"are probably worth more"
Why would they be worth more ? Just because they are out of print but with lousy b&w artwork ? Or becasue they're not available at all places like the new ones ? That's nonsense.
42zaphod, May 22, 2008; 4:15 PM

Nonsense or not, it is up to the collectors who are willing to pay and some collectors are willing to pay more than usual just for the reasons you mentioned. Even though the overall production and look of these 'remastered' EMI releases is reason enough and worth getting, the previous releases with their B&W photo inlays are not bad and the sound quality is fine.
serifiot, May 22, 2008; 5:25 PM

The sound quality is surely fine; the releases are surely more difficult to locate. But I would like to SEE someone PAYING more for them than for the remasters. I wouldn't hesitate which one to select even if they cost the same.
42zaphod, May 22, 2008; 5:38 PM

Surely it was not fetching as much as Varese's ''Predator'' (still ridiculous to pay that much for a soundtrack, I think) but I remember I had seen an 80's EMI Manhattan release on eBay (it could have been Amazon, or both) at a higher price than usual compared to the latest 'remastered' EMI releases which are fairly cheap to get a hold of and definitely a must for all Bond fans. As I stated, nonsense or not, some collectors for the sake of collecting I guess, are willing to pay more than the usual cost of what a soundtrack does actually cost which of course is all relative.
serifiot, May 22, 2008; 6:16 PM

That's interesting -- I wouldn't think of it but perhaps some people actually really pay more for it. I have kept some of the original EMI issues, perhaps I'm sitting on a treasure after all.
42zaphod, May 22, 2008; 7:51 PM

Having sold off my original Manhattan label copies - for "peanuts" - on eBay, I'd be surprised if anyone other than a new collector would be willing to pay anything more than a few GBP/USDs etc. for one of the discs.
There are a few exceptions, of course, as the remastered releases presented new music within the body of the original soundtrack album (not just additional tracks) so for those scores, owning the original release may be important (YOLT, OHMSS, DAF and LALD being the scores affected). Also, I recall DAF being somewhat rare in its original release so may fetch a little more and, of the later scores, the original A&M release of Octopussy probably still has a premium attached.
As for the music quality, I do think there is a sound improvement ... especially on the earlier scores. I find the music brighter and sharper and, most importantly, I find the background noise less intusive. Whilst eliminating surface, etc. noise can have its problems (witness the Intrada release of JB's The Last Valley which mars an otherwise superb CD by being a little too heavy on the noise reduction), with these 007 scores no such fault arises.
For example I suggest you compare the last few seconds of the James Bond Theme - all earlier releases (and I've had many on numerous LP and CD purchases) suffer from inherent crackling but on the remastered release this is all but eliminated. It is a much better sound.
Do those of you who suggest no improvement play these CDs through a hi-fi or on a PC?
Mitch, May 23, 2008; 6:22 AM

Hi there
I own every Score from Dr No to Licence to Kill on LP.
Could they be worth something?
thomas151268, May 23, 2008; 9:22 PM

That would depend on a) the condition (b) which version you have & (c) how much a collector is willing to pay. Due to the phenomenal interest in all things 007, most, if not all, merchandise pertaining to it has a value. Here is a US site seling various Bond LPs - this should give you an indication, just remember that dealers are out to make a profit and will not offer you what they will sell it as
http://generalgoods.biz/00bond/bondrecords.html
Dominic
dljmann, May 24, 2008; 2:54 PM

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