Well i placed an order for Gangs of New York as soon as I saw it being advertised. BUT I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT!!!
I've e-mailed Varese but still haven't had a reply.
Anybody else had trouble?

RGStovold, July 15, 2008; 9:57 AM

Im in the UK, i recieved Gangs yesterday and IE today.

anthonynputson, July 15, 2008; 10:22 AM

I just got an email that they sent mine Monday. I called Monday and they said they were sending them out Monday and Tuesday. You should be getting them shortly

itsthenikita, July 15, 2008; 11:32 AM

I ordered mine (the entire set) the morning of the release date.

On 11 July I Emailed them asking where my discs were (I'm in Northern California - they're in Southern California).

On 14 July I received an email saying they shipped - at the bottom of the email it showed the discs mailed on 14 July.

Customer service - not sure what the deal is there....

<UPDATE>
CDs arrived on 16 July 08. Have not had time to listen to them yet.
</UPDATE>

hammon, July 17, 2008; 5:55 PM

- The Bernstein box is great music. Scarlet letter is a revelation (ok, i exaggerat a little bit). Would give *****
- The Poledouris is much better than i thought. I never watched the film. No classical than Conan or Flesh and blood but for Poledouris fans a must have ( i like the photo that shows Poledouris from behind in Ubeda)
- I didn´t bought the other releases (why this Mancini? Burt Reynolds on the front: never).

Kind regards
Peter-Anselm

peter-anselm, July 15, 2008; 7:19 PM

Any Mancini score for me will do but I will turn the front inlay upside down just in case. That should teach Burt a lesson or two.

deg63iami it seems that a lot of SC members have not received their orders to contribute to your thread. It would be interesting to read their opinions though. Since there is no way to pop this thread on top with every new response, I'm afraid it will get lost in obscurity. It will take time to listen to and absorb these scores.

serifiot, July 15, 2008; 9:39 PM

I'm in Australia and got an email that they were posted 9 July; they arrived yesterday, 14th. I've only had a couple of listens but quite like In a Shallow Grave, Iron Eagle reminded me of War Games, although I haven't listened to that more than a few times yet either, and I really enjoy Marie Ward which I ordered too (from the first batch of this incarnation of the club).

manyon, July 16, 2008; 12:01 AM

I bought the box set and Iron Eagle. I have only heard the rejected score to Gangs of New York which is very impressive and Iron Eagle. The linear notes, however, provide no insight as to why this score was rejected. Scorcese has a propensity to use songs in his films but all I remember from the finished film are the two cues by Howard Shore. I found the soundtrack album quite crappy.
Interestingly though, Townson's notes on scores rejected and the preservation of these was quite illuminating and hopefully he will continue to pursue the 'rejected scores' avenue.
Any ideas as to why Bernstein's score was rejected?

Iron Eagle...Yeah, alright! It was okay.

TheSaint.786, July 16, 2008; 5:24 AM

Marie Ward is good. I'm suprised it's still there.

As far as a Bernstein score being rejected... it must have hurt him. How can anyone reject a Bernstein score? The man had clout. They should have kneeled at his presence. What were they thinking? I know what they were thinking... $$$. Why would anyone use such... songs in a film like this? Bono? I want to believe that Scorcese did not have a final say into this.

There is an FSM thread that provides some interesting clues and all sorts of input for this particular release...

http://tinyurl.com/6y7d7g

The following are segments hinting into why Bernstein's score was rejected...

Comment... ''What was Scorsese thinking when he dumped this superb Bernstein in favor of nonsense music? "Gangs...." would have been a much better film with Bernstein's music in place.''

Response... ''Actually, it was Harvey Weinstein who tossed the score. At a Q&A relating to Far From Heaven, Bernstein was asked what happened to his score for Gangs of New York. Bernstein's response was, "Weinstein happened." For his part, Scorsese fought vigorously to have the score retained, but of course it didn't work.''

Another response... ''Yep, that is what I heard as well, it might have been in a different thread here or direct from someone in town I talked to. But Scorcese apparently did not have final cut on the film and was worried that if he didn't go along with dropping the score that he would lose the option to edit his own final cut. I think the film tested poorly with Bernstein's music intact and Weinstein decided it was the sole culprit in low test scores. Someone correct me if I am wrong...

Much of this goes back to what has been discussed here many times before about older composers and current films. It was a tough time in the 90's and early 00's when Bernstein, Barry, Goldsmith and Jarre were having their scores tossed right and left. It seemed as if in some cases there were confused, young directors wanting the big name composer and then somehow not understanding that said composer has a distinct, unique personality to his music, which cannot be simply sonic wallpaper.''

serifiot, July 16, 2008; 6:52 AM

I only ordered these 2 titles;

Gangs of New York (2002); Quite good, but not as good as Bernstein's last used score 'Far From Heaven'. But
'Gangs of New York' is not the type of film for me, so maybe I should seperate this score from the film (since it
wasn't used anyway) and appreciate it as a concert piece. The 'Brass Choir' pieces are best programmed out
unless brass bands are your thing.
The Journey of Natty Gann (1985); In my opinion the least interesting from this set. Average score for Bernstein
(so still good!). The jazzy/boogie woogie tracks (2M2, 2M5, 6M4 or 6M4a) are a bit annoying, but fortunately are
easily thrown out on my iPod (also handy for putting together the music that is split up between discs)
The Scarlet Letter (1995); This is really good stuff. Absolutely beautiful. This score alone is worth the price of the
whole set.
I was rather dissappointed with the artwork. Matthew Joseph Peak has done many good Varese covers but this
painting is very dull. It looks like the cover of a cheap Dickens pocket book. This music deserves better packaging.

The real surprise for me was 'My Cousin Rachel' (1952) by Franz Waxman. The music is really great, and the
soundquality is much better than I expected. How they do it is beyond me, but it's in full stereo and sounds very
clear for it's age. Really good music too. Very pleased with this. One of the better Waxman scores.

chris, July 16, 2008; 12:38 PM

I ordered all 5 plus FIST/Slow Dancing in the Big City by Conti.
Early today both Rachel and FIST were down to 25 copies remaining. I'd agree that the Mancini was the weakest of the lot and I love Mancini Taken as a whole, this was probably the strongest batch ever released by Varese. The Waxman is tremendous, same with the Bernstein box. Iron Eagle is great fun and In a Shallow Grave is a keeper as well.

Gary

ragar01, July 23, 2008; 11:37 PM