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I'll be very happy to receive an updated soundtrack for Goldfinger in terms of sound quality. However, I'm sure many would agree with me that it would have been nice to have a more expanded or complete soundtrack. I assume the tapes really are lost or haven’t been located yet. Given this, it's clear that La La Land have done what they can for this classic Bond soundtrack.
Fortunately, we can continue to enjoy the stellar work that @mattjoes has done in his reconstruction project alongside this new release, which IMO is the definitive version of the missing tracks until the "real" tracks are ever released. Thank you again for your efforts on this, Sir!
Indeed, if a specialized editor like LLL could not find the mythical tapes, it's one more nail in the coffin for a complete edition, I guess.
This being said, the bits available on the site are of very good quality. A sound quality update was really needed for this one, so this is great.
Must admit the lack of new material probably lessens my interest a bit, but as chrisesqetc says, LLL have obviously done what they could with the material they had. And the alternate take of the song is interesting, with Bassey giving a bit more of a loungey, playful performance- I think I might actually prefer it, even.
But any 007 score release is welcome, hopefully there will be yet more on the way at some point.
I wish they had included the other Newley demo in the album. My copy of it is not in great quality.
Assuming WBD did prepare the artwork for GF, of course.
You've captured my own feelings nicely here, @chrisesqetc.
Also very glad (and grateful) to have new remasters of some of my favourite Bond tracks, but can't help but be disappointed it's not an expanded release. However, as we say, I'm sure LLL did everything possible to make that happen (if it even was possible), so no fault to them for their efforts.
I do wonder if they'd have perhaps been better served to drop the announcement and album details at the same time, without a teaser, to better manage expectations. A bit of a marketing misstep?
And I'll add my thanks to @mattjoes for his incredible work on the reconstruction cues, as well. Incredibly authentic to the film source. (RE: An official expanded release), in the words of Jill Masterson, "Who needs it?!" ;)
https://warmbutter.com/albums/goldfinger/
Thank you. I have this suspicion the art for the last three albums has been put together very quickly. The first ones seemed to be a bit slicker in the details. Also, look at the incorrect letter size in the back cover, in SCORE PRESENTATION and ADDITIONAL MUSIC.
I don't really mind any of this, it's just pointing out things. Though I don't think I'll be buying Goldfinger, I'm extremely happy the Bond scores continue to get re-releases that have been expanded whenever possible.
"Please note that our contract stipulates that Goldfinger and any future Bond titles will be sold exclusively through the 007 store and the La La Land Records website for the first 90 days of its release. Should there be any remaining stock of the agreed upon 5000 unit run then, and only then, are we allowed to offer the Bond titles to other stores. There was a lot of back and forth negotiating the terms of this deal with a lot of different parties involved."
A positive signal, I think. If all goes well, more is to come!
I wholeheartedly concur,thank heaven this release doesn't wound quite as deep as it otherwise would have because we have mattjoes fairly faithful reconstructions to complete the score.Infact my only churlish quibble would be with the track nightclub source as i feel to my ear the first 3 or 4 notes of the repeated passage don't quite mimic the kinda guitar double strum that i think vic flick employed in his original performance,but i guess this wasn't recreatable with virtual instruments.
I'm enjoying this release though; there's an improvement in the quality of the sound from the 2003 remaster, which I'm sure the audiophiles amongst us will articulate with more precision than me. There seems to be less distortion to my ears - notably in the brass and piccolo-heavy passages of the score, as well as the frequent glissandos in the harps. Some of the hiss is reduced too and I'd say overall there's more clarity in the instrumentation: take the pizzicato double bass in 'Into Miami' which is more pronounced and the plucking of the harp in 'Teasing The Korean'.
The liner notes are informative and the packaging design is very pleasing. It's also great hearing Shirley Bassey's alternate take of the title song, which I haven't owned in high quality before now. Anthony Newley's rendition is as creepy as ever. I didn't realise there were two versions until there was mention in this thread. Here's the other one if you haven't heard it:
By the way, for the completists, here's the end title as you actually hear it in the film (I've edited it using the newly remastered tracks):
https://mega.nz/file/iJMmUQyR#XNZ_1O91kCzgPX0uvqAf4tWYvwo3JVNttgBBcPuPifM
I took the liberty of neatening the edit when Shirley sings 'he loves only gold', as it's quite sloppy in the film (0.37 in).
As well as now owning a superior mix of a seminal Bond score, I also see this purchase as a demonstration to EON (and LLLR) of my commitment to future Bond releases :)