Filmtracks: Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox


Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox: (Jerry Goldsmith) In one of the most comprehensive compilation sets ever to be released in the genre of film music, the Varèse Sarabande label has built a 6-CD set based on the vast collection of material written by composer Jerry Goldsmith for films of the studio 20th Century Fox. According to the label, the set is kicking off a year-long celebration of Goldsmith's 75th birthday by Varèse Sarabande (which already announced in late 2003 that they will be releasing an SACD of Goldsmith's rejected Timeline score). Before diving into the debate about the concept of the 6-CD set itself, as well as the circumstances of its release, a summary of its contents may help you decide if it is worth the enormous expense. The set does not include all of Goldsmith's work for Fox (there are six exclusions, with Capricorn One and Sleeping with the Enemy most notable in their absence), but does offer at least one cue (and often many more) from Goldsmith's 39 other projects for Fox to date. For a comprehensive track listing, browse further down this page. All of the material on the first three albums has been released before, with the first album showcasing Goldsmith's war/action music, the second album containing Westerns, and the third album limited to suspense and horror. A considerable amount of the material on the first two albums has been recently released by Film Score Monthly in its limited Silver Age series. The third album contains a strong collection from The Omen Trilogy. The three latter CDs are the ones that will likely interest the collector of more obscure Goldsmith scores. Among the more notable first-time releases are cues from Von Ryan's Express, Fate is the Hunter, The Agony and the Ecstasy (the original recording), and Alien, from which the original main titles and a medley of unreleased cues is offered for the first time. While most had never been heard even on commercial LP albums, The Chairman is making the transition for the first time. Although many of these scores have been bootlegged, a few of them (such as Fate is the Hunter) are truly new to the ears of even the most saavy Goldsmith collectors. More modern collectors will recognize The Vanishing as the only recent new inclusion, and that title had a decent bootleg on the market for a long time. In sum, however, there are 79 previously unreleased tracks between those final CDs.


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As a workable set, this Varèse Sarabande product is completely different from any other. When it originally sold from the label's web site, it cost nearly $140 (including shipping). It sold out in two weeks, and on the secondary market, it is likely to fetch considerably higher prices. So is this set worth $150? $200? More? There is a distinct reason why only 1,500 of these sets were produced; the market aim for it is very, very narrow. Even within the film music collector genre, only a few of the most avid Goldsmith collectors will likely have the money or need to seek this set. As a visual and aural product, the set is outstanding. The 64-page booklet maintains the label's highest standards of their other "Club" releases. The sound quality has been mastered with great attention to detail on the older material (and a positive difference can be heard on the most recent unreleased score, The Vanishing, which even has material beyond the bootleg). Everything about this product is spectacular, and you'd have been wise to buy a few and leave them sealed as an investment. The set is very obviously a labor of love for executive Robert Townson and everyone at Varèse Sarabande. A debate continues, however, about the viability of the set, however. If someone only wanted Fate is the Hunter and nothing else, then that person would pay extraordinary sums for just four cues from that one score. The same applies to the 14 minutes from Alien. Frankly, those collectors are simply screwed; the set was meant to be a complete package. Additionally, the set sold out so quickly (and can thus be marked up astronomically) that there was no chance for reviews of the product before the sell-out date. The set was announced on the 10th of February, sold out by the end of that month, and shipped in late March, leaving the less Internet-capable collectors, or those who wanted to read reviews about it, in the dark. A logical argument has already been made that the desired music would have been much more attainable by avid, but less rich Goldsmith collectors had it been offered in three limited 2-CD sets for $44.99 each (for instance). As it is now, many of the sets will sit in boxes by people who bought several of them as investments. There are those people, of course, who think that spending $150 on any set of CDs is absurd, and to an extent, those people have a good argument. At what point does a tribute simply lose all of its practicality? If you already have most, if not all, of the Goldsmith music you want, then there's really no point in trying to locate a copy of this set. If you love and value Goldsmith's career as the folks at Varèse Sarabande do, however, then this product is for you. ***

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