La-La Land’s lavish presentation presents the score anew: fully restored, remixed and mastered from the first generation multi-track masters by Bruce Botnick, the original album co-producer and Goldsmith’s long time scoring engineer.
“To put together the complete score the decision was to go back to the original Analogue 16-track 2-inch 30 i.p.s. masters,” Botnick explains. “John Davis at Precision Audiosonics baked each of the 37 rolls in a convection oven at 110º for eight hours so that they were playable, then rolled out a marvelous 3M 56 IsoLoop 16-track machine with brand new heads. The tapes were resolved at 60Hz to maintain the original orchestral pitch and sync. The Analogue-to-Digital transfer was done from the 16-track through the latest Black Lion A/D convertors and recorded to Pro Tools X at 192kHz 24-bit.”
This 3-CD set presents the score for the 1979 theatrical release (filling disc 1 and part of disc 2) and also premieres the legendary early “rejected” cues that Goldsmith recorded prior to composing his famous main theme. The 1979 album program (much of which is performed and edited differently as compared to the film) completes disc 2, with disc 3 offering additional alternates (including those heard on the previous Sony expanded release) along with a wealth of bonus material. Among the highlights are a collection of early takes of the “Main Title” (including extensive stage chatter), isolated segments featuring Craig Huxley’s famous “blaster beam” and assorted synthesizer excerpts, the domestic CD debut of Bob James’ disco cover version of Goldsmith’s theme and Shaun Cassidy’s vocal version of the love theme, “A Star Beyond Time.”
Reissue co-producer Mike Matessino (who handled restoration and editorial efforts) collaborates with Jeff Bond on the thoroughly researched album notes which feature interview excerpts by Goldsmith, Botnick and performers Huxley and David Newman. The clamshell packaging and 40-page full color booklet are designed by Jim Titus.
