Customer Reviews

Around the World in 80 Days (Expanded Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Victor Young...So many scores, so few recorded. Very few of his works have been released, the majority sit shamefully in the Paramount vaults with little hope of seeing light of day or being licenced to others to release. This wonderful composer's work is literally incarcerated. Thank heavens then that we at least have one of his finest scores available to us and in an expanded form to boot. Literally an oasis in the desert.This wonderfully evocative score takes the listener on an aural tour of the world in less than 80 minutes. Each piece is masterfully composed from the quirky theme for Passepartout to the beautiful melody of "Indian Countryside".
The composer's vast experience out west shows through triumphantly in "Transcontinental railway" and especially in "Sioux attack", surely one of the most exciting film music cues.
The score is vibrant and melodic throughout enrapturing the listener in its exotic tones and is a fine example of how a really good score can stand on it's own two feet away from it's source material.
The recording is in stereo and in great shape. It's sad to say that apart from a few examples they just dont write music for films like this anymore. Bombast and bluster have totally replaced the simple sense of sentiment and melody. Victor Young was a genius at melody and a very fine songwriter. He wont be forgotten as long as wonderful works such as this are allowed to shine.
I can thoroughly recommend this score and urge you to add it to your music collection without delay. You wont be disappointed

4 Stars not 5. I'll tell you why: This new digital disc is a pleasure. The added tracks are great. The sound is great. The score is great. My only complaint is why oh why was an alternate track used for the opening track. Why wasn't the same track used as on the original LP and earlier CD on MCA? On this new version track 1 "Around The World" Part 1 ends in a whimper. The earlier version, this track ends with an explosive climax (tympani and a fantastic cymbal clash). What is wrong with these people? Didn't they think anyone would know the difference? That's the only thing that spoils this release for me. 4 stars not 5!

I have been waiting for years for this fantastic soundtrack to become available on CD. There was a used copy for $80.00 available, but I was wise and waited. I personally believe that this is one of the most beautiful film scores ever written. The composer, Victor Young, unfortunately died very shortly after the release of the motion picture in 1956. His score, however, lives on. Listening to it gives me the feeling that I have travelled to these many exotic countries, and the wild west selections also provide the illusion that one is back in the romantic and rough era of the golden West. I could not have been more excited and thrilled when this entire soundtrack was released with additional score selections not previously available! It is a top ten addition to my collection of outstanding motion picture scores!!!!

It is good to have the crystal quality of digital sound (and also stereo -as the original LP is rare in stereo). It really makes much of the instrumentation much more clear, and adds greatly to one's enjoyment. OTOH, if you are looking for some great new music from the added tracks you are certain to realize why they were not included way back when. If you have a CD of this already, don't bother to get the 'expanded' version.

One of the greatest soundtracks from one of the greatest movies of all time, 'Around the World in 80 Days' is a CD that I listen to constantly.

Whenever I hear it, I am immediately transported to all of the amazing places in the film.
It makes anything, homework or any kind of housework, so much easier.

As a bonus, you get some wonderful history about the composer and the making of the movie in the CD pamphlet!!!

I cannot recommend this music enough!

Absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!!!

This is a superb soundtrack to a great film. It's an oscar winning score which is well deserved by Victor Young(1900-1956)who was a great composer, a genius in fact when it comes to melody. I fully recommend this soundtrack and the music of Victor Young, who, sadly, was taken away from us too early in 1956.

Remember the fifties? Remember those early glorious days of high fidelity stereo? Remember motion pictures so big that you could only see them in special theaters with huge projection screens? If you do -- and even if you don't -- this classic score by Victor Young will evoke all of the above and much more.

Young is best known for his score to FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. His music is marked by clean melodic lines of hummable dimensions.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS is a huge entry in Young's film score oeuvre: it won the Oscar for him in 1956, albeit posthumously. (Young had been nominated 22 times but never won).

In this classic, digital transfer from the original master tapes, you'll hear the score as never before, certainly far better than folks did when it was originally presented in a severely truncated version on vinyl LP.

The tune itself - from the Main Title - became one of the biggest hits of the 1950s: it was recorded by Mantovani and many other artists.

This is an essential item in anyone collection of great movie scores of the Fifties. If you like full throated, big spectrum, symphonically performed soundtracks, with a great popular appeal, this score is for you!

My sister had the LP of this when we were kids. We used to dance to it. Hearing it again after many years, I find it an imaginative and dreamy piece of music to listen to. And I would think that even today, children would love this music.

The expanded edition is a treat-- about thirty more minutes of music than the original LP. And the remastering is incredible! It has absolutely delicious sound!

Now, I want to see the movie again! :-{D}

Victor Young was one of the most brilliant film composers that ever lived and also was one of the most ignored ones.Mike Todd's "Around the World in 80 Days"(1956) is his masterpiece and its brilliancy is reflected in how Young integrated in his underscoring authentic music frome the different countries the main characters (David Niven and Cantinflas) of the film visited on its trip.
This soundtrack is "a must" for collectors. Highly recommended.

A definitive piece of collection, composed and conducted by the Hollywood Golden Age Maestro Victor Young