Customer Reviews

Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For nearly 3 decades man has been searching for the lost Indiana Jones soundtracks. Fortune & Glory, it seems, is just beyond our grasp. Yes, they are incomplete and are missing several prominent cues that were omitted for time in order to release single-disc expanded albums. Still, there's enough missing material to keep even the most persistent Arkeologist from obtaining the one, true, Arkival edition of these classic scores and enough to warrant another major release at some point in the future. I'm still giving this set 4 stars because the remastered audio quality is phenomenal and a huge improvement with greater dynamic range, sub and mid-range clarity than on the 1995 DCC release of Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981 Film) and the Polydor release of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and the unforgiveably abridged Warner Bros. Records release of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack as well as the expanded bootlegs ripped from the DVD Dolby rear channel mix with ambient sound effects I've had to endure for nearly a decade.

So just what's missing?

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK:

(The Concord set is missing 4 minutes, 18 seconds of Raiders of the Lost Ark that keeps it from being the complete score):

* The Rolling Ball (Insert) (0:10)
o aka Escape From The Temple (insert)
o Has been bootlegged as "Unused Music"
* Marion Into The Pit (0:36)
o Released on the 1995 DCC LP (included at the end of "The Well Of Souls")
* Escaping The Pit (2:05)
o aka Indy Rides The Statue (Original Version)
o Has been bootlegged as "The Mummy Cave"
o Appeared on an early prototype of the Concord Raiders disc as "Indy Rides The Statue" in high quality
* Escaping the Pit (Alternate) (0:42)
o aka Indy Rides The Statue (Alternate)
o Has been bootlegged as "Through The Wall (Alternate)"
* The Desert Chase (missing sections) (total about 0:45)
o Released on the 1995 DCC LP & CD



INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM:

(The Concord set is missing about 21 minutes of Temple Of Doom that keeps it from being the complete score):

* Shanghai, 1935 (0:12)
* The Nightclub Brawl ("Anything Goes" overdubs) (0:40)
* Fast Streets Of Shanghai (missing section) (0:08)
* Over The Himalayas (revised section 1) (0:38)
o Is available in "Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures" as "MAP_TEMPLEOFDOOM"
* Over The Himalayas (revised section 2) (0:04)
* The Village (1:12)
* Indy And The Villagers (Alternate) (3:21)
o Is available in "Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures" as "TD_PANKOTSECRETS_A_QUI" and "TD_PANKOTSECRETS_B_QUI"
* Shankara / Fortune And Glory (2:17)
* To Pankot Palace (Revised Section) (0:52)
* The Maharajah (0:35)
* The Feast (1:03):
o Snake Surprise (0:19)
o Eels (0:05)
o Bugs (0:16)
o Soup (0:04)
o Desert (0:11)
o Chilled Monkey Brains (0:08)
* A True Believer (4:07)
* The Black Sleep Of Kali (1:28)
* Indy Wakes Up (0:50)
* On The Rope Bridge (2:05)
* End Credits (Missing Section) (0:26)
o Available on the CD The Indiana Jones Trilogy performed by the Prague Philharmonic

In addition, the full version of "Sanskrit Ceremony" has never been released (exact length unknown, probably around 9 minutes)



INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE:

(The Concord set is missing about 21 minutes of The Last Crusade that keeps it from being the complete score):

* Escape From The Train (New Opening) (0:15)
* Packet From Dad (0:53)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Package From Dad"
* Inscription On The Rock (1:00)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "The Legend Of The Holy Grail"
* Flight To Venice (Clean Ending)
* X Marks The Spot (Clean Opening)
* X Marks The Spot (Ending) (0:45)
* The Catacombs (2:37)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Into The Catacombs"
* Escape From Venice (Opening) (0:02)
* Family Reunion (2:06)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Papa Jones" or "The Two Joneses"
* Family Reunion (New Ending) (0:10)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Papa Jones End Tag" or "Don't Call Me Junior"
* Elsa's Betrayal (1:59)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Put Down The Gun"
* Blasphemy (Opening) (0:02)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "To Berlin" or "The Road To Berlin"
* Biplane Chase (Film Version) (1:43)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Keeping Up With The Joneses (Film Verion)" or "The Birds Of Charlemagne"
* Death Of Kazim ("Nazi Theme" Insert) (0:07)
* Death Of Kazim (New Ending) (0:20)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Indy Fanfare, Part 2"
* On The Tank ("Nazi Theme" Insert) (0:07)
* On The Tank ("1 Shot, 3 Nazis" Insert) (0:04)
* The Breath Of God (2:51)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Henry Is Shot" or "Papa Jones Shot" or "Professor Jones Is Shot"
* Unused Indy Fanfare (0:14)
o Has been bootlegged, sometimes as "Indy Fanfare, Part 1"
* Iskenderun (Source Music) (1:57)
o Has been bootlegged
* Der Koniggratzer (Source Music) (2:39)
o Has been bootlegged
* Der Koniggratzer (Timpani Overdub) (0:50)

The collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams has been among the most fruitful of any director/composer pairing in movie history, and it's no slight against Spielberg or his actors to say that the soul and to some extent smarts in the Indiana Jones tril-- excuse me, tetralogy is the music. These scores have been shortchanged on record over the years, so to get this 5-CD boxed set with expanded editions of the "Raiders," "Temple of Doom" and "Last Crusade" soundtracks is a treat. However, a word that rhymes with treat also comes to mind, and Williams fans should be excused for feeling a little cheated. This box gives us more of the music, but not all of it, and cues are arbitrarily truncated or presented as disconnected fragments instead of segueing into one another as in the movies. The music for the truck chase in "Raiders" was presented complete on the DCC issue some years ago, but for some reason it's subjected to several needless cuts here. The equivalent set piece in "Last Crusade"--the tank sequence--is presented so that the music from the middle of the scene comes before the beginning and end of the scene. Would it have been too much trouble to string it together to follow in sequence?

Naturally, I'm glad to have the music on CD in any form, but this set feels like a missed opportunity when you consider the deluxe, completist treatment that the "Lord of the Rings" and 1977-83 "Star Wars" trilogies have gotten on disc. And if this sounds like nitpicking from a movie geek--well, what other audience is a 5-CD set of film music supposed to reach?

Ok, here is what I thought of it after a thorough listen.

It's a great collection considering the last time I had these they were on cassette tape.

Sound quality..
This top notch on most of the tracks.
There are a few tracks though like on "Temple of Doom" and "Last Crusade" that have a muffled sound to them. They aren't as crisp sounding as others. I guess they got it cleaned up as good as they could.

Music..
A fair warning, if you are looking for a complete soundtrack set with these you'll be disappointed.

Another reviewer said that some music is truncated (trimmed down) and missing. He's correct on that. A few tracks in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Temple of Doom", and "Last Crusade" have missing or truncated (trimmed down) tracks. They could have used more of the 5th disc to put these on, you'll notice if you flip the disc over there was plenty of space left. They also used "album versions" for some of the songs instead of film versions".

Even though this set isn't complete I still think its worth it because we get a few tracks that has never been released before. It's a joy to me because like I said the last time I had these 3 were on cassette. Also if your an Indian Jones fan you will love this.

Box it came in..
It's nice but its a tight fit. If your worried about tearing or damaging the sleeves I would recommend holding the box at an angle and tapping it on the back to get the individual sleeves out. Otherwise you might run a risk of tearing the edge or top of them trying to get them out.

In all I think Intrada or Film Score Monthly should have handled this production because they seem to always give %100 detail in their box sets. If you want an example their work here's a link to the Superman: The Music (1978-1988) Complete Set. http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=8874

As an expanded edition of the 3 earlier films, the set contains a lot more music not available for many years. While it was exciting to hear the many new tracks, it was really disappointing that the most exciting track on "Raiders" - Desert Chase - is the edited cue missing about a minute of music that was available in the earlier DCC Classics album.

There were no information that the set contains edited cues on the packaging. Only when one has the set and reads inside to find Laurent states that he uses the original album edits.

Not only that there were pitch problems in Raiders and Temple of Doom where some cues are faster/slower resulting in either pitch higher or lower especially when compared to earlier editions of Raiders and Temple of Doom. Raiders - Map Room - is worst in being faster and out of pitch. One gets the feeling that the tracks were either speed up to make room for more tracks...or just plain sloppy mastering...

While claiming to be remastering from the original 24 tracks masters, tracks available previously are used to for the remaster, and not new transfer. Only the unreleased tracks are transferred from the original 24 tracks masters.

Sound quality is clear and more upfront but it is no excuse for the pitch problems...probably somebody transferred the mastertapes indifferently.

The Last Crusade is for the most part are free from these defects. Even though these are remastered editions, they should have been handled and mastered more professionally, not with the out of pitch issue present. Sadly, while we can rejoice at the availability of the unreleased tracks, we are left with a product that should have been more than what it is.

Caveat Emptor..

Some twenty-seven years ago I was given two passes for the press-sneak preview of Steven Spielberg's and George Lucas' production of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Incredibly, I could not get anyone to go with me because they had no idea what the movie was about. As soon as the lights went back up I could not wait to find the LP soundtrack. It took an agonizing week. This week I felt some of the same excitement in anticipation of "Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection". This collection is a little treasure. It includes all four soundtrack albums, the first three with previously unrecorded music, plus some wonderful additional material, a film booklet and a worthwhile CD. While the recordings of "Raiders," "Temple of Doom," and "Last Crusade" come close to being full scores, "Crystal Skull" is simply the recent soundtrack album without additional music, and that is a disappointment (more of the music from the opening scene could have been added). Still, this is a musical treat, and something of an appropriate tribute to John Williams. Williams wrote one of the most recognizable themes in film history for Indy, and the collected scores are amazing. "Raiders," alone, is perhaps the singular adventure score. The production values and packaging by Concord Records are first-rate, and the price is fair. We film fans are simply passing through history; this collection is history! Enjoy!

Since the 1980s, Indiana Jones music has been pretty hard to come by. The soundtrack to Temple of Doom has been out of print for ages, very hard and very expensive to track down. Raiders was given an expanded release in the 1990s but went out of print pretty quickly. Last Crusade has been available on CD pretty much since it first came out. Now, finally, we have them all together in one set along with the soundtrack to the recently released Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

First, the good news. Temple of Doom and Last Crusade are expanded so as to be nearly complete. The original soundtrack to Temple of Doom in particular suffered greatly from its low running time, a mere 40 minutes. What was on the original album was great, but clearly a lot of key scoring moments were not included. Now with this set, we have close to 90 minutes of the score and it is a revelation. In the scene when Indy takes the Sankara Stones, we can finally hear the glorious choral piece. The thrilling music for the fight on the bridge finale can finally be heard. There isn't a dull note in the whole score, from the exciting fight and chase music to the suspenseful to the tragic music for the starving villagers to the playful love theme. This is a masterpiece of a film score nearly equal to the original Raiders score, Temple of Doom alone is worth the price of this set. We are also given a couple extra tracks from Raiders that have never before been released. We have about double the amount of music from Last Crusade now. Crystal Skull is merely a re-pressing of the soundtrack issued earlier this year. There are no bonus tracks for Crystal Skull. So, about 90-95% of music from the original three films has been released. This is definitely a good thing and overall makes this set a must-buy!

Now, the not so good news. This set could have been a home run, but falls short in a couple areas of presentation. The presentation is why I can't give this set 5-stars, even though it is some of the best film music ever written. Each movie is given its own disc, then we get a bonus fifth disc with a 17 minute interview and about ten extra tracks from the original three films. The interview is a waste of space, if you own the DVDs or any behind the scenes material on these films then this interview offers no additional insight into the music or the films.

The format they chose is similar to the Star Wars Anthology box set that was released in the early 1990s where each Star Wars film got its own disc and a bonus fourth disc contained extra tracks from all three films. The problem with the Indy set is that the bonus disc is only about 50 minutes long, even including the 17 minute interview. Why then are there are still several notable cues missing from the original films that could have easily fit in this space? The Star Wars box I mentioned was filled to capacity and very little was left off. Here on the Indy set, we get a worthless interview and 20 minutes of unused disc space. Take away the interview and there is plenty of room where remaining tracks could be placed, really making these scores complete. This is kind of a missed opportunity here and mind boggling why the fifth disc is only about half utilized.

Also odd is the insert booklets. We are given no liner notes to this music, just notes from Spielberg that were on the original soundtracks (nice to have but they offer no insight). No track by track analysis, nothing. All we get is a booklet containing some pictures from the movies. This is really disappointing given the wealth of music and thematic material in these films. These scores are just begging for some in depth analysis.

Even with the flaws, I am happy to finally have this music and still recommend this set. Here's hoping we see another release of these scores someday that includes every last note of music. John Williams and Indiana Jones deserve nothing less!

For the past few years, soundtracks to well known motion pictures like Star Wars, Superman, and The Lord of the Rings have been given the royal treatment: boxed sets with every minute of music included and ordered according to the movie (which in the case of Superman and Empire Strikes Back even included some cues that were never in the film).

We've waited a long time for the Indiana Jones films to get their long overdue "completist" makeover, and with Indiana Jones: The Soundtrack Collection, we come as close as we've ever gotten. As many reviews before me have noted, not everything is included, but chief for me is the absence of the "Source Music" that one hears in the background, particularly in Temple of Doom. To note, the Star Wars Trilogy and Superman soundtracks each have source music tracks included (Jabba's Baroque Recital, Lex Luthor's Luau, etc), yet it's visibly lacking for Indy.

Anyways, the ups and downs of this set:

First, the sound quality is beyond perfect. All discs are clean, clear, solid. Many tracks that could have been simple Copy/Pastes from previous CD soundtracks were given just as much of a makeover as the newly released tracks. From a technical point of view, the audio is excellent.

Second, the previously unreleased tracks will be a new enjoyment to most listeners who never bothered to track down "bootleg" soundtracks that existed online for years. I remember getting a complete uncut soundtrack of Last Crusade almost 10 years ago online, and one could easily note the difference between the officially released tracks and the the lesser quality of the uncut.

However, as I mentioned above, not everything has been released. There are noticeable gaps in music for Last Crusade and Temple of Doom. What I really wanted to get was a clean copy of the Pankot Palace banquet music that was playing (traditional Indian sitar and percussion music). Also missing from the TOD soundtrack are much of the background tribal percussion pieces, such as when Indy comes upon the outside shrine to Kali, or the bridge scene before he cuts the rope. Viewers will also be diasspointed to note that "Der Koniggratzer", the German march played at the Nazi book-burning scene in TLC - and for which Williams conducted anyways - is also missing.

Despite these disappointing absences, I'd say there are more pros than cons on this set. It's certainly a welcome addition to my collection, but I'll still need some Last Crusade tracks I got on Napster to round out this set. To me, the best quality "complete set" soundtracks are the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings sets. The same should have been done to Indy, and I can only hope that in the near future, all remaining music cues will be released either for direct purchase, or for download.

I've read some reviews that this is actually not the complete score and that there are pitch problems and some edited cues, but for a person that doesn't have any of the previous soundtracks(like me), this set is perfect.

The CDs came in digipaks, and all them are in a beautiful brown box that if feels like leather(but I don't think is leather), with the logo(the hat and the whip) of Indiana Jones in Gold, very beautiful box, I would've prefer normal CD cases but then the box would've been very bulky.

I'm sure this set if far from perfect, it has its flaws(read the reviews from other Amazon customers) but like I said at the beginning, if you don't have any soundtrack yet, this is a wonderful opportunity, an even if you do have the previous soundtracks I'm sure you will enjoy it too.

I've been yearning for a serious collection of the "Indiana Jones" scores since 1993, when they put out that first "Star Wars" CD box-set. I was thrilled by the DCC release of "Raiders" a few years later, but always had to make do with my cassette-tape version of "Temple of Doom" and a CD of "Last Crusade" that didn't bother to include the entirety of "Indy's Very First Adventure." (Um, wasn't his very first adventure being born?)

Now, thanks to Concord, I have a handsomely packaged, beautifully remastered set of all THREE "Indiana Jones" movies. (Yes, I know that "Crystal Skull" is in there, too...but I don't consider that a real movie.)

Almost all of my favorite musical moments from the series are finally available, though astute fans have pointed out that there are several omissions. For the most part, I can live with these missing pieces.

But what about the awesome book-burning song by the Nazi pep band? That's sort of the "Lapti Nek" of the Indiana Jones movies. I always walk around whistling that tune after watching "Last Crusade."

Perhaps THE release I've been waiting for my entire life, and besides some flaws, I have to admit I'm as giddy as a school boy. I had been amongst the loyal fans who signed a petition for this release, then counted down every second to its release date. And how is it, you may wonder?
Although I was very excited about the new packaging and the unreleased tracks, I have to admit what has gotten me more thrilled has been how great the music has been remastered. It's amazing how many bits and pieces I feel like I had missed before due to the sound quality. I can't describe it as well as you could hear it.
Despite many claiming that the packaging is a bit minimalist, I thought it was quite nice. The case that holds all the discs together is handsome, and I like the fact that all the soundtracks attempted to get the original album cover, and also that they all had their own booklet. The booklets may have been simple, but they were nice.
What can I say about the new tracks? Wonderful to finally have such great cues from all the original, namely Temple of Doom. There are still cues missing, though, but nowhere near as many as before. Now I can listen to the soundtrack for any one of the original three movies and feel like I'm listening to an entire actual score, like I felt before with Raiders, but I couldn't accomplish with Temple or even Last Crusade very well.
I strongly believe that, much like with Star Wars, a box set featuring the complete scores will be released some day in the future, so for now, I'm better off than I have been for the past 27 years.
The only real negative, personally, was that the Desert Chase on Raiders isn't complete, as it was with the DCC release. When I first heard about this, I thought, no big deal, just use the DCC Desert Chase. But upon hearing the remastered scores... I wish they would have put in that entire cue.
But the negatives are hardly even a thought in this IndyFan's mind. I can tell you, from the bottom of my heart... buy this set. It's the best forty-five bucks you can spend.

Trust me.