Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

When purchasing this cd set, I expected the magnificence that is the movie soundtrack, all song with full orchestra. These cds sound as if all of the music comes utterly from a synth keyboard, which is most likely the complete truth. I wanted the real thing, and mistakenly bought a cheap imitation. If you enjoy synthesized orhcestrations, I'm sure you'll enjoy, but
this is as far from what I wanted as possible. I should have used more caution, and am going to attempt to return the cds. If you want The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, invest money in the offical soundtrack, as it was used in the movie, not this.

This isn't even worth $5.00. Everything about the packaging makes one think it is the soundtrack from the movie. Sadly it isn't.

even thought this is 23 dollars and 3 cds it is miss leading it is only performed by key board and some string intraments and is very well way off target

Okay, I got this as a gift. The giver thought it was cool to get me this all-in-one set (I had asked for all three movie soundtracks) and didn't realize that it wasn't actually the score from the movies. I gave it a listen and was pretty disappointed. I'm not really a synth fan and while there are some songs that sound pretty good, I much prefer the "real" thing. The biggest disappointments were on the Return of the Kings portion. Into the West is on there twice and is sung by someone who is definitely NOT Annie Lennox. I am a big Annie fan and I really love this song so hearing someone else sing it (not that they were bad) just really set my teeth on edge. And another one of my favorites from Return of the King, Steward of Gondor, when Billy Boyd sings. That of course isn't even on this disk.

If you were affected by the music and score of the movies and want to listen to the music on its own, buy the real soundtracks. This version just doesn't do it for me.

So, I actually bought this at the local Wal-Mart b/c I wanted the Fellowship of the Rings soundtrack (The first CD) They didnt have it in stock, so I saw this 3 cd set and i was like...O wow! Only 24.98??? Umm...let's see...Im getting this one. So I bought it and was really excited that i got such a good deal...well needless to say i didnt. I listened to them when i got home and from the first song i realized that i had made a big mistake. The overall sound is extremely cheesy b/c of the synthesized recordings. It almost seems to be making fun of the beautiful originals by Howard Shore. They have taken out all of Enya's works and some of the most powerful songs. Concerning Hobbits sounded so horrible that a friend and I would just turn it on to get a good laugh.

On the second disk, Evenstar, (My favorite song in the movie) , was surprisingly well done in the beginning vocals. Then, when the "orchestra" comes in the song is completely trashed of anything good it had. All of the other songs on the disc are terrible and you shouldnt waste your time.

The third disc was equally horrible. It opens with Into the West which is sung by a girl who needs to take some singing lessons and is definitely not Annie Lennox. The song also appears twice on the disc for some reason. The rest of the CD is equally cheesy and poorly done.

Overall, if you are a fan of beautifully performed music and powerful orchestrations, stick with the originals. Do not be fooled with this knockoff.

Another viewer incorrectly stated that this was played by a "medicore orchestra" this is not an orchestra at all, it is a guy and his synthesizers. (who apparently goes by the code name: MASK"

I would save the money you would spend on this and buy the 2 disc set from Silva with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nic Raine, that is of course assuming you already have the original soundtracks and are looking for it being played by a different orchestra.

I got tricked too. I was all excited about getting all three and didn't really check into it before I bought. Buyer beware. Wish I had read the reviews! At least it was only 16.00 that I paid.

There should be a lawsuit against the makers of this cd for charging $[...] for "Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Trilogy". In reality it sounds like a 13 year old made it in his basement with an old mixing board and an i-mac. The songs don't even resemble the real music. Please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere for great Tolkien music.

As an added note. I finally threw these CDs away, rather than donate/sell them, because I didn't want some poor soul at the Goodwill or Half-Price Books to waste time and money with them as I did.

I picked up these CDs, thinking that it was the orchestral soundtrack to LOTR. Not exactly.

Upon listening to the contents, I noted that the recording sounded distinctly different from the orchestral music of the films. After closer inspection of the package, I see now that it is "performed by Mask."

I have a feeling that "Mask" is basically one person armed with a battery of synthesizers. Listening to the CDs, I have this mental image of Yanni, outfitted in chain mail, giving a one-man keyboard concert from the highest level of Minas Tirith....

Then again, Howard Shore's music is so strong that the CD's are not an entirely disagreeable listening experience. I find myself actually liking them at times, not for the synthesizer timbre, which is sometimes painful, but because they actually sometimes closely evoke the orchestral score.

But really, if you want the LOTR soundtrack, get the orchestral recording, not this!

I was hoping that, since I already had the soundtracks, this cd would be different; and it was. All of this music was rewritten for a music synth. I liked hearing the computerized version of this music. But if you do not want this as a supplement to what you already have, just know that it really is the same music, just performed by computers. On some tracks it is hard to tell the difference, but on others it is obvious that the music is synthesized. Also, before you buy, read the track lists. There are a couple songs that MASK did not perform on this album.