Customer Reviews

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Newly Expanded Edition)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As someone who absolutely loved the GNP Crescendo CD, made from the LP master, the flaws with that release should be acknowledged.

- Sound Quality was slightly sub-par.
- The CD has been out of print for a while.

With this release, we not only have the complete score, but we have dramatically improved sound quality, and some of the most informative and detailed liner notes seen for a Star Trek score.

The additional material provides more of Khan's dark, brooding material (The Eels of Ceti Alpha V), with some moments of beauty (Spock (Dies), The Genesis Cave) and some great action cues (Enterprise Attacks Reliant), and missing key moments (Captain Terrel's Death, Buried Alive, Amazong Grace), and it makes for an interesting listen.

In some cases, it is possible to hear separate instruments where a vague notion of one instrument could be heard before.

For those that love the GNP Crescendo CD arrangement, the information is included on how to arrange the cues to match that release.

Highly recommended.

I've regularly listened to the GNP Crescendo release for years and this new release by FSM literally opens up new worlds. Before what sounded like one instrument now is recognizable as more. The music is crystal clear with none of the muddiness of the previous release. It's obvious great care was taken in this project & I can't thank FSM for rejuvenating one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. Now if they can only do the Search for Spock next...

James Horner's classic score to Star Trek: Wrath of Khan (1982) finally receives the treatment it deserves! The previous releases were incorrectly mixed and incomplete, but this release by FSM corrects the mixing issues and contains all of the music written for the film. If your a fan of Horner (or Star Trek) this is a must have!

This newly expanded edition of the soundtrack for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is something I had been hoping for for years, ever since I first saw the picture, heard the music and owned the CD, but this really is a 5-star product! I was already very happy with the expanded edition of the music for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and ever since that one came out, I had been hoping for an expanded version of Star Trek II. (Now let's hope for an expanded album for Star Trek III too. About this music James Horner can be quoted as saying: "It's just a much more interesting score and, for me, a much more beautiful and emotional score than Star Trek II." I find that a bit hard to believe. If only a full extended version of the soundtrack for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock would come out, we could better judge if Mr Horner is right ;)

James Horner's music for Star Trek II has (like the movie itself) always been a personal favorite of mine, in that it defines, for me, what Star Trek is mainly about. The first real, deep impressions I had of Star Trek, when I was an (impressionable) child, were not from the original series, but from seeing this movie and hearing this music, on television. It took a while to sink in, but I was hooked. Emotionally grabbed. Where I adore the the mystery, wonder, eeriness and graceful beauty of the music of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I equally love the grandeur, drama and deep emotionality of the music for Star Trek II: it is more about the 'human element' in Star Trek (especially the relationship between Kirk and Spock. For better or for worse, the above-mentioned impressionable child within me is still alive ...

I already loved the GNP CD, in itself a nice album (especially because we did not have any other option, of course), but missing out on many important (little and some not so little) dramatic and action moments. What strikes me most when listening to the newly expanded edition is how more darkly brooding, eerie and dramatic the music soundtrack is, overall. Also, you get a sense of the story unfolding in the music from beginning to end (no jumping over or rearranging of cues for musical dramatic effect, as in the original issue), giving a nice feeling of dramatic continuity.

As we again learn from the booklet, in the vision of the director Nicholas Meyer this movie was to accentuate the nautical and adventure-story feel ('Horatio Hornblower in space'), and the music was to underline this. The music on the original 45-minute release were most of those cues that related exactly that kind of atmosphere, namely (most of) the music cues that accompany the battle and/or action scenes, although 'Enterprise Attacks Reliant' was one of those cues that was sorely missing in that respect. Within that music, there is the music for the 'aggressor' Khan, with their short, staccato themes, aggressive percussion, pizzicato and col legno playing and restless, short, swirling string figures; the music for Kirk and the Enterprise: those bold and noble and sweeping melodies; the music for Spock, with its restrained nobility and slightly melancholy character, with the warm tones of a wooden flute and pluckings on a harp in the cues 'Spock' and 'Kirk takes command'.

On this expanded edition, many defining moments that were originally missing now are finally to be heared too, like the decisive moment when Spock urges Kirk to take command of Enterprise because that is his first, best destiny (and thereby also in a sense hinting, for those who already know, at his own tragic destiny at the end of the movie), and also, of course, the death of Spock and his funeral/'Amazing Grace'. As a extra bonus there are included on the CD the complete music cue Craig Huxley wrote for the 'Genesis Project' and the original version of the Epilogue (without the music for Spock's coffin on the Genesis planet and without his narration "Space ... the final frontier"). This version of the epilogue is more concise, and there is a slight difference in the way the orchestra sounds: caressing the melodies with more care for detail, to my ears, and with a freshness that sets it apart from the one used in the film. Or is it more a result of different mic'ing and mixing for this particular cue? Certainly a beautiful addition to the album, making it as complete as can get.

The soundpicture of this reissue is more open than the original issue, which sounds really 'pinched' and compared to this one (I use the GNP CD as reference, I have never heard the sound on the vinyl record), allowing for the instruments in the orchestra to register more fully and to really bloom, making for an exhillarating listening experience from beginning to end.

From page 3 to page 12 in the accompanying booklet, we get a nice essay that gives us a consise overview of the music, its composer James Horner, the creative proces of its composition and a bit of its place in Star Trek music history in general, with lots of quotes from known sources, like Jeff Bond's "The Music of Star Trek", Allan Asherman's "The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", and the Cinefantastique and Starlog Magazines. Also, the booklet is graced with many (28 from cover to cover) behind-the-scenes photographs and images from the motion picture itself, which, together with the well referenced and accurately written essay, make it a joy to read. Also, every track has its own little musical-theoretic 'exegesis' and some information about what is happening at that moment in the movie. Very nice and very interesting stuff.

All in all, this is a good year for Star Trek fans, and I for one am very happy. I was excited about Michael Giacchino's soundtrack for Star Trek. The film (as well as the music) itself leaves me a bit puzzled, though, about what to make of it, in the end: is this really Star Trek? We'll be able to judge it better with the following movies ... But when this even more beautiful expanded edition of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (a genuine classic of the genre, IMHO) came out (my wish for ages), I was genuinely delighted. This Film Score Monthly/Retrograde issue is made with the highest respect for the music as well as the fans. It is made by fans for fans, as it were, and it shows in the quality of the product! Highly recommended!

The other 5-star reviews say it all. Throw away the other CD you own and get this one. This is as good as it gets!

Finally! The score for Star Trek II gets the treatment it deserves!

The previous incarnations of the score were incomplete and very muddy sounding. This newest edition contains all the music from the movie and has been remixed to provide very clear, vibrant sound. The score really shines on this CD!

Not only do you get the full score, the liner notes included are very in depth and provide a lot of background into how the score to the movie came to be. I'm sure most of it is information that could probably be found from other sources, but it's very nice to have it all in one convenient package.

It is obvious that, in putting this edition of the score together, a lot of love and respect were shone in pretty much all areas. This is arguably the best Star Trek score ever (either this or the score to The Motion Picture) and it is finally getting the respect it deserves!

I had seen this new treatment of The Wrath of Khan soundtrack recently and decided to go for it. I probably played the old record a gazillion times and enjoyed it. I have never felt that Horner's Trek music surpassed Goldsmith's but the great thing is it didn't have to. We can have both. Besides, Horner was in his 20s when he wrote this and it holds up really well. As he said in the liner notes, he was more interested in the combination of music and picture than just the music itself. This stuff really fits Nick Meyer's vision of nautical to a T. All those horns! Awesome! As far as Trek composers go, I liked Cliff Eidelmann;s STVI score and I liked Michael Giacchino's music for the new film also even though I think I need to live with it a little so it can grow on me some more. I think that the original series composers (Kaplan, Fried, Fielding, Duning, Steiner, etc.) were the best but honestly everybody who has composed for Trek whether it's Jay Chattaway or Ron Jones or anybody, really...they all did a great job. As everyone else has said, this release puts the whole shebang (all the cues and a bonus track) on the disc and I have to admit, having seen this film a lot, it didn't seem new to me. But then I turned it up and listened more closely. There is A LOT of content in here that I have NEVER heard. The clarity and depth is much better than anything out previously. And as a fan, the loving presentation never hurts. And it is obvious that whoever made this...well, it was a labor of love. The liner notes are exhaustive but interesting and the place I bought it from is in Virginia - my home state. I loved it and look forward to playing this again soon...and hoping they do the same with any other Trek scores they can find from any film or episode. Trek music really is its own thing. And that is the best of times! I, too, say highly recommended. If you already have the score CD but don't have this, you DON'T have the score. Get it!

27 years after the movie release, someone somewhere finally realized that this score is not only the highly recognized and thrilling Star Trek II score but also one of the early James Horner (Titanic, Aliens, etc. etc.) compositions - thus leading to our finally getting to listen to nearly 30 minutes of music that was left off the original LP (and 1990 CD release). The disc is accompanied by a 28 page booklet of liner notes, including a well-written description of each track as well as interesting background.

This CD contains all of the cues from the movie, so now we will sit back, listen to this repetitively, and await the Star Trek III release. The music is wonderful, but then you knew that from the original CD and film. The quality of the master is excellent, but don't forget that this was recorded in 1982; it's not quite up to contemporary standards. That said, it's a superior presentation to that of the 1990 CD and arguably better than the 1982 LP. The original Star Trek II CD can now be added to the original Beatles CDs, already serving as coasters.

I won't bore you with 8 paragraphs of jargon, so I will just say this: I own the original CD, and this re-release is light years better in terms of sound quality and presentation. You don't get a huge assortment of new material on the new CD, but the material is so well presented with stellar sound quality, it makes sense to upgrade from the original CD.

I'm glad I bought it.

This has to be one of the best soundtracks of all time! I, like many soundtrack officiandos, have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this extended cut. very glad to see the wait paid off. the sound quality is amazing. took a lil getting used to listening to the tracks in chronological order (that is the order they appeared in the movie) as the GNP Crescendo release was not. most of the added tracks were important additions as others (checkov lies for one) just seemed like filler. the soundtrack had a pace to it. you felt the ebb and flow of the story through the music. welcome additions were enterprise attacks reliant (a track i would have called "the crippling blow") which i though provided a nice bridge between battle in the mutara nebula and genesis countdown. kudos to the people who made this CD a reality. you work was amazing. now... about the search for spock... pretty please with a klingon on top?