You should first learn to post the correct titles so people know what you're referring to..."Chinatown, Clan and Eye of the Needle" is incorrect and had me REALLY confused. You mean...individually, "Chinatown" (which is limited to 3,000, not the 1,000 you claimed), "Eye of the Needle", and "Clan of the Cave Bear" (not just "Clan"). The particular Varese series line you're referring to is called "Varese Encore"...and the definition of "encore" is:

1: a demand for repetition or reappearance made by an audience
2: a reappearance or additional performance demanded by an audience

Which doesn't mean anything different, additional, or specialized, but simply a repeat. That's exactly what Varese has done in these instances...so titling their line "Encore" is entirely appropriate.

I could care less about liner notes...unless there is some sort of extensive restoration, remixing, or additional unreleased tracks that NEED to have liner notes. Otherwise, all I would care about is the MUSIC itself.

kriegerg69, June 1, 2012; 2:22 AM

I agree that this business tactic is rather annoying and a slap in the face
of any collector.


@krieger: Although you might be right, I would suggest not to be more
papal than the pope. ;)

coma, June 1, 2012; 10:45 AM

You should first learn, that when I say "Clan," 99% of the people on this message board know that I mean "Clan of the Cave Bear." It's called an abbreviation. Like when I say..."I prefer 'Barbarian' over 'Destroyer.'" Sorry it threw your brain into a tailspin.

The "1,000 units" wasn't specific to the titles, just a general example. That's called "speaking in general."

What can I say...if I can pick up a soundtrack for a $1 at the local flea market, I like the ones that I pay $25 for to have liner notes. Seems like a fair request. I don't know...maybe I'm demanding.

shawndumont7, June 1, 2012; 11:01 AM

I'm annoyed by a lot of the stuff Varese Sarabande cranks out these days. Went to a junkstore in Ohio awhile back to check out some CD's, from quite a distance away I spotted the unmistakable spines of about 40 Varese recordings... Thought I hit the motherload of $2.00 film scores until I neared and realized they were all part of their series of 60's/70's rock.

Not a film score in the bunch.

victoravalentine, June 1, 2012; 3:37 PM

The big question is for me why an encore like CHINATOWN is not in the Encore line but a regular Club CD ??

Does the price tag have anything to do with it ?? ;-)

goldsmithsonian, June 1, 2012; 6:02 PM

Frankly the Varèse Club has offered the least value for money compared to the other soundtrack specialty labels for many years, so it's nothing unusual. You always get more for the same money from the likes of FSM, La-La Land, Intrada, Quartet and so on.

Varèse's main merit is their many non-Club releases.

handstand, June 1, 2012; 9:24 PM

"You should first learn, that when I say "Clan," 99% of the people on this message board know that I mean "Clan of the Cave Bear." It's called an abbreviation. Like when I say..."I prefer 'Barbarian' over 'Destroyer.'" Sorry it threw your brain into a tailspin.

The "1,000 units" wasn't specific to the titles, just a general example. That's called "speaking in general." "

"I should first learn..."? Excuse me, but your post read as though THAT is what you meant...not what you inferred or implied.

Looking up the word "Clan" in the database here, there's 15 titles that turn up containing the word Clan....so why would I (or anyone else of the "99%" for that matter) just assume what the specific title was? You should also first learn to separate the individual titles...you threw all 3 together into quotes as if they were all ONE title, so what is so clear about that too?

The "Limited to..." comment did not come across as a generalization...it also sounded very specific. Regardless of what YOU knew or meant your post to be, it was not clear to ME...which is why I questioned it ( It couldn't have been clear or specific, since you had to just explain what you meant, right??).

I also would not assume which movie or movies you meant by Barbarian or Destroyer (although I kinda figured that out)...because there's 12 titles containing Barbarian here, and three containing Destroyer, so I wouldn't assume anything. I'd ask you what you're referring to....and there is NOTHING wrong or out-of-place about that, either.

kriegerg69, June 1, 2012; 10:33 PM

Why all the negativity ? If you don't like it, don't buy it. There are many people who wanted to get those titles without paying $50+ for used copies. I myself bought both Amazing Grace and Chuck & Eye of the Needle from the last batch and was happy to finally get them for fair prices. And I couldn't care less about liner notes.

People will always complain about Varese Sarabande, though the reason for the hatred still escapes me. They release film music, folks, remember ? - that is what is supposed to be our mutual interest here.

42zaphod, June 2, 2012; 10:51 AM

"Sorry it threw your brain into a tailspin." :D :D. I don't agree with you, though. I believe EVERYBODY here knows what you meant, except one nitty picky guy.
I was very disappointed to discover that "Eye of..." ("Eye of..." ?!? :P) wasn't an expanded release.
I guess that a year or two from now (or maybe next week! :O) I'll have to pay an extra 20 $ for a few extra cues of that music. :(

fireatheart, June 2, 2012; 3:29 PM

Varese´liner notes especially those by Julie Kirgo have not the quality and the knowledge you find e.g. in liner notes by FSM.
That´s a fact and has not changed throughout the years.

So in Varese´case i don´t care about it anymore. Regarding the music i think it´s indeed a very good batch for all those who missed on elder releases (and there are quite a lot in the younger generation).

peter-anselm, June 4, 2012; 12:24 PM

How can people complain and be ungrateful. Rozsa's Eye Of The Needle being rereleased after so many years was big news. An expanded and complete release would have been nice but for the time being this is good enough. I think the encore series is a great idea and the prices are right. I was very happy to get Eye Of The Needle and the Bernstein release. I find Clan very interesting. I immediately liked it from the first spin of the initial release I own. Recommended before it sells out. There are so many OOP Varese CD's and especially many LP's titles which have never been rereleased on CD and deserve to be rereleased. I would have liked if this encore series was released more often separately from CD club releases which is just a few times a year. As far as liner notes, Varese was never really big on those. I'm more interested in their music than their liner notes.

serifiot, June 7, 2012; 12:07 AM

Ungrateful ?
Well if this simple re-issue of CHINATOWN means that a full collector's edition with the complete score by Goldsmith plus the rejected score by Phillip Lambro will not be released at all, well, then I am afraid I am ungrateful ! Too bad ....

I am happy that we have labels like LaLaLand, Intrada, etc ...

goldsmithsonian, June 8, 2012; 11:55 AM

I think Varese is in this business over thirty years and prepared the way for all those who came after (Intrada, LLL, FSM......) They were first in releasing limited editions at a time when there was no market at all, the internet non existent. And even now they surprise me with spectacular releases (Herrmann at 20th Century Fox, Spartacus......).
Varese simply rules!


peter-anselm, June 9, 2012; 12:16 PM

Varese was indeed the first of their kind in this business, and have been in business for around 35 years or so. I don't recall ANY company doing what they've been doing since their beginning...they've expanded over the years to include releases and music other than soundtracks, but soundtracks/scores are still their primary focus.

kriegerg69, June 10, 2012; 5:43 AM