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I just saw this. For rabid completists I guess, but it does look a bit nice, eh?

Super-deluxe 30th anniversary edition

One disc is red and etched with the Autobot logo, and the other is purple with a Decepticon etching. The sleeve is also an unusual gatefold.

Oh, that's beautiful. If only it had the score instead of Stan, Lion and the rest of that shit.

I would, but won't.

Cliffjumper wrote:Oh, that's beautiful. If only it had the score instead of Stan, Lion and the rest of that shit.

Why not both?

Because a lot of that hair metal on the soundtrack is absolute poo. I think the only I particularly care for is 'Instruments Of Destruction' (were all these real bands, btw? NRG? Really?) And Weird Al's contributions are some of his lesser efforts.

The score is brilliant though.

How old was everyone when they first heard it?

I like virtually all of both score and soundtrack personally, but it's mentally overlaid with a jumble of images and dialogue -- the music's a very integral part of the film. Dare to be Stupid probably being least favourite track because it's a palette cleanser in the film, not a closer, and a completely different style to the rest. Don't mind a bit of hair metal. One of my favourite random compilation albums being this --

http://www.dio.net/pictures_cd/hard_n_h ... n_back.jpg

Its not very clear whether its only the soundtrack or if it includes the film score too. Its two discs, and one side of each is emblazoned with the Autobot or Decepticon insignia. Would that make that side unplayable? I'm guessing it probably does, hence the need for two slabs of vinyl.

But maybe the score is on the other one?

Denyer, when you ask how old everyone was, do you mean when they heard it via the movie, or the actual soundtrack on LP/Cassette? If its the latter then I think about 14/15. It was cool being able to listen to the full versions of each piece.

I think only Lion had the full TF:TM theme play during the film (over the end credits), and even then they repeated sections of the song, twice I think, in order to fill the length of the credit reel.

The movie more-so than the standalone, but obvs chime in with other experiences. Heard it not long after the VHS came out as far as I recall... probably a rental originally. Soundtrack separately I think I got from HMV as a Christmas present some time in the 90s. Score separately end of the 90s as low quality web files? BotCon discs probably around 2005 (one of which -- 'Till All Are One -- went back on eBay and basically paid for the other... kept Their Darkest Hour because it was more accurate, and it's nicely paired with by the release about a year ago that includes Legacy.)

The release in the first post is the OST, by the way, rather than the score;

http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/prod/V ... 06651.html

I think the soundtrack works as a soundtrack to TF:TM, a somewhat melodramatic, uneven cartoon based on a kids' show with a couple of bits of the absolute best things in the franchise's history and a lot of the worst.

In that context it works, and watching Prime drive away from his apathetic troops to his death without Stan, Ironhide take quarter of an hour to realise half of his crew are dead without "Instruments of Destruction" or not having to decide which of Ron Friedman or "Twat" Al Yankovic deserve to die the most while the runtime's being filled on Junk is unthinkable.

But I can never, ever see myself going "Hey, I'll put a record on. How about some Spectre General?". Digital files cover the morbid curiousity to some extent but what goes for the film goes for the music in symbiosis - there's no point whatsoever in listening to "The Touch" unless Prime's running over Coneheads while it's on.

(all that said, the number of times I've turned the film off when Optimus dies probably now outnumber the times I've actually watched it all the way through)

You can only polish a turd so much.

I wasn't overly attached to it when it first came around, but the re-discovery happened about 1996 or so. Was going through a hair metal/glam metal/80's music phase and we found the VHS in a video rental store. Still love the soundtrack, personally. Movie, ditto. I think it's all right for what it is.

Auntie Slag wrote:Its two discs, and one side of each is emblazoned with the Autobot or Decepticon insignia. Would that make that side unplayable? I'm guessing it probably does, hence the need for two slabs of vinyl.

They're picture discs which are fully playable despite having a graphic emblazoned all over them. Here's the discogs listing with better info.

Skyquake87 wrote:Because a lot of that hair metal on the soundtrack is absolute poo.

Hush, I like "Nothing's Gonna Stand in Our Way".

I'd agree with the sentiment that the film has the soundtrack it deserves - polished OTT FM friendly pomp-metal of the day. You can keep Weird Al though.

Having not seen the movie since ...pfft , 1987 ish? I found the soundtrack in Virgin Records (who they?) on import in Leeds in 1995. It cost me £16 and even now I'm wondering why I paid that for it. I remember listening to it at the time and thinking how horribly dated it sounded - that weird disconnect between the '80s and '90s when there was a definite shutting of the door on some aspects of popular music. Probably not helped by '90s metal being a bit more aggressive and slightly less ridiculous than the stuff around in the '80s. All of which made this a purchase I wasn't so proud of. £16. F**k me. What was I thinking? Probably not much more than "oh, hey, something Transformers related!"

I actually really like the soundtrack, and was absolutely thrilled when I managed to find the CD in the Virgin Megastore in Norwich in my first year of Uni (1997). As a kid I wore out the VHS of the movie, loved all the music on it, and so finding the CD was actually like getting my hands on a holy grail item.

To be fair, 80s synth rock is totally my genre anyway - indeed some of my favourite current bands are those who deliberately try to recapture that sort of sound, like Houston, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love, so I was always going to embrace this music anyway.

What I would say though, is that while I like the music on CD, I do think it's really, really overbearing in the film itself. Transformers is a film of wonders, of visuals, of moments, and some of the music really undercuts that and changes the mood of the entire thing. Ironhide's death should have been a major 'oh my god' moment, instead it seems more like a wacky music video as someone screams "whooah-ooooohhhh" over the top of it.

The bits that work best in the film are 'Dare to be Stupid' (a ludicrous song that's perfectly suited to "Me Grimlock not kisser! Me King", The Death of Optimus Prime (probably the only time that DiCola dials it down a bit), and Unicron's Theme, which is a delightfully dark and doomy funeral march.

I've seen the film so many times that the visuals and sounds are totally ingrained in my head, but I do wonder if the movie would play better with a more traditional orchestra soundtrack.

I like it for its kitsch value. Standout tracks for me are Dare and The Touch. Then Lion's movie theme for its utterly awesome and brilliantly OTT guitar solo.

I think the soundtrack fits the movie almost dead on, though I'm not really a fan of Dare to be Stupid, and Death of Optimus Prime bores me a bit. It would be great if this 2-disc set had the Vince DiCola score, like Cliffjumper said.

Really don't get the whole Al Yankovic thing, TBH. If you have to actually a description in quotation marks ahead of your name you're doing it wrong. Guess it's that whole Americans loving shit comedy thing.

So was the original vinyl release two discs as well? Or have the spread it out over the two to charge more money for it (which I don't object to, people who think vinyl was better and are bores about it are second only to adult toy collectors as people who deserve to be fleeced)? Two seems a bit ostentatious for a relatively unimportant album and it's not an especially long release.

Better sound quality and durability (allows use of heavier vinyl too). Which is why all the current stuff that comes out is double LPs.

Which is kind-of ironic as they all cost ~£25 new and aren't likely to be given to many kids.

Going for better sound quality on releases aimed at the die hard vinyl fans has a degree of irony to it considering the main reason (at least from conversations I've had from many of the more evangelical ones over the years) they seem to prefer the medium over CD/digital is that it doesn't sound as good which is...err...more real or something. I'm not sure, my eyes usually gloss over when they really start going.

Covers are bigger, no shit jewel cases, it's more fun and just about as durable as most CDs mark really easily. It's that simple.