"So what's all the fuss?"

Varese Sarabande has slowly but surely made its way back to the comeback trail vis a vis their CD Club. This year has seen releases of expansions of Gremlins 2, Chain Reaction and Outbreak (spoiler alert: this is on my list of favorite new CDs in 2015).

Monday saw the release of a 1-CD distillation of the epic-length soundtracks for Bill Conti's "North and South" as well as an Encore release of Elmer Bernstein's engaging score to Spies Like Us. Granted, other labels have been cooking up the likes of a complete box set for "Lost in Space" and releases of every soundtrack for the Jaws and Back to the Future series, but one would think that these releases would bring joy to someone, right?

"...another lazy reissue..." (and bear in mind that we were told ahead of time that the releases wouldn't be 'Grails or Deluxe Editions')

"Varese disappoints again"

"Is that it?"

Yeah, never mind that some people may enjoy this music, or have waited for a non CD-R release of Spies. Let's just complain our heads off.

Film music is more than spending hard-earned money on CDs. It represents the full spectrum of emotions: joy, sadness, excitement, introspection, etc. For years, I've used film music as a substitute for companionship, and reading some of those comments, it should not be a mystery why.

I imagine people gravitating toward soundtracks because (much like myself) we enjoy the music in the films and want to re-experience it time and again. Even more, I imagine it's because we don't really fit in in society. Film music (I assumed) was the province of the outsiders; the nerds who fixate on its intricacies. Who'd have thought that the obnoxious, boorish jocks would turn their noses up at film music...or that the nerds would become the jocks, 'cause I'll be Goddamned if that's not what happened here.

I guess I should be glad that one of the releases wasn't Maurice Jarre's (underrated) synth score to No Way Out. The whiny bitching would've been off the charts.