Interstellar Crystal Clear

I've been a Hans Zimmer fan since hearing "The Lion King" as a 12-year-old, and have been following his career ever since. This is my 17th album of his, totaling over 15 hours of music that's definitely become one of the constant musical backgrounds of my life. I've written countless chapters in my stories with having Zimmer playing in the background. He never fails to impress me with trying new things in his genre of modern epic orchestral symphonic music. When I realized he'd decided to use a pipe organ to convey the soundtrack of outer space, I was shocked. I'd have never thought to do that, but in retrospect, it works perfectly. Zimmer writes epic music, and there's nothing more epic than the vastness of space, especially when combined with Christopher Nolan's epic storytelling in the film "Interstellar". But this soundtrack stands on its own as a uniquely singular contribution to space music. Previous to "Interstellar", most space soundtracks drew their inspiration from Holst/John Williams. It's adventurous, crisp, full of marches, and highly orchestral. But Zimmer took the pipe organ out of Gothic music and put it up into the vastness of space to create a new sound associated with the stars. It's in a minor key and has a lot of the same repetition as a composer like Philip Glass. There's the same eerie building of a simple melody with all its variations. Zimmer is also a master of the constant quarter-note ticking in the background, used to great effect in "Inception" and present here, too. It's genius to use that in space, since time is so different there and perfectly reflects Matthew McConaughey's character's time in space away from his daughter. This is best heard in "Mountains", when he and Anne Hathaway are temporarily stranded on the oceanic planet. That quarter-note ticking counts that time down and also provides so much suspense, akin to Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart". Zimmer also accelerates the tempo, and it whooshes and crescendos just like the waves in the scene. He uses music to mirror the scene it's intended for. A pipe organ is an enormous and vast instrument composed of many layers of sound. It's been around for hundreds of years and has a timeless quality. Since it's been used in so many dark and Gothic compositions, it also brings that sense of darkness along with it, long associated with madness, genius, and creepiness. Space is not just about adventure and exploration. It's ancient, it's isolating, it's dark, and it can drive people to madness, just like in the film. Zimmer's use of the pipe organ, with its lush, full, and multi-layered sound, to evoke all those isolating, dark, madness-inducing feelings creates an astonishing masterwork in the "Interstellar" soundtrack that I believe will influence future science fiction and outer space soundtracks and symphonies for years to come. This is what space sounds like, and it's as simple and terrifying as that.

This is the first time I purchase a Hans Zimmer soundtrack and I must say it is exceptional. I'm no stranger to his work but I wouldn't really give it the time of day because since his work mostly consists of movie soundtracks, I figured his music only went well with the movie itself. I could not have been more wrong. This music is a perfect soundtrack for Interstellar, but at the same time, it absolutely deserves praise separate from the movie. Personally, the last time I felt this way about any movie score was the soundtrack from Blade Runner by Vangelis. As a die hard fan and a SciFi classics purist, this movie is top 5 stars. The deep rumbles and cracks from the movie have been echoing in my house's halls for this past week. The recording is brilliant, you can clearly listen to all the details, the rain, the waves, the wind, the pipe (church) organ, and the heavy ultra-low frequencies, and that's not all. It has lots of brilliant moments that trigger deep emotional feelings. For me, the key elements from this soundtrack is the pipe organ, the high quality low frequencies, and, most importantly, that I can listen to all the tracks as one, not just separate pieces but one masterful recording. Like others, I also regret that the track "No Time for Caution" (the emotional ship docking sequence) is not included in this version of the Interstellar soundtrack. Don't buy the digital version. Buy the CD version, rip it into a FLAC lossless encoder, upload it into your android smartphone, play it with a FLAC compatible player, listen to it with a true HiFi headphones (like Sennheiser, not an artificial and expensive bass booster craphones), and enjoy Interstellar in a true perfect quality. Feel the perfection. Interstellar has many interpretations. It has science and lots of fiction, but, for me, the main message is that no matter how bad the situation gets we must have faith in ourselves, the human race. We must love one another. Don't be afraid to walk throughout the world. When your five senses deceive you amongst the danger & darkness, rely on your sixth sense, the sense of Love & Light. As long as the good people outweigh the bad people in this world, there will always be Love, the most powerful force of the human race.

First off let me address some of the questions and disappointments by previous reviews. 1) "This isn't the whole soundtrack" - Yes, you're right about that point. The OST (4 hours) can be bought from a separate site: [...] This is the "deluxe edition" and contains more music - it also costs more due to the included extras (like illuminated star map). Check the site for more details if interested. 2) "The 'Docking Sequence' isn't on here!" Well, partially right. Part of the docking sequence is on here, it's just not layered like the one in the movie. It begins on the track "Coward" and starts speeding up about 5min in. While it does not include the 'en-ti-ire' thing, some post processing was most likely done (and probably included on the Deluxe set) that draws out key parts and layers the first half over the second half. Alright, now that that is out of the way, I can review the soundtrack. Some credintials about me: 1) I like soundtracks, music, and movies (veritable tri-fecta of a target market!) so I may be a bit biased towards over-appreciation and accolades. 2) I own/have listened to all the LOTR soundtracks (love me some Howard Shore) and typically play soundtracks in my car while driving or general browsing at home. Logitech Z5500 5.1 stereo FTW! 3) I like to remember the movie, visiting it again with all the emotion and feelings I had watching it. That's primarily the reason I like soundtracks [Some minor plot spoilers] Overall there are about 4 main sequences: Face-paced ("docking"-style movements), peak-type (starts lower keys, move to higher keys, then back and again), slow type (lower, open type moment and movement- alot of organ), low, moody, dark (pieces that feature horns, multiple layers of strings, organs) and other (don't fit into any category well) Now to review the tracks themselves, for a brief summary of the highlights: Track 1 (Dreaming of the Crash): Reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey beginning overture. Short, not much substance really. (Movie part - beginning 5 minutes) Type - other Track 2 (Cornfield Chase): Light, fast paced music, highlighted by crescendo. Eh, alright for quick sequencer-type music. Not postive, but limited organ involvment. (Movie part - obvious, they're chasing the drone in the cornfield) Type - fast, but not as fast as docking Track 3 (Dust): Dark, moody piece. Feeling here was "We did this to Mother Earth, she is taking revenge" (Movie part - dust storm, driving part) Type - low, moody piece Track 4 (Day One): Overall piece felt like an overture to the movie, a sum-of-it-parts type (Movie part - all? not sure) Type - peak-type, slow/hug-feely type and low, moody Track 5 (Stay): Really good piece, this is good stuff. This could stand alone by itself honestly (Movie part - he's leaving, launching for mission) Type - slow/hug-feely type Track 6 (Message from Home): soft piano piece, easy listening, short (Movie part - at Jupiter listening to messages, also in some parts toward end) Type - slow type Track 7 (The Wormhole): short piece, crescendo-type and fast (Movie part - wormhole entry) Type - fast other Track 8 (Mountains): brooding, a build-up (Movie part - on water planet) Type - fast-paced, but not as fast as docking and other. One of the better tracks IMHO. Track 9 (Afraid of Time): slow, piano and organ movements (Movie part - talking w/ Ameilia Brand on Miller's planet) type - low, moody type Track 10 (A Place Among the Stars): (Movie part - Dr. Mann's/Dr. Brand's truth part) type - low, moody type Track 11 (Running Out): soft piano (Movie part - I think Dr. Brand's truth to Murph) type - low, moody type Track 12 (I'm Going Home): (Movie part - Cooper/Dr. Mann talking to crew, exploring) type - other Track 13 (Coward): great, fast and percussion heavy at start, then multiple layers (Movie part - it's layered here to the Dr. Mann maroon attempt, and the infamous "docking sequence" [although not the same as in the movie - it's missing the layer of "Mountain" percussion and first half of the same track percussion]...also layered over Murphs attempt to rescue) Track 14 (Detach): good, has solid crescendos (Movie part - Newton's 3rd law near Gargantuan) type - fast, layered Track 15 (S.T.A.Y.): great piece in similarity to Day One, organ heavy here, slower end (Movie part - Bookcase scene) type - peak type, other towards end Track 16 (Where We're Going): More like the first track at start, then has parts of Day One (Movie part - End scene, End credits, also a rehash of the first track) type - all-encompassing, peak other So overall, yes it does not have exactly the movie's score, But I knew that when I bought it. If you don't want to listen to the same track for 20-30 min, this has the assemblies/crescendos that appear in the movie. For $10, worth it to me when I want to re-visit the movie's awesome sound. Update 2100CST 19Nov: Hans Zimmer might release the "docking" track for free! - check out updates at http://www.hans-zimmer.com/index.php?rub=disco&id=1256 (green text are moderators of site) Also, someone with editing skillz made a custom set of "docking" on youtube already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShSELif0x98&

As many others have pointed out, this CD release is not the "complete score". Of course not. It's 70 minutes out of a movie that is nearly 3 hours long. So that's a strange reason to give such a brilliant release 1 star. Having said that, it is a shame that the music for the infamous "docking sequence" is not included, but it makes some sense. That theme features in segments earlier in "Dust" and developed later in the 8:25 long track "Coward" (which played during the events in the film just prior to the docking). A similar and powerful version of this music can be found by tracking down online the promotional track "Day One Dark", which itself is a mix of various tracks found on this album. But to stick the docking music on right after "Coward" would have felt like a repeat, and it would have been a greater shame to lose one of the other tracks included here. As to how this compares to the "Digital Deluxe Edition", that includes 7 additional tracks that are good, but I think the soundtrack producers made absolutely the right decisions with what tracks to put on this physical single disc release, and which to leave off for the digital edition. What they did choose to put on this release truly is the absolute essence of Zimmer's score for "Interstellar". This release has both the loud moments and the quiet moments. It has four main themes that evolve over the course of the CD in a way that most soundtrack releases never do, being more preoccupied with reflecting what was on the screen (without dialog and sound effects, of course). I think where the "Interstellar" soundtrack release really excels it that it is its own thing, a standalone work that also happens to capture the spirit of the film. At its heart is the track "Day One", which captures the highs and lows of "Interstellar" far more than any other track on this album (or not). It will be interesting to compare this to the upcoming "Illuminated Star Projection Edition" double CD release due in December '14, but I expect that to have a lot of repetition and unprovoking moments and tracks. As a completist, I'll have it, but I've already decided that I prefer this CD release (with "Day One Dark" tacked onto the end as a personal bonus) to the longer "Digital Deluxe Edition", and will probably feel the same at the end of the year. This "Interstellar" is the finest of moments for both Zimmer and Nolan, not to mention album producer Chris Craker, organist Roger Sayer, and ambient music designer Mario Reinsch. I think they all re-created themselves for this project, and it shows. The collaboration between these and other artists truly resulted in one of the finest scores ever on screen, or released on CD. I think when most people focus on what this release _is_ rather than what it isn't, they'll agree. Finally, the packaging is very nice and the star wheel chart was a clever and lovely inclusion. Don't forget to check inside the sleeve for the booklet, which includes small essays/liner notes from both Nolan and Zimmer.

I got the CD for my boyfriend who is a huge Zimmer fan and a huge Nolan fan. He loves it and keeps it in his CD changer next to the Dark Knight soundtrack in his car. I don't understand why the mp3 is more expensive than the CD, but he was able to put the music from the CD on his iPod anyway. With an older CD this would be a huge problem because it may have a scratch that makes it play wrong in the transfer, but for a new CD just buy the cheaper option and convert it to mp3 yourself. The music is outstanding, of course. Not all the track from the film, but still a great selection.

Awesome work! Not exact to the movie score. Some scenes missing. Apparently they added one to the iTunes version as an update, but have not released it elsewhere yet. But overall you cant complain as it is a beautiful compilation of the movies music. Wait for the blue ray if you split hairs on this sort of thing. A lot of people are complaining that the docking scene is not on this release. I think it is under COWARD , at 5 min in, it sounds like it to me, even though there are some things off in it. It's close. Some agree on this , some do not, some think it's in other tracks. How would anyone really know unless they had a bootleg copy of the movie or orig score to compare it to? Bottom line is, this soundtrack is not the exact musical score from the movie but wonderful none the less. You will not regret the purchase.

The three "Interstellar" books ( which gave the 'story' ,the 'science', and the 'scenery' of the movie) - I liked (and would recommend) all three. Having seen the movie (two times !) before ordering the books, I was able to appreciate the skill of the Nolan brothers (Chris and Johnathan 'Jonah'), all of the people who worked with those 60-pound cameras - some of the work waist-deep in glacial melt water !) and their efforts to bring this space spectacular to vivid life. The fact that 'Murph' (whom it took three women to play in the movie !) had such a central role in this epic - I hope will encourage MANY girls to take up the difficult but interesting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics( STEM) fields of endeavor. Planet Earth's environmental damage (and its impact on the human population) shown in 'Interstellar" - I would hope this serves as a warning for policies in the future. Dust storms ! Fires ! We want a future without these problems. The movie had so MUCH good material 'going by' so quickly - I'm glad that you have provided a full-length novel, written to give the background of the personnel and the technology used in this trip to other galaxies ! back on Earth - I have already experienced (and liked) the 'story' ; am most of the way through the 'scenery' (enhanced by the detailed photos of people, and equipment, and locales), and have just started the 'science' ( to which I plan to give enough attention to REALLY benefit from this knowledge) . Professor Kip Thorne has done a SPLENDID job of making complicated subjects easy to understand, and interesting- even to this 71-year old. Finally - the last page of the 'story' presented a profound ending to the 'Interstellar" adventure. Looks like it's time for Cooper to head on out there, to begin the NEXT season of his life. (How does the idea of a sequel sound to you ? I for one would appreciate it . . .) P S Hans Zimmer's music ! That is like a Twenty-first Century Johann Sebastian Bach's major work . . . Ad Astra ! (To the Stars !)

This was such a cool vinyl to add to my collection. The color of the pressing is truly unique from anything else I have and the sound quality is great too.

Luego de seguirlo por su alto precio, pude encontrarlo a un precio correcto! Muy recomendable para aquellos que han disfrutado esta magnifica película! Su soundtrack es tan rico como la historia misma que acompaña. Hans Zimmer nunca defrauda, pero creo que en esta banda sonora se consagra en absoluto! Esta edición hecha por MOV (Music on Vinyl - At the Movies) es excelente! bien cuidada, casi ni ruido de superficie y en vinilo claro! Un fantástico ítem para coleccionar y disfrutar!

Questo CD audio e la sintesi del film interstellar e davvero molto bello da ascoltare, spedizione veloce partito dal GB Inghilterra, passato da Germania arrivato in Italia ben confezionato integro

Estoy muy satisfecho con esta edición especial. Dos vinilos translúcidos con excelente calidad de audio y el sobre con los LP viene protegido con una funda de plástico grueso. Muy recomendable si eres fan de esta película o de Hans Zimmer.

The vinyl is beautiful and sounds amazing! The artwork itself is also reflective and looks great!!

Both (!) records that are flat as a pancake, wonderful sturdy packaging, amazing sound qualitiy, a normal price to pay for a double album and at last…. no tics, crackles pops of any kind. It is almost an anomaly in collecting vinyl these days. A full deadsilent listening experience of one of the greatest soundtracks ever made. I am so greatful that there are record companies that still appeciate us buyers. Good job MOV!