In the main, this is a collection of film music resembling others by
Erich Kunzel and the indefatigable
Cincinnati Pops, featuring short excerpts from film scores like those to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, The Rock, Godzilla, and Titanic.
Kunzel's performances are brisk, a bit subdued compared to those in the original films, technically faultless, and carefully consistent. Anyone who has enjoyed other
Kunzel discs will enjoy this one, but this is a film-music disc with a difference: there are five tracks of sound effects included. These are quite short, but they're well worth hearing. For one thing, they'll give a full workout even to stereo equipment costing thousands of dollars. The booklet contains various disingenuous warnings about not turning up the volume too high while playing these, but they are in no way oversold. What's remarkable about them is that for the most part they don't rely on synthetic sound synthesis. The bee attack in The X-Files: The Movie was recorded by engineer
Michael Bishop in a field, with six microphones placed at the entrances of a beehive. It's uncanny. This may be the only audiophile album in existence whose credits thank a beekeepers' association. The sound, auditioned on a good conventional stereo, is the main attraction here, and those with the equipment to take full advantage of the glories only hinted out by mere mortals among sound reproduction systems ought to be fully satisfied.