[Mateo Sanboval]

Well, I've just snapped up the red variant of Dead Ringers and a black Naked Lunch. I'm a sucker for these Howard Shore/Cronenberg scores. I also picked up a couple of distributed LPs while I was in there.

[ScoJo]

@mateo

LIKE :)

I've just snagged DR too - I have NL though haven't had a whole lot of time to rotate it, but I'm super familiar with it anyway. From what I heard so far the pressing is a beauty. Long live the new wax!

[static14]

Super excited to give Dead Ringers a spin. I love this score.

[Mateo Sanboval]

ScoJo, that is great to hear about the sound quality of Naked Lunch. I always sweat these things until I have a listen for myself. Did you the get bug powder variant or BLAAAAAAAAAAACK?

Seconded, Static. Seconded hard.

[deafmetal]

The Naked Lunch package from Mondo is a treat. I really diggggg the artwork, and I'm always stoked to read some quality liner notes. I went for the bugpowder variant like some kind of colored-vinyl fiend, but thankfully, it sounds clean as a whistle. Another gem from the folks at Mondozone.

[monsterworship]

So timely, on Friday I'm going to see "The Film Scores of Howard Shore" at the Pittsburgh Symphony, and he'll be signing after the show. So I saw mondo announced he would have copies of Dead Ringers at the event.

I know they are doing a lot of Lord Of the rings, but hope to hear some of the Cronenberg stuff.

Full report this weekend.

[Mateo Sanboval]

So timely, on Friday I'm going to see "The Film Scores of Howard Shore" at the Pittsburgh Symphony, and he'll be signing after the show. So I saw mondo announced he would have copies of Dead Ringers at the event.

I know they are doing a lot of Lord Of the rings, but hope to hear some of the Cronenberg stuff.

Full report this weekend.

Holy smokes. Standing by.

[deafmetal]

@monsterworship - Very cool. I have seen a live symphony perform his Lord of the Rings material (he was not conducting though), but the concert you are attending sounds really interesting, especially with Shore there himself. Looking forward to your review.

[chandler75]

Has anyone in Europe ordered from Mondo recently? How do they mark the packages (value) these days?

Also, has anyone tried the DHL option? I believe they add a fee for calculating the VAT?

[Spun out of control]

Hi @Chandler75

Just received my latest order of the Synchronicity & Dracula 1974 scores at the weekend (in the UK) and came delivered by courier (Yodel) rather than via the postman (as they used to be).

Label on the package mentions DHL Global Mail, but (unlike standard customs) there is no amount / value showing on the package itself.

In any event have not been stung by customs charges.

[scottydoo]

Monster Squad Gillman 7"
we have been able to get a last few more of the UK retail Monster squad 7" if any one missed out on it first time
http://www.crashrecords.co.uk/product/m ... pre-order/

[Occhionero]

Has anyone in Europe ordered from Mondo recently? How do they mark the packages (value) these days?

Also, has anyone tried the DHL option? I believe they add a fee for calculating the VAT?

Hey Chandler,

ordered 4 Packages from Mondo with DHL to Germany. Had to pay only for 1 package custom fees. Cool thing is that I could pay directly at my door. UsualLY I have to drive to the next customs office, which costs me 1 hour plus.

Frank

[The Cult Leader]

Obi strip from Castlevania

[deafmetal]

Symphony of the Night! Unbelievable. Between that and The Fountain, I am convinced that Mondo is mining the vinyl wish list thread. Haha, no wonder Mo Shafeek was so interested in my Castlevania t-shirt at MondoCon last year.



Also, saw 2HD post a retail black vinyl preorder:

http://www.twoheadeddog.com/konami-kuke ... dtrack-10/

[The Cult Leader]

...

[monsterworship]

I was just posting this.

I think we guessed at this awhile back based on the year hint they gave.

[Mateo Sanboval]

I have to ask a terribly ignorant question. I never played Castlevania. Any of them. I remember they were popular, but when I see that Mondo is releasing five(!) Castlevania scores, I have to ask: Is this one of the holy grails of video game music? Do folks love the tunes enough for five different releases? Does the nostalgia for all five releases touch any one person? I'm not surprised at all by the single release, but clearly that obi has thrown me for a loop.

[reddye6]

I have to ask a terribly ignorant question. I never played Castlevania. Any of them. I remember they were popular, but when I see that Mondo is releasing five(!) Castlevania scores, I have to ask: Is this one of the holy grails of video game music? Do folks love the tunes enough for five different releases? Does the nostalgia for all five releases touch any one person? I'm not surprised at all by the single release, but clearly that obi has thrown me for a loop.

I'd be interested in seeing responses to this as well. I've never played the game. I did listen to samples of the score, but they didn't do anything for me (I'm not big into chiptune music, so I'm not surprised).

[texasvinyl]

Castlevania games are great. The early ones on NES were damn hard, too. I never could beat the original. Castlevania III, IV and Symphony of the Night are the real standouts. Portrait of Ruin on the DS was great too. The 3D ones have been horrible.

Castlevania does have renowned video game music. That being said, IMHO Mondo may be going overboard, but in a good way (I mean, did we really need 6LPs of Back to the Future? and 8LPs of Batman TAS?). 1, 3, 4 and Symphony are all good. Simon's Quest...well, that one wasn't my favorite.

We don't need to revisit the Moonshake debate, but I do like the way that release included material from four different Castlevania games on one slab of wax. Of course, that presentation probably would not get a green light from the licensor (judging on the super stringent requirements given for Mother, for example), so there's that...

I'd love to see a bold presentation for the material if they are going to do it. A 5x10" box set would be cool with pages bound like a book (like the deluxe 4LP edition of Odelay did a few years back).

[monsterworship]

5 separate releases seems a little overboard to me, but i'm sure they will sell well since Castlevania is one of the most popular games on the Nintendo system of all times.

I just hope they are all 10"s for OCD purposes.

[Aremagod]

I'd only want Doom and Doom 2 music....maybe Hexen. I never found any other video game music enticing enough that I would want to own it to hear it on it's own.

[deafmetal]

If you did not play Castlevania video games in the 80'/90's, then it's going to be a tough sell. I feel the same way about most of the Sega game soundtracks being released on Data Discs. While they are decent enough chiptune tracks, I have no desire to buy them on vinyl, or really listen to them at all, and that is probably because I did not play the games or own a Sega console.

For me, I think the nostalgia factor weighs heavily for the Castlevania soundtracks (and the franchise), but I will admit they were some of the best 8-bit chiptune music that I remember from the NES days. As the systems improved to 16/32-bit audio for the later titles, it was great to hear both familiar and new themes in the Castlevania style for SC IV and Symphony of the Night. There is some masterful keyboard/synth programming involved, but it's quite a different experience from a standard film score or electronic music album.

[Mateo Sanboval]

I appreciate the responses, gang. I always give these things a listen, but rarely buy. OutRun was a rare exception for me. I'm just surprised that there are five different releases, but Mondo does a great job of gauging their audience and it sound like there are at least a few happy/interested STBCers which is pretty swell.

PS -I read on a vastly inferior message board that the obi for Over The Garden Wall lists Monster Squad and Gremlins as upcoming releases. We knew about Monster Squad, but I don't believe I'd heard about Gremlins before today. Seems an appropriate day for that news.

[Hatter313]

love Gremlins release news, One of Goldsmith's most fun.

[Juiceycow]

I dont have too much nostalgia for the original Castlevania's on the NES, but SOTN on PSX is a classic.
Plus being a Playstation release, it's not chiptunes.

Curious to see if it's a 12" rather than a 10", because there is more music