Rhino Entertainment has just released four sprawling, color-coordinated, exclusive 16-LP box sets for Harry Potter: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I-VII. The comprehensive box sets feature distinctive, brightly colored slipcovers with individualized artwork for each of the four Hogwarts houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Each set of 16 LPs are also color-coordinated with red vinyl for Gryffindor, green vinyl for Slytherin, yellow vinyl for Hufflepuff, and blue vinyl for Ravenclaw. The box sets include eight gatefold albums with two LPs each, covering all eight movies, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rhino went with the original British title for this release), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I and II. Quantities are extremely limited for each house version of the box set, with Rhino's web store showing only 500 sets available for each (not certain if that total also includes available copies at Warner Music Group locations internationally). Harry Potter: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I-VII box sets are available exclusively from Rhino's D2C web store HERE, and will also be available internationally at select WMG stores.
Some Background on my Growing Fascination with All Things Harry Potter
My original awareness of the Harry Potter franchise goes back to the 1997 release of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Americanized title), which my then twelve-year-old daughter was maniacally obsessed with getting as quickly as possible. I knew literally nothing about the book or the ensuing frenzy for each successive book release, and basically considered them to very likely be garbage (!) aimed at separating young kids and their parents from as many dollars as possible. And I was a lifelong Lord of the Rings and J.R.R. Tolkien devotee, whose work I definitely considered to be literature and held at a much higher standard. The Harry Potter books were basically junk—but if it got kids reading, well, how terribly bad could they actually be? 2001 was when things escalated to an unforeseen level of obsession with the release of the first movie, which I of course drove my daughter and an entire cadre of friends to the theater on opening day in November—but no way was I going to sit through that dreck! Upon picking them up afterwards, they all frothed at the wondrous magic of the movie, and the marketing juggernaut that quickly followed was definitely eye-popping, to say the least!
A month later, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring arrived in the theaters, and I stood in a line that stretched for blocks to attend a midnight showing. Now this was true magic, and I obsessively followed online fan sites that chronicled every detail about the upcoming films' production and release schedule. Unfortunately, my zeal was somewhat short-lived; along with quite a few other lifelong fans, I took exception with Peter Jackson's artistic vision for the sprawling novels, which Hollywoodized the books to a level almost beyond my ability to watch them and get any true enjoyment from them. That said, I own DVDs, extended cut DVDs, Blurays, and extended edition Blurays, and have watched them ad nauseam over the years—though more recently, with more of a viewpoint leaning towards "what might have been" versus any enjoyment of the theatrical merits of the films.
I didn't actually see any of the Harry Potter movies until about a dozen years later, when they suddenly were being shown everywhere on cable TV. By that point, my disappointment in the LOTR series had tempered my overwhelming sense of their superiority, and I was much more open to watching the Harry Potter films if for no other reason than strictly for their entertainment value. And to my great astonishment, I found them very entertaining, such that I've easily seen each movie at least dozen times or more, and have gained a serious appreciation for all things Harry Potter. My daughter has been to Harry Potter World in both Orlando and London, and I even own the 4K Bluray discs of the entire movie franchise. My wife and I have developed a running system, where after viewing whatever we'd typically watch throughout the evening on television, we'll switch on Peacock and watch the Harry Potter movies in sequence, a bit at a time. Even if I'm writing reviews or otherwise deeply involved in something else, I've seen them so many times, I can easily follow the action, and I'm amazed at how often I pick up on some detail I'd previously missed. I've actually come to the opinion that the Harry Potter movie franchise is vastly superior to the LOTR franchise—from J.K. Rowling's superb writing to the excellence of their all-star casts, I find them enjoyable on an almost cerebral level. I know, to the truly fanatical LOTR devotee, it sounds like complete blasphemy, but it is what it is!
Harry Potter: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I-VII, (16) Color vinyl LPs, $299.98 MSRP.
When Taylor Perry of Shore Fire Media reached out to me to announce the availability of the set in early October, I responded like a kid in a candy store, gushing over the possibility of getting a set for evaluation. And I was even so bold to suggest that while I'd be perfectly happy to receive any of the available color options, I personally identified as a Gryffindor, so that version—if at all possible—would definitely be my preference, though I probably felt it would far and away be the most popular set and would very quickly sell out. When Annie Mickum of Shore Fire Media responded about a month later to let me know that one of the boxes was headed my way, I seriously felt as though I'd just won the lottery!
Upon arrival, Harry Potter: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I-VII, came encased in a custom-built, heavily braced, Harry Potter-themed outer carton that was fully foam-lined on the interior to protect the contents. Nothing on the exterior indicated which version was on the inside, so opening the box that arrived just prior to Thanksgiving was for me almost like opening a gift on Christmas morning! And Christmas truly came with the Gryffindor-themed version that awaited me on the inside! It's a beautiful box, with a nicely printed and varnished polymer red Gryffindor outer slipcase that slides off to reveal an equally gorgeous box that's emblazoned with the Hogwarts logo on the front, along with logos on the side for each of the four houses. The gatefold jackets for each soundtrack contain two LPs that appear to be standard 140 gram vinyl, and the colored vinyl is a beautiful shade of deep red; the LPs were encased in rice paper-lined inner sleeves, which is always a nice touch. The music content matches that of the previously released CD versions of each individual movie version, so you're getting the complete score/soundtrack with these LPs. The entire package was manufactured in the Czech Republic, probably by GZ—my recent experiences with them have been exemplary, and these excellent LPs were no different.
Only one of the soundtrack albums—Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—didn't fill the two LPs completely. It's fourth side is blank, but features a very cool etching with the logotype for the Order of the Phoenix, along with the signatures of all the individual members of the Order—it's a graphically stylish touch that fans will really appreciate. I only had one issue with a single album side among the 16 LPs being anything less than perfect, and that was also with this same soundtrack, which had a series of scuffs on side two that resulted in a few clicks during playback, but nothing to get in a twist over. Otherwise, the surfaces were perfectly pristine, and playback was whisper-quiet throughout the set, and all the LPs were perfectly flat. You couldn't ask for much more from such a large-scale endeavor as this!
Multiple Academy Award-winning composer John Williams wrote the scores for the first three movies, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The prologue that opens the first LP begins with his classic "Hedwig's Theme," played perfectly on celeste—it's been streamed over 81 million times since its release in 2001! These three albums contain some of the most memorable music to be found in the entire film franchise, and are far and away considered among the pinnacle of John Williams' extensive catalog of movie scores. "Hedwig's Theme" reprises near the beginning of each film to set the tone, but glorious music abounds throughout them, and it's truly astonishing how nearly inseparable the movies and music are; simply listening to just the music is almost as enjoyable as watching the films. One of my favorite moments comes with "Buckbeak's Flight" from the third film, Prisoner of Azkaban, where the music opens with thundering tympani that builds into the majestic moment where Harry first rides Buckbeak the hippogriff—it's a stirring piece of music that's wonderful to watch on screen, but just as satisfying to hear!
Academy Award-nominated composer Patrick Doyle wrote the score for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In addition to Doyle's score, an entire side contains the original songs written by the members of the Yule Ball band—the Weird Sisters—which included Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey of Pulp, Johnny Greenwood and Phil Selway of Radiohead, and Jason Buckle of All Seeing I, among others. The music is more electrified and definitely more challenging than anything on the first three albums! Nicholas Hooper created the music for the next two movies in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The soundtrack for Order of the Phoenix opens with an intense overture that features some raucous electric guitar work, but also features some of the most memorable music in the entire series, like the "Professor Umbridge" motif. Which colorfully epitomizes one of the most totally unlikeable characters in the series, making her seem (if possible!) much less…annoying. Hooper's music for Half-Blood Prince also adds depth to characters like Ginny Weasley with "Ginny" and "When Ginny Kissed Harry," as well as adding layers to prominent characters like Slughorn, Draco Malfoy, and even Ron and Hermione. And the segments for Dumbledore's death and the aftermath are truly moving.
The music from the series' final two films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I and Part II, was composed by Academy Award-winner Alexandre Desplat, and sets a fairly sombre tone for much of the duration of the two films. Frequently pensive in nature, there are heart-wrenchingly solemn moments, like "Farewell to Dobby," "Lily's Theme," and "Snape's Demise." Honestly, once I sat down and started listening to this excellent 16-LP set, I could barely move from my seat except to flip or change the LP!
The Ultimate Music-loving, Harry Potter Fan Gift!
You'd probably think evaluating a 16-LP (ten hours of music) boxed set of movie soundtracks would be tough sledding, but nothing could be further from the truth with this superb set. As I said before, the music is such an integral part of the movie experience, it's inseparable from the onscreen action, and each soundtrack flows effortlessly, even though the sequencing of the music doesn't match that of the action in the movies. In one of the two albums composed by Nicholas Hooper, director David Yates mentions in the liner notes that he and Hooper shared roots all the way back to film school, and knew each other's work processes intimately. Hooper saw the storyboards for the action far in advance of any of the scenes having been shot, and often wrote his music based on his perception of the storyboards. And Yates kept Hooper's music in mind as he framed the actual filming. So what we may be hearing in the soundtracks is the sequencing of the music as the various segments were actually filmed, rather than how they were edited and assembled for the final cut.
With the exception of a single LP in the set that was scuffed enough to make its presence known, the sound quality of this set was noiseless and superb, and considering the delicate nature of much of the music, that's a very good thing. I've only ever heard parts of some of the CD versions of these soundtracks, and they always struck me as being overly compressed and relatively lifeless. That was never the case with the LPs, which were vibrant, never less than thrillingly musical, and the LPs cast a compelling stereo image across my all-analog setup. The essays from both composers and directors contained in each album were entertaining and illuminating, and the gatefold jackets were often filled with cool montages of photos from the films.
Regardless of how many dollars I've spent over the years for loads of Harry Potter-themed merch in helping fulfill my daughter's undying love of the Harry Potter multiverse, those purchases all pale in comparison to Harry Potter: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I-VII, which is undeniably the ultimate, music-loving, Harry Potter fanboy package! Many thanks to Shore Fire Media's Taylor Perry for bringing it to my attention, and thanks also to Annie Mickum for expediting the delivery of the Gryffindor set to me! This 16-LP set comes very highly recommended!
Rhino Entertainment
All images courtesy of Rhino Entertainment, Shore Fire Media, and Wiki Commons
