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October 25th, 2010 
Music & Movie Gal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Japanese pressing of 1968 soundtrack composed by Irwin Kostal, starring Dick Van Dyke and directed by Ken Hughes. Packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. Varese. 20041964 brought both triumph and ironic tragedy to English spy-turned-author Ian Fleming. T
Rating: 
(out of 15 reviews)
List Price: $ 15.98
Price: $ 10.76
Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score
Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score by John Carpenter and Alan HowarthThis product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com’s standard return policy will apply.
Rating: 
(out of 4 reviews)
List Price: $ 12.00
Price: $ 10.95
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Review by Pope for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Rating:
One of the best and most celebrated musical films to come from the late 1960s, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been a favorite for over 35 years and will remain a favorite for years to come.
The score by the brothers Sherman is wonderful. This is the only score they wrote for a non-Disney film. The score for MARY POPPINS was written by the same duo. This film was actually meant to star Julie Andrews as Truly Scrumptious, but Andrews already felt too typecast from previous films and declined the role. But Sally Ann Howes is perfectly cast here and gives a remarkable performance. Dick van Dyke, as always, is charming. Also loved the casting of the two children. They can really carry a tune.
Ironic trivia: Howes was a replacement for Julie Andrews in the stage version of My Fair Lady.
The ONLY reason I must hold back from giving 5 stars is that the sound quality on this disc, while not terrible, does not allow the music to shine as glorious as it should. There is quite a bit of tape hiss evident throughout, which is distracting, and it does bring down the sonic quality of the performances. Hopefully future releases of this soundtrack will have that problem rectified. But that doesn’t mean you should pass this disc up and wait for the next release. It is still wonderful and the score will always remain a favorite of children and adults alike.
Review by Byron Kolln for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
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This re-release of the CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG soundtrack is a great find. The original Rykodisc release was swiftly deleted, but this new reissue from Varese Sarabande is ample compensation. Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes are delightful in their performances as Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious. Standouts in the strong Sherman Brothers score include “Hushabye Mountain”, “The Roses of Success”, “Me Ole’ Bamboo” and “Toot Sweets”.
There are two prime numbers for Miss Howes to show her mettle (“Lovely Lonely Man” and “Doll on a Music Box”). Under-rated British musical star Anna Quayle, as the fearsome Baroness, has the cute “Chu-Chi Face” with Gert Frobe. Not just a children’s musical!
Review by takemehome for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
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This new soundtrack release for the 1968 family musical classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, contains all of the songs from the movie, albeit some have instrumental parts edited from the tracks. It contains several performances of the title track, as well as classics such as “Toot Sweets,” “Hushabye Mountain,” and “Doll On A Music Box.” The sound is fairly crisp and clear, although sadly, Varese gave into the loudness war crap and turned the volume up so much that there’s a bit of distortion in some of the louder portions. It doesn’t really take away from my experience, and I barely notice it, but I thought I should mention this.
I took one star off, however, for the simple reason that these 16 tracks don’t even add up to 40 minutes of audio, which is why the exclusion of the demos that are included on the 2-Disc DVD baffles me. I made myself a copy of the CD with both the songs from the CD and the demos from the DVD, and it came to just under 70 minutes. It’d be nice if in the future, a new soundtrack was released with the demos, or even just the full songs, including the instrumental breaks. It’s about time these record companies started taking advantage of a CD’s ability to hold up to 80 minutes of audio.
Despite any flaws, I wholeheartedly recommend this soundtrack to ANY fan of the film. It presents all of the classic songs in a satisfactory presentation, and is wonderfully nostalgic. The songs aren’t as good as the songs you’ll find in any great Disney classic, but they’re still fantastic fun.
Review by J. E. Avey for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
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While I do love this movie, and the songs from it, this CD is a sad example of a missed opportunity. This CD was released a few years ago with dialogue in-between the songs. Its now more like the original LP from 1968, but far from complete. If they truly wanted to release a great “Special Edition” soundtrack, they should have included the fantastic score by Irwin Kostal/Sherman Bros. I have heard the “isolated score”, and in some ways it is better than some of the songs. Maybe they will get it right for the 70th Anniversary!
Review by for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
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Even though the first release of the soundtrack was better, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this CD. I have loved this movie since I was a child, and I loved the music to it! This is one of those CD’s that you never get tired of listening to. Anyone who loves Chitty Chitty Bang Bang must have this soundtrack!!
Review by N. P. Stathoulopoulos for Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score
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An excellent re-release of the Carpenter-Howarth score to Halloween III: Season of the Witch to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film.
Not being a Michael Myers film, the Halloween theme does not appear. Instead, the film features the signature Carpenter sound on a number of excellent new cues, including the opening theme and the ensuing chase sequence. Once again, it’s all keyboard, and very reminiscent of his scores from the same period (Escape From New York, Christine, etc). Spare and eerie, it holds up well. As scores go, this is as good as EfNY, and with the unreleased tracks it’s even better. You’re pretty much getting an extra album here, with 13 additional tracks clocking in at the same length, if not more. Some of the extra material contains alternate versions of the score, while others are totally unreleased tracks, all of them very welcome. The score still holds up better the film, which did have some interesting themes that are relevant today, even if Tommy Lee Wallace couldn’t quite hold it together like Carpenter (or Rick Rosenthal). Still, the music will evoke the photography of Dean Cundey, who gave the film the same look as the first two.
Limited to 1000 copies, which isn’t much even for a re-release of H III’s score, this is well worth it for Carpenter fans, and fans of the demented Silver Shamrock jingle. If you don the right mask and play the Silver Shamrock Montage track enough, your head will explode.
Review by Joker for Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score
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This review is of the LIMITED EDITION Halloween III – Season Of The Witch soundtrack that has a total of 25 tracks. The ORIGINAL release of this soundtrack has 12 songs.
The soundtrack to Halloween III is easily John Carpenter’s best work. He teamed up with Alan Howarth to make this eerie atmospheric soundtrack that doesn’t keep repeating itself like the Halloween and Halloween II soundtracks. Each track has its own identity and the tracks connect well with each other. A lot of keyboards and synthesizers are used. There are 13 additional tracks included on this album (and 25 altogether), whereas the original release has a total of 12 tracks. Personal favorites of mine are The Rock, Hello Grandma, Halloween Montage, Goodbye Ellie, Robots At The Factory, Drive To Santa Mira, Hey Boom, The Factory, I Do Love A Good Joke, and Local Boy, No Way. Some of the extra tracks are repeats of tracks that appeared on the original release, only they’re slightly different musically and named differently. They’re basically alternate unused versions, but still very good. The remaining extra tracks are tracks that never appeared on the original release, yet I feel should have been included on the original release because they are music tracks that were applied to scenes in the movie.
It’s too bad so many people don’t like the movie. People need to give the movie a chance, because it’s an extremely underrated movie, even with the silly plot and mistakes in the movie. Once you watch it a few times, it might start to grow on you. People need to forget about Michael Myers. John Carpenter and Debra Hill killed him off in Halloween II, remember? They did this so they could start a whole new Halloween-themed franchise with a new movie every year that is unrelated to the previous. In fact, they didn’t even want to make Halloween II to begin with. In my mind, there are really only two Halloween movies: Halloween and Halloween III. I pretend that the others don’t exist (though I did review Halloween II). I highly recommend the Halloween III soundtrack for your Halloween season! I also highly recommend watching Halloween III with an open mind and without Michael Myers on your mind. He wasn’t in the movie and wasn’t supposed to be in the movie because he was killed off in Halloween II. The only reason he was brought back in Halloween 4 was to cash in and imitate other horror movie franchises that featured an invincible villain. All of a sudden Michael Myers is invincible starting with Halloween 4. Think about that. See my movie review of Halloween III – Season Of The Witch.
I highly recommend the Halloween III – Season Of The Witch limited edition soundtrack. If you can’t get a copy of the CD, you can download everything right here on Amazon.
Review by Kenneth Phillips for Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score
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this soundtrack….heard this soundtrack back in the late 80′s…what a soundtrack this was….don,t think you will ever see anyone top this soundtrack when it comes to deep synthesizer music….god bless john carpenter!
Review by Victor Peeters for Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score
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Even if you don’t like this movie (I love the movie), you’ll like the soundtrack!
It has nice soundscapes and eerie tracks and it reminds you of how the eighties synth-soundtracks really could create a great atmosphere.(also check the Nightmare On Elmstreet music)
Oh yeah, it’s not overdone, it’s minimal wich I also like.