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Fans frustrated at Interstellar deluxe soundtrack shenanigans

interstellar

Having seen Christopher Nolan’s excellent Interstellar on an IMAX screen on Monday (highly recommended) I thought I’d seek out the similarly excellent Hans Zimmer soundtrack. Of course, in this multi-edition age, that proved more complicated and frustrating than I imagined and so thought I’d share my findings…

In the UK, and most territories, the soundtrack has been issued (by Sony Music Classical) as a Deluxe Star Wheel Constellation Chart Digipak edition. Despite the ‘deluxe’ in the title this is effectively the ‘standard’ physical edition and is a single disc offering that includes 16 tracks (or cues). Since there was no apparent ‘deluxe’ alternative I was all ready to place an order until I noticed some of the amazon reviews. Many fans pointed out that there is indeed an even more ‘deluxe’ version called the The Illuminated Star Projection Edition. The catch, is that this is currently only available via a US-only online store.

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The “Deluxe Star Wheel Constellation Chart Digipak” edition

This Illuminated Star Projection Edition (main picture at the top)  is quite flashy and comes with an “Illuminated Star Projection Box”, a bonus disc of 35 minutes of music “unavailable anywhere else” (not quite true), plus and extended booklet, a ‘decodable light message’ and full mp3 digital download of the soundtrack (don’t know if that includes the bonus material). You also get a Z+ App free download that gives you a ‘DTS Headphone’ experience (i.e. virtual surround) of the music. Sounds great, but ‘they’ will only ship to USA – not even Canada – and this edition can’t be found anywhere else for love nor money. This edition has 28 tracks in total.

One of the reasons people are miffed is that Day One Dark a climatic cue used during the docking sequence in the film is missing from the standard CD and can only be found in the Illuminated Star Projection Edition. Actually, even that’s not quite true because it was also given away as a free (groan) as a promotion via US site MovieTickets.com as a 128k MP3. 

There is a deluxe digital download but it doesn’t include Day One Dark and contains 15 minutes less music than the Illuminated Star Projection Edition but 20 minutes more than the standard Deluxe Star Wheel Constellation Chart Digipak. Confused? You will be.

There is talk of Hans Zimmer making Day One Dark available as a free download via his site, and vague promises that the full monty – i.e. the Illuminated Star Projection Edition – will see a release in Europe and everywhere else in the world that isn’t America. Someone has uploaded Day One Dark to Soundcloud if you want a listen.

So for now, watch this space, but most of all watch a great film. The various buying options at the time of writing are listed below.

UPDATE 12/12/14 – The Illuminated Star Project Edition is now listed on Amazon UK for a Feb 2015 release! click here.

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Illuminated Star Projection Edition (28 tracks)

Deluxe Star Wheel Constellation Chart Digipak (16 track)

Deluxe Digital version (24 tracks)

Standard Digital version (16 tracks)

Track listings

Standard ‘Star Wheel’ edition

  • 1. Dreaming of the Crash
  • 2. Cornfield Chase
  • 3. Dust
  • 4. Day One
  • 5. Stay
  • 6. Message From Home
  • 7. The Wormhole
  • 8. Mountains
  • 9. Afraid of Time
  • 10. A Place Among the Stars
  • 11. Running Out
  • 12. I’m Going Home
  • 13. Coward
  • 14. Detach
  • 15. S.T.A.Y
  • 16. Where We’re Going

Digital Deluxe Edition bonus tracks

  • 17. “First Step” 1:47
  • 18. “Flying Drone” 1:53
  • 19. “Atmospheric Entry” 1:40
  • 20. “No Need to Come Back” 4:32
  • 21. “Imperfect Lock” 6:54
  • 22. “No Time for Caution” 4:06
  • 23. “What Happens Now?” 2:26
  • 24. “Do not go gentle into that good night” (recited by John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn, Casey Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy) 1:39

Illuminated Star Projection Edition adds four further tracks to the Digital Deluxe bonus tracks including Day One Dark.

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

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