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Is there a commercial release to ___________ ?
Currently- and please note that I am writing this response as at November 2000- there are a number of unreleased Hans Zimmer scores.  I mean unreleased in the sense that "no" score at all exists in commercial (that is, legitimately available) soundtrack album form.  These scores include:

- Bird on a Wire
- Chicago Joe and the Showgirl -- co-credit with Shirley Walker
- Chill Factor -- co-composed with Jeff Rona and John Powell
- Days of Thunder
- Last Days, The
- Preacher's Wife, The
- Two Deaths

Non-commercially (that is, through bootlegging), the complete scores to Bird on a Wire, Chicago Joe and the Showgirl, Chill Factor, Days of Thunder, and Two Deaths have been available some way or another, mostly in CDR format (albeit difficult to find). The Preacher's Wife had only a commercial release with nothing but Whitney Houston songs, however, Hans' score was available as a separate Academy Awards promotional cassette (therefore being quite rare).  The score has since been bootlegged onto CD.  In a recent interview, Hans claimed that "one day" his score to The Last Days would be available, but just wasn't possible at the time.

(Aside, technically Days of Thunder did have a score release of sorts- the cue, "Car Building" was available on a rare European 3-inch or maxi single CD.  For more information, check out the rarities page)

What is a "bootleg"?
Bootlegs.  Nasty business really.  A bootleg is basically an unauthorised recording of anything (eg. music, video, or cinema) that is subsequently sold or rented for profit.  As such, they are quite illegal.  However, sometimes it is the only way the fans can obtain the music they so love, and have wanted for so long.  But don't get me wrong though- I certainly don't condone bootlegging, because the profits made do not accrue to the composer.  On the other hand, the existence of bootlegging is a powerful statement to the music industry: satisfy demand for scores by releasing them in the first place, or face inevitable bootlegging.  As harsh as this may sound, it is something that has rung true for years, and will continue to be the case until producers begin taking notice of the value of the film score, and not the size of their bank accounts.  Until then, many of us have to make do and just wait for the next bootleg to surface in the market- when that'll be, is anyone's guess.

In the majority of cases, soundtrack bootlegs have terrible sound quality.  In the worst case, they are produced by directly hooking up a DVD, Laserdisc, or VHS to the computer and recording the sound.  As a result, sound effects are inevitable.  However, in the best circumstances sound quality can be excellent- not as good as a standard commercially released CD, but still quite good (perhaps AAD quality sound at best).  Such bootlegs are commonly produced with no sound effects and come from the master tapes themselves (meaning cues are likely to be quite short due to the synchronization with the images on the screen, and the editing of a film)- again, this is quite illegal!  My "other" favourite composer John Barry, best summarizes the nature of bootlegging in an interview he did in the 70's:

"MC: Do you know if there was an Italian album released from The Tamarind Seed?"

"JB: No, I don't. I've never heard of such an album.  We never made a recording for an album.  But what happens in foreign countries is that the film is sent over there, and then dubbed into Italian, Japanese, or whatever.  They will also send a clear track of just the music without sound-effects and dialogue.  So what they shouldn't be doing, but in many cases do, is to tape the music track and make an illegal album."

(for your interest: Barry's score to The Tamarind Seed surfaced in the bootleg market in 1999- despite being a film almost 30 years old, sound quality was astounding, with a great melodic score to boot!)

Where do I obtain bootleg scores?
Ah, the million dollar question!  If I was given a dollar for every time I've been asked this question, I'd be a very rich man (who would of course, use his money to release every unreleased or incomplete Zimmer score!)  But no, I've never pocketed cash for such a question, and am still a pennyless bum (as per usual).  Each and every time I've been asked such a question, I always reply with the following remark: "wait for a commercial release," accompanied with "you'll have to make do with that VHS/DVD/LD copy of the film!"  Seriously though, I can't answer such a question because it really isn't something that can be answered (without getting into a great deal of trouble).  However, there are certain sites on the web that sell "bootlegs"- not just by Hans, but by many other fine composers (also note, that not every score has a corresponding bootleg lurking about somewhere- it's really a matter of time before something gets released, if at all).  The only site that I can think of that "may" sell such bootlegs is Screenarchives and Sound Track Album Retailers (STAR)- you'll need a credit card to purchase from them though.  Mail me for further details.

I've heard of a compilation called Follow Your Dreams- where can I find this release?
Contrary to what most people will tell you, both volumes of Follow Your Dreams, as well as the other CD's from the First Born Records catalogue, are bootlegs.  Masked as promotional discs, I have to hand it to the people behind the label- they've done a great job with artwork, and sound quality.  Again, as bootlegs they are quite illegal, and therefore quite hard to find.  In any case, I've noticed that both volumes have compiled music from elsewhere- namely very difficult to find promotional CD's, or private samplers (which come from the composer himself).

For instance, the first volume of Follow Your Dreams has music culled from: World of BBC Themes (First Born); Follow Your Dreams: The Marlboro Adventure Team Single (4 of the 5 tracks), the European pressing of The Lion King (Hyena's track), and Toys: Single (the various instrumental edits of "The Closing of the Year")- the rest were extracted digitally from the films themselves.  For the second volume of Follow Your Dreams, most of the music came from a private release from Zimmer himself.  The rest of the cues came from various promo CD's, as well LP transfers, and digital edits from the films themselves.

The best bet in finding either volume of Follow Your Dreams (although the first volume is reported to have had a run of about 100 CD's- it will be very difficult to find in original form) would be from Ebay, the best source of rare and hard-to-get scores.  Beware of rip-off merchants selling CDR's though.  As a side note, something tells me that the people behind First Born are also responsible many other bootlegs soundtrack scores (one that immediately comes to mind is the My Best Friend's Wedding/The Trigger Effect bootleg on the Friends Records- very similar packaging to Days of Thunder and Thelma and Louise)

Now, what's this I hear about an expanded score to __________ ?
Have you ever noticed that some of your most cherished Zimmer scores are missing a handful of wonderful cues that were included in the film but not on CD?  The Prince of Egypt and The Lion King are two prime examples of soundtracks missing a noticeable amount of score- consequently, fans have been known to go quite mad at record companies for relegating score over "popular" music (popular my ass!)  Again, what do you think happens when you don't satisfy demand?  Bootlegging.  Currently, the following "expanded" or "complete" scores have surfaced in the market:

- Black Rain
- Fan, The
- Rain Man
- Thelma and Louise

Black Rain and Rain Man are currently available (somewhere) as expanded CDR's with poor sound quality.  Thelma and Louise was bootlegged by First Born Records, who I am certain will be doing the same thing with Black Rain and Rain Man in the near future. The Fan is much more elusive, so I don't have much info on this disc (but certainly will when I get my hands on a copy of it).

What is a CDR?
CDR stands for compact disc recordable.  A CDR is essentially a CD "copy" of something- be it music, or video CD.  Because the copy is made digitally (via a CD writer), sound reproduction is perfect.  So, how does one distinguish a CDR from a normal pressed compact disc?  A pressed compact disc is a standard disc in that it is pretty much what any other CD in your collection looks like- that is, it has a silver-coloured playing side, in which you can clearly see your reflection (much like a mirror).  Now, a CDR on the other hand is distinguished by the colour of its playing side.  With the majority of these discs having either a green or blue dyed playing side, they are also distinguished by a code on the inner plastic ring of the disc, where I'm sure most you hold when handling the object (although, some CDR's don't have this code- however, they can still be distinguished by the colour of the playing side).

To be able to distinguish between the two is quite important, because "some" people will try to charge you in excess of $50 to pay for such items, while claiming that they are legitimate promo's or bootlegs (in most cases, bootlegs are burned onto CDR and sold).  In reality, CDR's will cost you less than $3 each! (and even cheaper if bought in bulk)  So, what becomes of that additional $47?  Profit, pure and simple.

What is a "promo"?
Unlike the common bootleg, a promotional score or "promo score," as they are commonly termed, are legitimate recordings of scores (most likely unreleased commercially) that are authorized by the composer, or the composer's agent (thus, they are sometimes called "composer" promo's).  They are usually distributed in hopes of promoting a composer's work, so that a director or producer or film studio may hire them in the future.  Because a limited amount of these discs are produced, they are often quite difficult to find.  From experience though, if you know the right people, getting them isn't too difficult.

Currently, there are very few promo discs with Hans' work- none of which have more music.  This is pretty much the case with other Media Venture composers except for Jeff Rona, who sells promo copies of scores from his own site.  For Trevor Rabin fans though, his agency seem to produce many promo scores; for example, a composer promo of Jack Frost (which had a commercial score release of only 3 minutes), Armageddon (which, until a successful petition was launched, was the only source of score for the film), Enemy of the State (minus Harry Gregson-Williams' contribution), and Remember the Titans.

What is an Academy Awards "For Your Consideration" Promo?
Following the same reasoning of a composer promo, Academy Award "For Your Consideration" promo's or "Oscar" promo's are produced in hopes of scoring a composer (no pun intended) an Academy Award!  Because they are distributed to the members the academy only, very few of them exist.

Most of Hans' Oscar promo's have basically had identical music to their commercial release- they have only differed in package.  The only exception was his score to The Preacher's Wife, which was produced on a dolby cassette, and had a running time of about 13 minutes- the score was nominated, but lost to Rachel Portman's Emma

Where do I obtain promo scores?
As I mentioned earlier, very few promo discs are made.  In most cases, they are distributed to a very select bunch of people, or can only be purchased at soundtrack specialty outlets (at higher than usual prices).  In the past, I've found online stores such as Supercollector, Screen Archives, Soundtrack Album Retailers, and Intrada to obtain many of these promo discs- finding promo scores by Zimmer, however, is quite tough, in part because so few of them exist (check out my Best Buy page for purchasing links)

Are there any Zimmer compilations available?
Officially, there aren't any Zimmer compilations of any sort at the moment.  However, should Decca release the Ghent Zimmer Concert (performed in 2000), then that will be a first.  Both volumes of Follow Your Dreams are bootlegs, so are not considered official compilations.  In any case, I've noticed that both CD's take music from various hard-to-get legitimate sources, so really, they're just compiling music!

Where is the best place to buy soundtracks online?
Many people worry about buying online for some reason.  Some think it is unsafe.  Others, well, they don't have access to a credit card.  Either way, buying online is sometimes the only way you can find those hard-to-get scores.  However, never think you can find all your soundtrack needs at one online store- normally, if you shop around (as you do in real life, unless, you're filthy rich!) you can find different items stocked at different places (and indeed, soundtrack stock differs across countries) and at different prices.  Generally, there are 2 places I shop at online, and personally recommend.  These are CDNOW and HMV Australia, because both have both great prices and range.

In any case, buying through these online vendors helps support the site, so please buy through them (through my links!)  CDNOW often has sales and discounts, so they are particularly desirable.  HMV specializes in harder to find material (it is also worth visiting HMV UK, and HMV Japan)  For the even harder to find items (such as bootlegs), try Craig Spaulding's excellent site Screen Archives.

I don't have a credit card, so what can I do?
First ask yourself, "Is there any chance at all that I can get hold (legally!) of a credit card?"  Have you tried asking your parents?  Your favourite uncle, or auntie?  Your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your neighbour?  If the answer is no, have a crack at asking them.  However, if the answer is still no to my initial question, then there is one last hope; Money Order, cheques, or if absolutely desperate, hard cash (best to send via registered mail).  Either way, ask the person in charge of orders, shipping, or inquiries at the particular site, and see what they have to say.

Where do I find the sheet music to ___________ ?
To be completed....