Silva have produced quite a couple of previous single CD John Williams compilations, which were variably successful in their quality. John Williams does not write music that is easy to play, especially for the brass and so the City of Prague Philharmonic often had difficulty. This compilation is certainly much better than the previous ones, but it does suffer from the occasional terrible performance, particularly in the more popular selections. Then again, when you get something like Star Wars, there are so many great performances that unless it's absolutely fantastic, it's going to compare badly. I must admit that this compares worst than most. The performance of the Imperial March seems to have far more reverb and bass than it needs and the percussion drowns out the brass too much. A nice addition is the little performed concert version of Han & Leia's theme which goes come across very well. The double album is bookended by two Indiana Jones end credits (although curiously not Raiders of the Lost Ark). These aren't bad, but the performance really isn't as crisp as it should be. The other Spielberg favourites all get outings, the quieter offerings tending to be performed the best. Hymn to the Fallen is rather a fragile piece that is easily ruined by either an over ambitious or unsubtle performance, but the orchestra and chorus manage to pull it off quite well, with only the occasional misstep. Dry Your Tears, Afrika from Amistad has a slightly curious light percussion opening, but is quite good when it gets going, although it perhaps requires a slightly lighter touch than the massed forces of the entire Couch End Festival Chorus. The concert ending is certainly more pleasing than the original one (and it sounds enough like a Williams ending to convince me that Williams himself did the new arrangement). The suite from Hook is pretty good in terms of the arrangement, but some awful brass playing does rather spoil it. When You're Alone, however, gets a lovely performance and an interesting (although perhaps rather un-Williams like) arrangement).
The Oilver Stone collaborations get a decent airing, with a lengthy suite from JFK which comes across very well. The performance of Born on the Fourth of July does not really compete well with the original, but is technically proficient. Compilations for the top composers these days can't get by without a rarer selections. My favourite on this compilation has got to be the end title from Family Plot, Alfred Hitchcock's last film. The performance is very good and it certainly makes me hope that the original score is released sometime, or maybe even a re-recording. The previously released suite from Black Sunday isn't exactly stunningly performed, but is jolly good music, so with any luck that will get a release at some point too. The main rarity though, is the suite from The Rare Breed, which provides us with eighteen and a half minutes of pleasant, if not stunning pre-Cowboys Williams Americana. Possibly not worth buying the album for this selection alone, it is certainly very enjoyable and a worthy addition into the growing catalogue or previously unreleased film music.
As with all compilations, it is hard to recommend generally. For Williams afficiados it's probably just about worth getting for the Rare Breed suite, and if you don't have the Black Sunday suite or Family Plot end titles, then I'd suggest that it's probably worth picking up for those. If you're one of those people who likes hearing new arrangements of "old" themes, then the performances of When You're Alone from Hook and Amistad are worth a listen. Then again, the performance is often pretty poor, especially with the more complex and heroic material. I suppose it would best be described as a mixed bag. For newbies, the Boston Pops compilations conducted by the composer are probably superior performance and recording wise, but offer a slightly more limited choice of material. However, it's a single CD priced double album and with all the hard to find bits and pieces offers a nicely varied slice of Williams' canon (with a few curious omissions such as ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark).
Rating ~ 
Disc 1 - Total Time ~ 73:04
Disc 2 - Total Time ~ 77:28