You have to feel sorry for Varese; after their valiant effort to put out an expanded re-recording of Superman, it was announced that the original tracks would be remastered and expanded for a complete release of the original recording. With Jaws it was perhaps even more unfortunate since the Varese album had been on the cards for some time, but the expanded version of the original was released reasonably quickly after being announced. Of course, everyone went for the original versions of both Jaws and Superman, despite Varese's efforts being extremely good. I still feel that the Varese Superman album is generally excellent and certainly has superior sound to the original tracks, despite all the remastering that went on.
For Jaws, the sound isn't so much better as merely different. The original half hour Jaws album didn't sound all that great, but the re-release of the film recordings were quite splendid given the age of the masters. However, there are plenty of moments where inner orchestral parts come out more clearly on this McNeely conducted re-recording. The music itself probably needs no introduction, so much of a classic has it become. However, McNeely gives a fresh enough recording to make it worth while picking up for the more ardent Williams fan. The size of the orchestra is notably larger sounding - most likely as a result of the sound which has a great dynamic range, but is also more spaciously recorded.
The performance isn't perhaps always as tight as it might be; Williams' original is given an extremely crisp, concise performance, whereas McNeely often seems to bring out a more epic and spacious sound. This isn't perhaps always entirely appropriate, but if you're willing to accept a new take on a familiar score then it is at least technically impressive. The annoying "too much reverb" complaint could perhaps be levelled on occasion, but I suspect that it's only in comparison to the extremely dry original that it is so obvious. I certainly don't feel that there is any detrimental effect on the clarity of the recording.
If you love the score, you will might find this new recording distracting because it's not like the original - although, surely that's the point?! - or you might find it (as I have) an excellent performance and good alternate take on a classic score. We have the luxury of being able to firstly choose which version to purchase and beyond that, the luxury of being able to compare. The liner notes are helpful, aside from a couple of errors in the track descriptions (although I wonder if the notes are referring to scenes that were cut from the final film and hence appear wrong), even if the cover design is not perhaps Bob Peak's finest effort. Still, another good package from Varese and worth picking up for the avid Williams collector and casual collectors who don't yet own Jaws (there must be some), I'd suggest it would be as equally worthy as picking up as the album of the original tracks.
Rating ~ Total Time ~ 51:09