I might be wrong, but I don't think there is one newly recorded cue on this album, although Varese have released this compilation as a mid-priced selection and as a starter kit for introducing yourself to the music of John Williams is rather good. I have, obviously, heard virtually all the tracks on here about a million times and so think it would be fair to say that I should be reasonably good at judging the merits of the performances. Well, the performances are mostly excellent, I don't expect much less from Varese's re-recordings these days and indeed this album is up to par. Perhaps the only jarring problem is that some of the tracks are from original scores and obviously the recordings of some of the tracks will come out different due to different orchestras and so on. That aside, there isn't much to complain about. Some of the arrangements will be rather unamiliar. For example, the Midway March is a short version (the end credit version from the film I believe). The cue from The Cowboys is just the opening titles and not the full eight minute suite. There are a few hard to find items, such as the theme from Amazing Stories, which until Varese recorded it, was unavailable until now. It's a fairly typical Williams piece, but sums up all the spirit of adventure that Steven Spielberg's series hoped to generate.
Family Plot was Alfred Hitchcock's last film; as yet the score has remained unreleased, but I must confess that I really love the theme and hope that it gets the full release it deserves. All the more familiar tracks are performed with suitable gusto. I would say that none are superior to Williams' own re-recordings or original score performances, but they are certainly worth hearing. As the album is mid-priced it should hopefully attract enough casual fans to buy it, although for more hardened Williams fans it's perhaps harder to recommend. However, on it's own merits, it certainly stands out as a great selection of music and is perhaps more balanced than many Williams compilations in the greater amount of more subtle material to counteract the typical grandiose orchesrtal efforts.
Ratings ~ 
Total Time ~ 59:25