Archive for August 31st, 2010
The Crazy Train is Running Behind Schedule
It’s been reported that the upcoming reissues of Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981) – which would finally see the original bass and drum tracks (replaced on the 2002 CD reissues) restored – were delayed, based upon the fact that CD Japan had removed the preorder listings from their inventory.
Allow The Second Disc to add further confirmation: we inquired about the status of the titles with Legacy Recordings, and they’ve been confirmed to have been bumped to next year (the exact time was not given). While we join the many fans who are less than thrilled by the news, we rest assured that they’re still on the horizon and will bring you any more news once it’s made available.
A Heroic Selection of Music
It’s always a blast to find out catalogue news from unexpected sources, so when I read a report from my favorite geek news site Topless Robot about a DC Comics music compilation, I got pretty darn excited.
Set for release September 28, The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Collection collects 31 tracks from various DC-affiliated film and television projects – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, The Flash and even Swamp Thing are all here – and the best part is that nearly all of it is previously unreleased.
Hit the jump to take a look at the track list, and check the pre-order link at Amazon.
New Concord Reissues on the Way, None of Which Are Ray Charles-Related
From Paste magazine, we have word of a few expanded reissues due from the Concord catalogue, which will include titles by The Vince Guaraldi Trio, Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker and The Bill Evans Trio. Still no word on another intriguing Concord catalogue title – Ray Charles’ Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters, supposedly due for release October 26 – but these might be of interest to our jazz-minded readers. None of these have been reported on Concord’s own site (based on this author’s past experiences with the label, that’s not much of a surprise), but pre-order links are up at Amazon with September 28 releases for each. Hit the jump to see the track lists.
Intrada Goes “Deep”
Chalk up another in-demand title getting resurrected from the soundtrack honchos at Intrada: an expanded presentation of John Barry’s score to the 1977 underwater thriller The Deep.
Based on the novel by Peter Benchley (who of course wrote that other undersea horror tale, JAWS), the film – centered around a quest for undersea treasure – had only a few similarities to Steven Spielberg’s fish story from two years earlier: both films shared a star (Robert Shaw, although Louis Gossett Jr. would have a role in JAWS 3-D in 1983) and possessed a melodic soundtrack.
For The Deep, scoring duties went to John Barry, best known as the longtime composer for the James Bond series. (Ironically, Barry was absent from the Bond flick released that year; Marvin Hamlisch scored The Spy Who Loved Me.) Much like the spy series, Barry relied on distinctive, malleable themes and stirring action cues for the film score. He also collaborated with a notable pop artist for the film’s main theme, “Down, Deep Inside,” which was co-written and performed by disco queen Donna Summer. The song became a Top 5 Dance hit in America and hit the Top 5 in the U.K. as well.
In an impressive, across-the-aisle maneuver, Intrada has licensed both the complete original score (mastered from surviving mono 1/4″ session masters) from Sony and the original, disco-heavy soundtrack LP (released on Casablanca Records) from Universal for this two-disc set. This limited, 3000-unit edition is available now and, as Intrada’s releases are wont to do, likely going fast. Order it here and have a look at the lineup after the jump.
