You know how it goes: When you wish upon a star…your dreams come true!  Well, if that’s not always quite so cut-and-dried in the real world, it certainly happened over the past couple of days in the film score and catalogue music world!   I’m recently returned from Anaheim, California and the second-ever D23 Expo, where thousands of fans and collectors descended on the Anaheim Convention Center to spend a weekend immersed in all things Disney.   On Friday, I shared some of our personal wishes for future releases in the Walt Disney Records/Intrada series of CD releases.  Well, it would take a major title to follow the first issue in the series, Michael Giacchino’s Oscar-winning score to Up.  And that major title has arrived!  Enter…The Black Hole!

John Barry’s score to the 1979 sci-fi flick The Black Hole topped my wish list.  The composer renowned for both the cutting-edge spy suspense of the James Bond series and the lush romanticism of films like Somewhere in Time and Out of Africa created a supremely atmospheric, eerie and altogether captivating musical tapestry for the film, of which only a half-hour or so was preserved on a heavily-truncated Disneyland Records LP.  The Disney/Intrada team revealed a Special Edition of The Black Hole last night, and it boasts every note of Barry’s magnificent music in all its grandeur.  Barry's score expertly matched the expansive canvas of director Gary Nelson and a star-filled cast boasting talents like Anthony Perkins, Maximilian Schell and Ernest Borgnine; Nelson's film pushed the boundaries of both special effects and adult themes at the then-Walt Disney Productions.

Remastered in stereo from the original 32-track masters, the new The Black Hole includes all selections from that original LP plus over 20 minutes of never-before-released material, presented in film order.  As Intrada notes in its description, Barry’s score offers “[an] exciting overture; swirling main title motifs are memorable but equally fun are numerous devices literally spotlighting favorite signatures of composer: melodic ideas played in one register by French horns, then another register by trumpets; massive block minor chords for suspense; repeating rhythmic ideas generating action; [and] many other musical trademarks.”

This 24-track edition has been brought to fruition by producer Randy Thornton, and the booklet contains liner notes by film score historian (and Barry expert) Jeff Bond plus Disney’s original campaign artwork, production stills, and full color shots of the legendary composer at recording sessions.  The striking Disneyland Records LP jacket artwork has been preserved on the new CD, as well, as you can see above.  Yes, friends, this is one Special Edition that is living up to the word “special,” for sure!

The Black Hole is shipping now, and is an unlimited edition from Disney and Intrada.  You'll find an order link plus the complete track listing with discographical annotation.  Please keep letting us know which titles you’d like to see get the Intrada/Disney treatment next.  We’re all ears!

John Barry, The Black Hole: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Walt Disney Records/Intrada D0013834-02, 2011 - original film released 1979)

1. Overture
2. Main Title
3. That’s It *
4. Closer Look **
5. Zero Gravity
6. Cygnus Floating *
7. The Door Opens **
8. Pretty Busy *
9. Six Robots
10. Can You Speak? *
11. Poor Creatures *
12. Ready to Embark *
13. Start the Countdown
14. Durant is Dead
15. Laser *
16. Kate’s O.K.
17. Hot and Heavy *
18. Meteorites *
19. Raging Inferno *
20. Hotter and Heavier *
21. Bob and V.I.N.C.E.N.T. *
22. Into the Hole **
23. End Title
24. In, Through... and Beyond!

* denotes previously unreleased track.

** denotes track with additional material not used in original film. Portions of the release originally released as Buena Vista Records LP 5008, 1979.