News

From four-legged critters to gun-blazing Westerns, La-La Land’s release slate this week features some great, little heard soundtrack material coming out of the vaults.

Outside of horror circles, the 1971 film Willard – about a misfit with an affinity for rats – is best known for its 1972 sequel, Ben, which featured an oddly sweet, wildly successful theme song sung by Michael Jackson (his first solo No. 1 hit). The films themselves were considerably less cuddly, a point driven home by a 2003 remake of Willard. The titular loner, stuck with an overbearing mother and money-hungry boss, was played by Crispin Glover in the film. It was perfect casting for the quirky actor/musician, who in fact covered Jackson’s “Ben” for the film.

Throughout the suspenseful adaptation of Willard was a great score by Shirley Walker, whose work on the animated adaptations of Batman earned her critical acclaim, including a Daytime Emmy. Willard was one of Walker’s last scores before her untimely passing in 2006, and its belated CD release (limited to 3,000 units) is sure to be a hit with her fans. (Alas, Glover’s “Ben” was not available to license for this disc.)

La-La Land also offers up a new edition of Bandolero!, a James Stewart-Dean Martin Western scored by Jerry Goldsmith with his usual flair for such action-packed genres. It’s not the first release – Intrada released first an unused album mix on CD in 1993, and paired it with the complete score in 2004 some weeks after Goldsmith’s passing – but it’s back in print for new audiences to discover, and features one new bonus track in the form of the main title cue, sans whistle. Remastered by Mike Matessino, who co-produced with Nick Redman, Bandolero! is limited to 2,000 copies.

Order links and track lists for the new titles are after the jump. (LLL also has corrected copies of Goldsmith’s score to The Challenge back in stock this week.)

Shirley Walker, Willard: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1253, 2013 – original film released 2003)

1. Main Title
2. Rats in the Basement/Willard Goes Home/Willard at Dad’s Picture
3. Willard Checks Traps
4. Demoted/Mr. Martin
5. Gotcha
6. Socrates/Goodnight Socrates
7. Willard’s Hatred Builds
8. Big Ben
9. Training Montage
10. The Tire Mission
11. Total Tire Recall/Not the Puppy
12. Willard’s Revenge/Follow Ben
13. In the Basement, Ben/Where’s Mother?
14. Ben, How Could You?
15. My Only Friend/House Full of Rats
16. Willard Sees Ben/Willard Closes Hole
17. Splinters/Willard Gets the Boot/Socrates Gets It
18. What Can We Do?/That’s Not a Mouse
19. Rats Begone
20. Don’t Go into the Bathroom
21. We Need to Go
22. Rats Chase Willard
23. Trapped Like a Rat
24. Willard’s Demise
25. He’s Back/Socrates Reprise
26. End Credits

Jerry Goldsmith, Bandolero! Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1256, 2013 – original film released 1968)

1. The Saloon
2. Main Title
3. The Imposter
4. Procession to the Gallows
5. A Bad Day for Hanging/The Kidnap
6. Across the River
7. Bad News/He’ll Cross It/The Bait
8. The Trap
9. El Jefe
10. Ambushed
11. The Violator
12. Sabinas
13. A Bag of Money
14. Dee’s Proposal
15. A Better Way
16. Main Title (without Whistle) *
17. Maria’s Theme (Demo)
18. Bandolero! Theme (Demo)
19. Main Title
20. The Trap
21. El Jefe
22. The Bait
23. Ambushed
24. Sabinas
25. Dee’s Proposal
26. Across the River
27. A Bad Day for Hanging
28. A Better Way

Tracks 1-15 from original score – released as Intrada Special Collection Vol. 16, 2004
Tracks 16-18 are bonus outtakes – Tracks 17-18 released on above
Tracks 19-28 from original album mix – released as Intrada CD VJF-5003-D, 1993