La-La Land Records kicks off March with a killer pair of archival score releases by two of the most famous film composers of all time! The label will premiere Jerry Goldsmith’s oft-requested The Swarm (1978) and expand John Williams’ underrated Far and Away (1992) this month.

Having kicked off a disaster movie craze in the ’70s by producing The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno (both of which featured scores by Williams that were recently given deluxe treatment in a box set from La-La Land last year), Irwin Allen moved to the director’s chair to adapt Arthur Herzog’s novel The Swarm, about a mass of killer bees that terrorize Texas. Announced for production immediately after The Towering Inferno, the film was delayed after Allen parted ways with longtime collaborator 20th Century Fox, eventually taking the project to Warner Bros.; despite an all-star cast including Michael Caine, Olivia de Havilland and Richard Chamberlain, the film failed to attract any substantial buzz at the box office, with the disaster genre having largely fallen by the wayside. (Allen would produce and direct two more disaster flicks: 1979’s Beyond The Poseidon Adventure and 1980’s When Time Ran Out…)

Goldsmith’s score, which was arranged to evoke the sinister buzzing of bees that the human cast must face, has been in high demand since a limited edition release went out of print after its release in 2003. This superior 2CD edition, produced by Bruce Botnick and Neil S. Bulk and utilizing newly mixed first generation ½” analog masters from the Warner Bros. Pictures vault, is the definitive presentation of the score as well as the CD premiere of Goldsmith’s original soundtrack LP and two previously unreleased alternate cues. Liner notes are by Jeff Bond, author of The Fantasy Film Worlds Of Irwin Allen, while Dan Goldwasser provides art direction. (CD listeners with an MQA decoder can access the score direct from disc in even higher resolution: up to 176.4 kHz/24-bit!) This release is limited to 3000 copies worldwide.

We go from the heat of Texas to the Oklahoma plains for Far and Away, a period drama directed by Ron Howard. This picture starred then-married couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as Irish immigrants who seek to own their own land in the United States at the end of the 19th century. While the film also struggled to break even at the box office, praise was laid at Williams’ score, which combined rich romantic traditions with Irish melodies and textures (including performances from Irish folk group The Chieftains). This greatly expanded double-disc edition of the score, featuring eight alternate cues, is produced, mastered and edited by Williams’ longtime restorer Mike Matessino, who also wrote the notes as featured in Jim Titus’ expressive booklet design. It’s available to order now, in time for St. Patrick’s Day, and limited to 3500 copies.

Fans can place their orders for both scores below!

Jerry Goldsmith, The Swarm: Expanded Archival Collection (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1515, 2020 – original film released 1978)

Disc 1: The Film Score (previously unreleased)

1. Main Title (Film Version)
2. Red Two Reporting
3. The Black Mass
4. What Happened?/The Picnic
5. The Bees’ Picnic (Film Version)
6. On Their Way
7. Get Him Out
8. Plastic Hives/Old Friends
9. Don’t Take Him (Film Version)
10. The Boys and The Bees
11. Oh Maureen/We’ll Come Back
12. Bees On Fire
13. Toward Marysville
14. The Lollipop
15. A Gift Of Flowers
16. The Bees Arrive (Film Version)
17. A Boy’s Story
18. The Park
19. Condolences
20. Empty Town
21. Train Attack
22. No Effect
23. Tommy’s Death (Film Version)
24. Exact Instructions (Film Version)
25. Departed Friend
26. The Glasses/Houston Headquarters
27. Burn ‘Em Out
28. Get Reinforcements
29. Bees Inside (Film Version)
30. End Title (Film Version)

Portions previously released as Prometheus PCR-517, 2003

Disc 2: Original Soundtrack Album (1-10, released as Warner Bros. Records BSK 3208, 1978) and Additional Music (11-12, previously unreleased)

1. Main Title
2. A Gift Of Flowers
3. The Bees’ Picnic
4. Tommy’s Death
5. The Bees Arrive
6. Bees Inside
7. Don’t Take Him
8. Exact Instructions
9. A Boy’s Story
10. End Title
11. Main Title (Original Version)
12. No Effect (Alternate Take)

John Williams, Far and Away: Limited Edition (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1533, 2020 – original film released 1992)

* previously unreleased ** contains previously unreleased material

Disc 1: Score Presentation

1. County Galway, June 1892
2. The Fighting Donnellys (with The Chieftains)
3. Joe Sr.’s Passing **
4. The Village Burns *
5. Leaving Home
6. The Barn/Running Away *
7. The Duel Scene (with The Chieftains)
8. This Is My Destiny *
9. Burning The Manor House
10. Am I Beautiful?
11. Blowing Off Steam
12. Fighting For Dough (with The Chieftains)
13. My Own Man *
14. Into The Bath *
15. The Big Match
16. Banished *
17. Inside The Mansion
18. Shannon Is Shot
19. Day Dreaming
20. Joseph’s Dream
21. The Horseshoe *
22. The Reunion (Film Version)

Disc 2: Score Presentation (1-6) and Additional Music (7-14)

1. Oklahoma Territory
2. The Land Race
3. Race To The River
4. Settling With Stephen **
5. Joseph and Shannon
6. End Credits (with The Chieftains)
7. Joe Sr.’s Passing (Alternate) **
8. The Barn (Alternate) *
9. My Own Man (Alternate) *
10. The Big Match (Alternate) **
11. Oklahoma Territory (Film Version) **
12. The Land Race (Alternate) **
13. Joseph and Shannon (Alternate) **
14. End Credits (Alternate) (with The Chieftains) **

Portions previously released as MCA Records MCAD-10628, 1992