Summer Sessions: Rusted Wave and 1984 Publishing Premiere '80s Scores by Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman

The '80s not only saw tremendous soundtracks from many of the established composers in Hollywood, but a new generation of musicians making a mark on the silver screen, as well. Next month, two of the best film music discoveries of the '80s will be the subject of new reissues from Rusted Wave Records and 1984 Publishing (known for printing photo books about "Weird Al" Yankovic as well as the memoir by the late Marie Fredriksson of Roxette fame).

The labels will prep vinyl and CD releases of Alan Silvestri's score from 1985's Summer Rental and Danny Elfman's work on Summer School, released in 1987. Both comedies were directed by the legendary Carl Reiner and feature appropriately peppy scores from each composer near the top of their game. (Only Summer Rental has been released before, by Quartet Records in 2014, on a double bill with Silvestri's work for the film Critical Condition - and never on vinyl.)

When Summer Rental hit theaters in August 1985, one of Silvestri's scores was dominating the box office: his adventurous work on the time travel comedy Back to the Future. Rental was a little more down to earth: John Candy stars as an overworked air traffic controller who takes his family on a zany trip to Florida, encountering a snotty rich sailor (Richard Crenna) and a wacky restaurater (Rip Torn) along the way. Candy and Reiner developed a great rapport during filming, but the rising comic expressed his disappointment in the film's critical failure (which he blamed on a breakneck shooting schedule to fill a gap in Paramount Pictures' release schedule). Still, this early Silvestri score is a hoot, with Reiner himself even singing on the track "Delores." Rusted Wave will make the new Summer Rental CD - limited to just 500 copies - available online next Tuesday, April 25 at 1 p.m. EST. But vinyl collectors can look out for an LP, pressed on opaque blue "Your Wife's on My Wham-O" vinyl, to be released this Saturday, April 22 at participating Record Store Day retailers.

Summer School was another slice of hot-weather humor, helmed by Reiner from a script by Jeff Franklin (who'd hit pay dirt that fall with Full House, the long-running family sitcom he created). In this one, a gym teacher (Mark Harmon) is conscripted into teaching an English class of remedial misfits. The composer for the job was one of the newest to film music, though hardly an unknown. Danny Elfman had fronted Oingo Boingo for most of the decade, and made a terrific splash with his first score, 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure (his first of many collaborations with director Tim Burton).

Something of a transitional work in the year before a hot streak that included Beetlejuice and Batman, Elfman's Summer School score is notable for being Elfman's only film work not available in part. That of course changes with this CD and 12" EP release (cut at 45 RPM speed and available in three colorways: 350 copies apiece of "Chainsaw and Dave" (clear/red swirl) and "Oceanfront High School" (sea foam green) variants, and 300 "Beach Brew" (transparent beer yellow) units. 500 CD copies will be pressed too; all feature 13 score tracks and two not used in the film. The CD and vinyl will also be ready to pre-order Tuesday, April 25 at 1 p.m. EST.

Have a look at the track lists for both releases below!