Having delivered a typically stunning last batch of archival film score reissues last November, La-La Land Records is wasting no time at all kicking off 2024 with a bang. On Christmas Eve, they surprise-announced two pre-orders of expanded editions of soundtracks to two James Bond films from the '70s and '80s.

La-La Land has long been the home of definitive presentations of 007 on CD, having licensed deluxe 2CD sets of three scores fan favorite composer David Arnold composed for Pierce Brosnan's late '90s/early '00s tenure as Ian Fleming's daredevil secret agent (1997's Tomorrow Never Dies, 1999's The World is Not Enough and 2002's Die Another Day). Fans have long hoped LLL would set their sights on older Bond scores, and now, that's exactly what's happening with remastered and expanded editions of George Martin's music to 1973's Live and Let Die, and longtime Bond composer John Barry's score to Octopussy from a decade later.

With Live and Let Die, a new era of Bond began when The Saint star Roger Moore donned the tux after Sean Connery permanently hung his up. Moore's approach, while more light-hearted than his predecessor, nonetheless won over a new generation of fans, and the adaptation of Live and Let Die - the second Bond novel - found 007 traveling from Harlem to New Orleans to the Caribbean on the trail of a drug lord (Yaphet Kotto) with a striking voodoo priest (Geoffrey Holder) doing his most wicked bidding. Bond finds time as well to romance the kingpin Mr. Big's psychic Solitaire, a breakthrough role for actress Jane Seymour.

Inspired in part by then-popular blaxploitation films, Live and Let Die's music was nonetheless British as they came: producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman recruited Paul McCartney and Wings to write and perform the first true rock song for a Bond film. McCartney's high fee and John Barry's unavailability meant the production didn't look far for a composer: George Martin produced "Live and Let Die" - his first collaboration with McCartney since the dissolution of The Beatles - and wrote a captivating score to match. "Live and Let Die" was the biggest hit single from a Bond film to that point, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and No. 9 in the U.K.) and becoming the first in the franchise to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (ultimately losing to Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were").

For this expanded edition, limited to just 5000 copies, producer Neil S. Bulk and mixing engineer Chris Malone have given Martin's complete score a fresh new remix from original 16-track stereo elements. Those mixes form the basis for the set's second disc, featuring a new remaster of the original soundtrack LP by Doug Schwartz. (Note that "Live and Let Die" and two additional songs - one by New Orleans' Olympia Brass Band and one from cabaret singer B.J. Arnau - are presented from the original album masters.) Jon Burlingame, author of 2012's must-read The Music of James Bond, has penned new liner notes, and designer Dan Goldwasser has put together the package, using Robert McGinnis' unforgettable key art.

In 1983, Moore was close to calling time on his days as 007 (at over 50, he remains the oldest 007 on screen); that same year also found unusual competition a few months after Octopussy's release from Never Say Never Again, an adaptation of a story by filmmaker Kevin McClory which was partially utilized by Fleming for the Bond novel Thunderball. For one last time, Connery returned as the secret agent. (McClory's legal battles with Fleming and Eon Productions/Danjaq, LLC, the longtime maker of Bond films, wouldn't be settled until years after his passing in 2006.)

Eon's Octopussy was only loosely based on original Fleming material, taking elements from two short stories ("Octopussy" and "The Property of a Lady"). Here, 007 faces off against a rogue Soviet general and an exiled Afghan prince who've taken control of nuclear weapons. He's assisted by the title character played by Maud Adams, who'd already co-starred in Moore's second Bond outing, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). John Barry composed his ninth Bond score for Octopussy, co-writing the theme song "All Time High" with lyricist Tim Rice. Rita Coolidge would be tapped to sing "All Time High"; while not a pop hit on either side of the Atlantic, it did top Billboard's adult contemporary survey for a month.

The expanded Octopussy soundtrack is assembled similarly to Live and Let Die by Bulk and Schwartz: the film score is presented on Disc 1, while the second CD offers the original LP presentation - all transferred from 1/4" stereo tapes. (The soundtrack LP features a bonus track: the original, extended instrumental B-side of "All Time High.") Burlingame again writes notes, and Goldwasser designs the artwork and packaging; this set is also limited to 5000 copies.

Both Bond sets can be pre-ordered below now, and will ship starting January 16.

George Martin, Live and Let Die (Music from the Motion Picture - 50th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1625, 2024 - original film released 1973)

Disc 1: Score presentation

1. Gun Barrel/Voodoo Ceremony
2. Live and Let Die (Main Title) - Paul McCartney & Wings
3. Bond to New York
4. Whisper Who Dares
5. Oh Cult Voodoo Shop
6.  James Bond Theme (Film Version)
7. Bond Meets Solitaire (Extended Version)
8. Baron Samedi's Dance of Death (Film Version)
9. San Monique
10. Snakes Alive (Film Version)
11. Bond and Rosie
12. Fortune Telling
13. Rosie Flees
14. Bond Drops In (Film Version)
15. The Lovers
16. If He Finds It, Kill Him
17. Low Bridge
18. New Orleans
19. Just a Closer Walk With Thee/New Second Line - Harold A. "Duke" Dejan & The Olympia Brass Band
20. Fillet of Soul - New Orleans/Live and Let Die/Fillet Of Soul - Harlem - B.J. Arnau
21. Bond's Watch
22. Solitaire Gets Her Cards
23. Trespassers Will Be Eaten (Extended Version)
24. Boat Chase
25. Sacrifice (Film Version)
26. Underground Lair
27. On the Train/Finale

Some portions in alternate mixes previously released on Capitol/EMI 72435 41421 2 3, 2003

Disc 2: Original soundtrack album (released as United Artists UAS-29475 (U.K.)/UA-LA 100-G (U.S.), 1973)

1. Live and Let Die (Main Title) - Paul McCartney & Wings
2. Just a Closer Walk With Thee/New Second Line - Harold A. "Duke" Dejan & The Olympia Brass Band
3. Bond Meets Solitaire
4. Whisper Who Dares
5. Snakes Alive
6. Baron Samedi's Dance of Death
7. San Monique
8. Fillet of Soul - New Orleans/Live and Let Die/Fillet Of Soul - Harlem - B.J. Arnau
9. Bond Drops In
10. If He Finds It, Kill Him
11. Trespassers Will Be Eaten
12. Solitaire Gets Her Cards
13. Sacrifice
14. James Bond Theme

John Barry, Octopussy (Music from the Motion Picture - 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1637, 2024 - original film released 1983)

* includes "James Bond Theme" by Monty Norman

Disc 1: Score presentation

1. Gun Barrel and Airbase *
2. Bond Look-Alike *
3. Fill Her Up
4. All Time High - Rita Coolidge
5. 009 Gets the Knife and The Property of a Lady
6. Kremlin Art Repository and Sotheby's
7. India
8. Magda and Spend the Money Quickly, Mr. Bond
9. Gobinda Attacks *
10. Easy Come, Easy Go *
11. All Time High (Instrumental)
12. That's My Little Octopussy
13. Arrival At the Island of Octopussy
14. Bond At the Monsoon Palace
15. Palace Intrigue
16. The Mysterious Octopussy
17. Bond Meets Octopussy
18. Yo-Yo Fight and Death of Vijay (Extended Version)
19. Checkpoint Charlie and The Romanov Star
20. The Chase Bomb Theme (Film Version)
21. Fight with Mischka
22. Follow That Car *
23. The End of General Orlov
24. Gorilla Suit and Death of Grischka
25. The Bomb Arrives and Clowning Around
26. The Palace Fight (Extended Version) *
27. Kamal Khan's Death and Finale
28. All Time High (End Title) - Rita Coolidge

Disc 2: Original soundtrack album (1-12, released as A&M Records AMLX 64967 (U.K.)/SP-4967 (U.S.), 1983) and bonus track (13, from B-side to "All Time High" single - A&M Records AM 007 (U.K.)/AM-2551 (U.S.), 1983)

1. All Time High - Rita Coolidge
2. Bond Look-Alike *
3. 009 Gets the Knife and Gobinda Attacks *
4. That's My Little Octopussy
5. Arrival At the Island of Octopussy
6. Bond At the Monsoon Palace
7. Bond Meets Octopussy
8. Yo-Yo Fight and Death of Vijay
9. The Chase Bomb Theme
10. The Palace Fight *
11. All Time High (End Title) - Rita Coolidge
12. All Time High (Extended Instrumental)