For film score fans, this past Tuesday might as well have been called "Fat Tuesday." I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because the news speaks for itself: Intrada announced the much-anticipated CD release of John Williams' score to 1986's SpaceCamp in a 3,000-copy limited edition which literally sold out in a matter of hours! SpaceCamp is mastered from the original RCA tapes, which have been vaulted by Sony. And Bill Conti fans have reason to rejoice, too, as Intrada has also announced a release for Conti's score to 1988's Cohen and Tate, from tapes courtesy MGM and the composer himself. This atypically dark Conti score is still available in a limited edition of 1,200. SpaceCamp's specs are here while Cohen and Tate can be ordered here. Hit the jump for track listings for both releases!
SpaceCamp: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (RCA LP ABL1-5856, 1986, reissued Intrada Special Collection 140, 2010)
- Main Title
- Training Montage
- The Shuttle
- The Computer Room
- Friends Forever
- In Orbit
- White Sands
- SpaceCamp
- Viewing Daedalus
- Max Breaks Loose
- Andie is Stranded
- Max Finds Courage
- Re-Entry
- Stranded Again
Cohen and Tate: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada Special Collection 139, 2010)
- Main Title
- The Hit
- Wounded
- Tail Lites
- It's Them
- It's Really Them
- Roadblock
- Kabloom
- The New Car
- Travis is Right
- Near Miss
- Round to Tate
- Travis Slips Away
- Help Me
- The Final Battle
- End Title
I'm just a tad bitter that Space Camp sold out, and madder still that it was probably snatched up mostly by speculators and resellers, much like Intrada's Predator was some time ago.
There's an opinion piece here in all of this; with soundtrack labels drawing income from straight reissues of previously released product, it's a bother when these titles don't stick around long enough for new listeners. What are the alternatives, though? That is harder to answer.
Agreed, Mike. I've often wondered if there's a kind of desirability on the part of the label to create a "collector's item" when it's clear from the get-go that a particular release will quickly sell out. But as you asked, what are the alternatives?
On one hand, a re-pressing always seems a good idea, but then those who did buy the original pressing for its "limited edition" nature get angry and feel duped. (Bruce Kimmel gracefully skirted this with his Promises, Promises repressing by only making the second disc available again.) I'd like to ask the fine fellows at Intrada why they didn't consider a larger limited pressing; surely they knew the 3,000 copies would quickly sell out like Predator did. Are the licensing costs over 3,000 prohibitive? And what is the ceiling for this kind of reissue, i.e. how many customers can actually be counted on to purchase it?
In an ideal world, each customer who'd like a copy of SpaceCamp or Predator could obtain one, and Intrada could still make a healthy profit to ensure more releases of this kind. How do we get to that happy medium? The floor is open, readers...
Joe, you do it the way they did the sountrack releaese for Star Fleet. They took orders, saw how many they wanted and pressed them. End of. It's really simple. Throw the bone out there see what kind of inteset there is and go for it.