Uncommonly Gentle: Intrada Scores with "Scissorhands," "Double Indemnity," "Something Wicked" and More

Intrada Records has gone big throughout this year, bringing all four JAWS soundtracks to the surface in definitive forms and adding to the Back to the Future 30th anniversary festivities with a reissue of two of Alan Silvestri's scores (including the never-before-expanded Part II). How do they close out the year? With a four-title slate that includes a classic composer-director combo, an anthology of '40s and '50s noir, an unused score from a Disney cult classic and an epic newer score from a hit Asian film!

Exactly 25 years to the day it was first released, Intrada and Universal Music Group have partnered to expand Danny Elfman's score to Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Directed between Burton's career-making installments of the Batman series, Edward Scissorhands told the fairytale of "an uncommonly gentle man" (Johnny Depp) created but not finished by an elderly inventor (Vincent Price, in his final performance) and introduced to a suburban community who alternately accepts and challenges his presence. Featuring star turns from Winona Ryder and Anthony Michael Hall, Scissorhands is quintessential Burton, and fittingly scored by Elfman (their fourth consecutive collaboration) with the late Shirley Walker conducting. It features a dozen unreleased tracks, including original trailer music, and also retains "With These Hands," a stunning end title theme sung by Tom Jones. This reissue is produced by Nick Redman and assembled by Mike Matessino and Neil S. Bulk; Jeff Bond writes liner notes and Joe Sikoryak designs the package.

Next, there's Double Indemnity: Film Noir At Paramount. Named of course for Billy Wilder's adaptation of a crime novella (the script for which was written by Wilder and novelist Raymond Chandler, and the score for which was penned by Miklós Rózsa), this double-disc set features unreleased highlights from seven noir scores, including works by Hugo Friedhofer (Ace in the Hole), Franz Waxman (Sorry, Wrong Number) and Victor Young (I Walk Alone), as well as Leith Stevens' score to The Scarlet Hour, which heavily utilizes the song theme "Never Let Me Go," written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and sung by Nat "King" Cole. Lukas Kendall produces, Chris Malone restored audio, Scott Bettencourt supplies notes and Sikoryak designs the package, featuring a double-sided booklet and many rare posters and stills.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, adapted from Ray Bradbury's novel by Bradbury himself, has always been an odd film in the Disney canon. Produced during an uncertain time for the studio (before Michael Eisner began his revolutionary tenure as CEO in 1984), the children's horror flick was greatly re-edited and reshot in post-production; one of the casualties in post was a spooky score by Georges Delerue, replaced by an early prominent credit for the late James Horner (itself released by Intrada in 2009). Delerue himself considered the score one of his crowning achievements; now, fans can finally discover it with an exciting premiere presentation, sourced from newly-mixed 2" 24-track stereo session masters from the Disney vault and featuring rare Bob Peak art in Sikoryak's package!

Intrada closes out the year with the soundtrack release to The Monkey King, Christopher Young's score to the Chinese blockbuster starring Donnie Yen and Chow Yun Fat. Based on the classical novel of the Ming Dynasty, the film was a huge hit in China, becoming the biggest single-day moneymaker there. Young's adventurous, lengthy score finally gets a domestic release through Intrada.

All sets are part of Intrada's limited Special Collection, with the exception of Edward Scissorhands. They're all available to order now; find full track lists and order links below!

Danny Elfman, Edward Scissorhands: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada INT 7144, 2015 - original film released 1990)