I’m a pretty sensitive person, but there are few things that trigger my emotions easier than The Muppets. Searching through Muppet clips yields almost a 100% guarantee on being moved to tears; just finding the link to this ciip from the 1990 special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson made me start tearing up, and my last trip to Walt Disney World began with me leaving the plane to Orlando, choking back my emotions over a screening of 2011’s The Muppets. (For the record, this is the scene that made me such a mess.) One…
Come Out and Play: Soundtrack Spotlight on Latest from La-La Land and Kritzerland
Kritzerland has served up quite the “miracle” with their latest release, and two of La-La Land’s latest feature favorite composers and cult titles – all here in our semi-regular soundtrack round-up! The acclaimed adaptation of the Broadway play The Miracle Worker – featuring original playwright William Gibson and director Arthur Penn and returning cast members Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke – told the amazing true story of Anne Sullivan, caretaker to the deaf and blind Helen Keller, whose teachings enabled Keller to not only communicate but become an outspoken voice for workers’ rights,…
Live From D23: New Albums for Disneyland, Walt Disney World Due in August, Premiere New-to-CD Tracks
Today, you’ll find The Second Disc at the Anaheim Convention Center for the D23 Expo, “The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.” Naturally, every arm of The Walt Disney Company has something to offer here, and naturally, that includes music! Tonight, Disney Theatrical President Thomas Schumacher will host Broadway and Beyond, celebrating Disney on Broadway’s legacy of musicals from Beauty and the Beast to Newsies. Tomorrow, American Bandstand legend Dick Clark will be honored as a Disney Legend, and two composers who need no introduction – Richard M. Sherman and Alan Menken – will unite for…
Kick Out The Jams: Omnivore, Rhino Team for “CBGB” with The Police, Talking Heads, Television, MC5
Though CBGB closed its doors at 315 Bowery on October 15, 2006 following a concert by Patti Smith, the legendary New York club never truly disappeared. Though plans to open a new location in Las Vegas fell through – some might say, mercifully! – Hilly Krystal’s famous club has survived in spirit. CBGB Radio launched in 2010, the CBGB Festival of music hit the Big Apple in 2012, and the original awning even migrated to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This October, CBGB gets another lease on life with the…
“Preminger At Fox” Salutes Director’s Hollywood Film Noir Music
During Otto Preminger’s long and distinguished career, the director tackled virtually every genre of film: drama, thriller, musical, even absurdist comedy. For the musicals, Preminger had scores by George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward (Porgy and Bess) and Oscar Hammerstein II and 19th century composer Georges Bizet (Carmen Jones). His non-musical films also featured scores by illustrious talents, including David Raksin, Elmer Bernstein, Duke Ellington, and even Harry Nilsson! A number of Preminger’s films for 20th Century Fox have been issued on DVD under the Fox Film Noir umbrella, including the…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 23
Otis Redding, The Complete Stax/Volt Singles (Shout! Factory) A triple-disc set featuring every one of Otis’ single sides in mono – a striking statement on a short but iconic soul career. (Amazon U.S.) Smashing Pumpkins, The Aeroplane Flies High: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMe) The Pumpkins’ 1996 box set of Mellon Collie-era singles is massively expanded, with bonus tracks on each of the five original discs and an unreleased live CD and DVD. CD box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Dionne Warwick, second wave of expanded reissues (Rhino/WEA Japan) This week, 11 Dionne Warwick…
All of Us Under Its Spell: Disney Reissues “Muppet Movie” Soundtrack to Coincide with Blu-Ray Release
It begins so simply, as all immortal songs do: a hopeful melody, plucked on a banjo by the versatile flippers of a frog. “Why are there so many songs about rainbows / And what’s on the other side?” sings Kermit the Frog, in one of the unmistakable voices of his creator Jim Henson. If Henson and Sam Pottle’s theme to The Muppet Show is the national anthem of those long-running, lovable fur and felt characters, “The Rainbow Connection” is its “God Bless America.” Kermit’s ode to “the lovers, the dreamers…and me,” as…
Darlene Love, Nino Tempo, The Sweet Inspirations Feature On Jeff Barry’s “The Idolmaker” Soundtrack
Perhaps the time just wasn’t right for The Idolmaker. Director Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Ray) made his feature-length motion picture debut with the 1980 film based on the life of Philadelphia impresario Bob Marcucci, enlisting Ray Sharkey to play the fictionalized manager Vincent Vacari. In reality, Marcucci had discovered Frankie Avalon and Fabian; in the film, the teen idols were Tommy Dee (Paul Land) and Caesare (Peter Gallagher). The United Artists picture received some plaudits for its tale of a rock-and-roll Svengali, including from Roger Ebert. The future At…
Release Round-Up Special: James Taylor, CSN, “Blade Runner” Released by Audio Fidelity
In lieu of a standard Release Round-Up this week, here’s a look at the major three titles that are out today: the latest gold discs and SACDs from Audio Fidelity. The titles released today are Crosby, Stills & Nash’s CSN, James Taylor’s Gorilla and Vangelis’ soundtrack album to Blade Runner. The third studio album by the folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash, released in 1977, is crucially different from the ones before – this time, there’s no contribution from Neil Young. (Young had sat in on 1970’s Déjà Vu and 1971’s live 4 Way Street, all the while making…
There’s “A Place in the Sun”: Classic Hollywood Score Receives World Premiere Release
1951’s six-time Oscar winner A Place in the Sun wasn’t Hollywood’s first adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel An American Tragedy. The very first film version of the haunting novel came from Paramount Pictures and director Josef von Sternberg in 1931. But the 1951 motion picture – starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters, directed by George Stevens – is the one most remembered by generations transfixed by Dreiser’s sad tale of desperation and ill-fated romance. One of those six Oscar statuettes went to Franz Waxman (Sunset Blvd., Rear Window) for…
Another Expanded “Star Trek” Score Immortalized on CD
Engage! Another film score from the Star Trek universe has been expanded on CD; this time, it’s the score to 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection. The third Trek film to feature the crew of the USS Enterprise-D as featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation (although this film, like its predecessor First Contact, finds the crew manning the Enterprise-E), First Contact finds Picard, Riker and crew openly rebelling against a Starfleet plot: to help one alien race, the Son’a, steal a planet away from the peaceful Bak’u, whose home planet offers astounding regenerative abilities – in effect, making its denizens immortal. Though…
Review: Big Star, “Nothing Can Hurt Me: Original Soundtrack”
The feature-length documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me opens today at New York’s IFC Center and on Friday at Los Angeles’ Nuart Theatre. In conjunction with its release, Omnivore Recordings has recently unveiled a soundtrack album collecting 21 previously unissued songs from the legendary Memphis band. Rare is the cult band that actually lives up to its legend. Yet, with each listen – time after time, year after year – Big Star not only meets the hype, but surpasses it. Chances are, if you know the music of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell,…
John Williams Welcomed to Kritzerland with Complete “Missouri Breaks” Soundtrack
In 1976, John Williams was between Oscars – for Jaws and Star Wars, to be exact. The year was filled with great film scores from the future legend – among them, Family Plot, Black Sunday and Midway. Another of his fine works during America’s bicentennial year was for Arthur Penn’s western The Missouri Breaks, headlined by Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. The actual score tracks heard in the United Artists picture have never been released, either on LP or CD; Williams re-recorded his compositions for an album, much as his old friend…
Intrada Readies Silvestri’s “Fandango,” Rare Warner TV Efforts
This week’s latest releases from Intrada showcase a forgotten TV show of the ’60s and an early highlight for a then-little-known 20th century composer. Fandango was, in its own way, one of the more impressive films of 1985. Directed by a first-timer (Kevin Reynolds) from the basis of his thesis film at the University of Southern California (the original of which found a fan in Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin Entertainment produced the film), the film revolved around a group of college friends (including Kevin Costner, in his first major role) embarking on…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 25
The Beatles, Help! (Blu-Ray Disc) (Capitol/Apple) The Fab Four’s second film gets the hi-def disc treatment. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Three O’Clock, The Hidden World Revealed (Omnivore) Early works by power-pop legends The Three O’Clock shine on this new compilation, featuring cuts from their early works on Frontier Records and 10 unreleased tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Omnivore) Released on limited colored vinyl for Record Store Day this year, the soundtrack to this new Big Star documentary features 21 unreleased outtakes and new mixes…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 18
Patty Duke, Don’t Just Stand There/Patty / Sings Songs from Valley of the Dolls/Sings Folk Songs (Time to Move On) (Real Gone Music) All four of Patty’s United Artists albums released on a pair of two-fers, including 1968’s unreleased Sings Folk Songs. The Supremes, Cream of the Crop / Love Child / I Hear a Symphony / Join the Temptations / Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland / Supremes A Go-Go (Motown MS 649, 1966) (Culture Factory) A bunch of Supremes classics – six albums from 1966’s The Supremes A Go-Go to 1969’s Cream of the Crop, their last with Diana Ross – all get the mini-LP treatment from Culture Factory. Diana Ross, The Boss /An…
High Adventure: Kritzerland Heads To “The Far Horizons,” Uncovers “Secret of the Incas”
There’s even more film soundtrack news coming your way today, thanks to Kritzerland’s latest announcement! The label will release a special two-for-one CD combining the scores to two vintage adventure films starring Charlton Heston: 1955’s Lewis and Clark drama The Far Horizons and 1954’s exotic Secret of the Incas, the latter of which is frequently cited as a direct inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. This 1,000-unit limited edition is set for release by the first week of August, though pre-orders from the label usually arrive an average of…
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada’s Busy Month
Calling all soundtrack lovers: Intrada has been pretty busy in the last few weeks, reissuing or expanding three diverse scores and premiering another on CD. The label’s most recent batch saw a pair of double-disc score sets, and the first up was James Horner’s action-packed score to 1994’s Clear and Present Danger. Based on the Tom Clancy novel, Clear and Present Danger finds the irascible agent Jack Ryan (played again by Harrison Ford, his second turn in the role after 1992’s Patriot Games) serving as acting deputy director of the CIA, only to find a…
What Goes Up: Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “Rare, Rarer & Rarest” Tracks Come To CD
What goes up must come down. So sang David Clayton-Thomas in the opening line of his Grammy-winning song “Spinning Wheel,” which became a No. 2 Pop/No. 1 AC in 1969 for Blood, Sweat & Tears. And so went the fortunes of the jazz-rock band itself. The band’s signature rock-with-horns style was soon eclipsed by that of Chicago (Transit Authority), who shared a producer in James William Guercio. But when BS&T was hot, few bands were hotter. Wounded Bird Records is revisiting the group’s peak era with the July 2 release of Rare,…
A Paramount Package: Three Vintage Franz Waxman Scores Premiere On New Release
Long before Andrew Lloyd Webber set Sunset Boulevard to music, Franz Waxman was Norma Desmond’s composer of choice, having created the score to the original Paramount picture. But Sunset wasn’t Waxman’s only Paramount film. Nor was it his only collaboration with legendary director and screenwriter Billy Wilder. Waxman’s scores for the studio are among his most renowned works – think of A Place in the Sun, Come Back, Little Sheba or Rear Window, to name three. The Kritzerland label, already Waxman specialists thanks to such releases as Career, Taras Bulba and My…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 4
Bob Dylan, Greatest Hits Volume 2 (SACD) (Audio Fidelity) A double hybrid SACD version of the classic Dylan compilation, mastered by Steve Hoffman. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Sandie Shaw, The Sandie Shaw Supplement / Reviewing the Situation / Hello Angel: Expanded Editions (Salvo) Sandie Shaw’s late ’60s and ’80s material gets newly remastered and expanded. Smiths alive! (Click on the post above for a full breakdown and order links.) Ben Folds Five, Live (ImaVeePee/Sony Music) The power piano-pop trio’s first live disc, culled from dates in 2012 and 2013. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Mason Williams, The Mason Williams Phonograph Record /…
Resistance is Futile: Iconic “Star Trek: TNG” Episode Gets Expanded Score Release
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh9GDlGZm7Y] “I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service us.” Fewer words sent a chill down the spine of millions of Trekkies on the night of June 18, 1990, toward the conclusion of “The Best of Both Worlds, Part I,” the third season finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not since James T. Kirk engaged Khan Noonien Singh in the Mutara Nebula in 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had a crew of the USS Enterprise engaged…
From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come): Three Soundtracks by Michael Small Are Collected On A New 2-CD Set
Kritzerland offered a Memorial Day surprise yesterday when the label announced its latest release, a three-for-the-price-of-one soundtrack special from composer Michael Small. Small (1939-2003) was a major voice of 1970s film scoring, with such films as Klute, The Parallax View, Marathon Man and The China Syndrome under his belt. A favorite of such acclaimed directors as Alan J. Pakula and Bob Rafelson, he continued to be a major presence in Hollywood writing for both television (Alex Haley’s Queen) and film (Jaws: The Revenge) right up until his untimely passing. Kritzerland has previously…
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada is “Dressed to Kill,” La-La Land Goes to “Rosewood”
Calling all soundtrack enthusiasts: the past week of film score reissues from our favorite soundtrack reissue labels has been a bountiful one, indeed! Last week, Intrada debuted an expanded edition of the score to Brian DePalma’s modern suspense picture, Dressed to Kill (1980). Nancy Allen plays a call girl who witnesses a murder, and Michael Caine is the victim’s psychologist, who might have more of a connection to the murder than meets the eye. DePalma’s controversial film owed more than a little to Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho in tone and subject matter, but Pino Donaggio’s…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 21
The Beach Boys, Live: The 50th Anniversary Tour (Capitol) Brian, Mike, Al, Bruce and David may not be touring again anytime soon, but at least we now have two discs of live memories to play. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Townes Van Zandt, The Late Great Townes Van Zandt / High, Low and In Between (Omnivore) You heard the demos, now rediscover these great country albums, on CD or vinyl! Late Great CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.), LP (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) High, Low CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.), LP (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Various Artists, FM: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Culture Factory…
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
September 25, 2026
