Since our last post on The Tim Burton/Danny Elfman 25th Anniversary Music Box, a lot more dirt has been kicked up regarding the box, its limited availability and opinions thereof. It turns out that the "limited edition" of the box is very much like The Complete Elvis Presley Masters. (The only difference between editions of the Elvis set is one run has numbers, the other does not.) The first 1,000 copies of the Burton/Elfman set, it was semi-confirmed before all copies sold out, would have a
Intrada Draws "First Blood"
Not to be outdone by Varese Sarabande's batch of soundtracks from yesterday or La La Land's forthcoming Black Friday announcement, Intrada has made two more catalogue soundtracks available for order. While Intrada has become a power player in the catalogue soundtrack world in the past decade, the label has actually been around for 25 years. Their first significant release was the premiere CD edition of First Blood, the Jerry Goldsmith score to the iconic Sylvester Stallone film. (It was given a
Varese's Vault Yields Several Treasures
A heads-up to soundtrack enthusiasts who read The Second Disc: this week is your week. No less than three of the major indie labels will be releasing product this week; tonight we will see two new titles from Intrada (one of which is more or less confirmed to be an unlimited deluxe edition of Jerry Goldsmith's score to First Blood), and La La Land will announce four titles on Black Friday. This morning, though, Varese Sarabande released their final batch of CD Club titles for the year. And
Friday Feature: "Mary Poppins"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuWf9fP-A-U] This month has seen a resurgence of interest in The Sound of Music thanks to an impressive reissue of the film on Blu-Ray and another release of the classic film soundtrack on CD. Countless amounts of kids and adults have grown up on the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, made especially memorable by Julie Andrews as the free-spirited Maria Von Trapp - a role that earned her a second Oscar nomination, just one year after her win for Mary
Fox Turns Searchlights on Its Musical Legacy
From Varese Sarabande comes the track list to a really great-looking set: a compilation of music from the films of 20th Century Fox. The long-running film studio celebrated its 75th anniversary this year with a newly-enhanced opening logo (still maintaining that iconic fanfare as penned by Alfred Newman in 1933), and plans to release a massive set of DVDs (from Cavalcade (1933) to Avatar (2009)) on December 7. That same date will see the release of 20th Century Fox: 75 Years of Great Film
Back Tracks: Menken at Disney
This week will see the release of Disney's newest animated feature, Tangled, a quirky retelling of the Rapunzel tale. As has been custom for the best of Disney's animated features, the film will feature songs and score from Alan Menken, the musical genius who gave Disney some of its greatest music of the past 20-plus years. Menken came to Disney in the late 1980s after his musical with lyricist Howard Ashman, a peppy, Wall of Sound-inspired take on Roger Corman's Little Shop of Horrors, was
FSM Readies "North Dallas Forty"
Film Score Monthly has another release ready to go for soundtrack collectors: the premiere release of the score to North Dallas Forty by John Scott. Released in 1979, North Dallas Forty was a fact-based account of novelist Peter Gent's five-year stint in the NFL. The film got much of the details right, and critics and fans were both pleased. John Scott - a session player from England - drummed up a soundtrack that had jazz and blues undertones while keeping the entire orchestra intact for the
Kritzerland Debuts "Carrie" Score
It may be closer to Thanksgiving, but Kritzerland is ready to scare the daylights out of you with their latest release - the premiere of Pino Donaggio's complete score to the horror classic Carrie. The film, based on the first published novel by acclaimed writer Stephen King and directed by Brian De Palma, centers on a shy high school senior with a big secret: telekinetic powers. When the abuse she suffers daily, from both her classmates and her maniacally religious mother, prove to be too
A Soundtrack That's Ready for Its Close-Up, 60 Years On
Here's a fun, surprise soundtrack coming out of the vaults. Counterpoint Records is releasing the first-ever CD of the original soundtrack to Sunset Boulevard, the 1950 Billy Wilder classic with Oscar-winning music from acclaimed composer Franz Waxman. Sunset Boulevard was the fictional tale of Norma Desmond, a silent-film starlet whose time has long passed (played to perfection by Gloria Swanson). The noir tale sees Desmond meeting a struggling screenwriter (William Holden) and attempting to
A Reissue Worth 1000 Points and a 1-UP Mushroom
In September, The Second Disc did a Reissue Theory commemorating the early music of the Super Mario Bros. series for the video game franchise's 25th anniversary. In the post, we mentioned a new compilation of Mario music that was, at the time, exclusive only to Nintendo's native Japan. Now, we can report, that compilation is coming to America in time for Christmas. It's not just a soundtrack, of course. Nintendo is releasing a special deluxe game package for the Nintendo Wii. It will include a
La-La Land: A Visual Guide
La-La Land Records' Facebook page put up a fun little graphic, as seen above, of all their soundtrack reissues and releases from this year. Note there are still four titles to go (set to be announced on Black Friday, November 26). Any that you've gotten? Any guesses for the last four? Sound off below.
Review: The Monkees, "Head: Deluxe Edition"
Once upon a time, the undisputed king of the box set was Rhino Records. The label gave us a brain in a box, an old phonograph to house the masterworks of Ray Charles, a crate of eight tracks to take us back to a more soulful time, and a hatbox filled with the most effervescent girl group sounds possible, just to name a few. (Shag carpets, coffee beans and a carrying case for 45s figured prominently in a few other such packages.) Of late, these lavish sets haven't appeared with great frequency; I
Intrada Readies "Patton," "Gator" for Battle
Two fan favorite titles were announced by Intrada last night: a newly-expanded soundtrack for the classic film Patton (1970) and a reissue of the score to the cult classic Gator (1976). Film fans remember Patton for George C. Scott's famed portrayal of the controversial American general during World War II. (Scott won an Oscar for the role - and became the first person to refuse an Oscar.) Score fans remember it as yet another triumph for Jerry Goldsmith, who provided an innovative score
FSM Readies "Dr. T," Warner Bros. Two-Fer
Film Score Monthly, one of the best sources for soundtrack reissues and info in the pre-Internet age, has had a lot of weird press lately. FSM founder Lukas Kendall had an oddly overstated reaction when discovering that this year's Star Trek: The Next Generation box set had been uploaded onto a torrent site. (It was easily the Internet at its worst on both sides - FSM posters might have overreacted at what was already a callous, disgusting act on the part of the pirates, leading to little
Friday Feature: "GoldenEye"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUNP9xrOBd4] A not-so-shameful confession: when not working or updating The Second Disc, your humble catalogue correspondent's free time has been occupied by playing the new Wii game GoldenEye 007, a re-imagining of the Nintendo 64 game updated for the present with a newly retooled storyline by original co-writer Bruce Fierstein and featuring current James Bond star Daniel Craig as the British spy. Though my own hardcore gaming days are largely behind me,
Crom Smiles Upon Us on This Day
One of the most-requested score expansions is finally happening - but with a twist. Basil Poledouris' score to the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian has been considered by many fans and critics to be one of the best film scores of the 1980s. It's a massive, classically-minded affair - easily as massive as the film's star, Arnold Schwarzenegger - with heavy use of leitmotif to represent various locations, moods and characters. The music has been lauded by fantasy fans for years, and opened the door
"Dead of Winter" Comes This Fall
Composer Richard Einhorn may be best known for Voices of Light, his 1994 work inspired by the 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. But Einhorn has a lengthy resume in both the worlds of classical and film, successfully marrying both in Voices. On Monday, Kritzerland began taking pre-orders for a world premiere release, Einhorn’s score to Arthur Penn’s 1987 thriller, Dead of Winter. Despite Penn’s stellar pedigree and a cast including Mary Steenburgen and Roddy McDowall, Dead of Winter
Release Round-Up: Week of November 2
Another week, another batch of reissues! Wings, Band on the Run: Special Edition (Concord) After reissues of John Lennon's solo catalogue and the Apple Records discography, another Beatles-oriented campaign kicks off with a new reissue of Band on the Run, Paul McCartney and Wings' classic LP. It's the first of his classic discs to be re-released on Concord, and will be available in a wide variety of formats. (Best of all, it's the first drop in the bucket - an insert inside the sets
Halloween Special Back Tracks: Anthony Perkins
Welcome to a very special edition of Back Tracks! For this week's Friday Feature, Mike took a look back at the music of Psycho. One of the few films still retaining the power to shock and thrill after some 50 years, the repercussions of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece are still felt today. And its musical legacy, enhanced via some very controversial sequels and remakes, encompasses some of the greats, with Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman and Carter Burwell all having built on the foundation laid by
Friday Feature: "Psycho" Sequels
Back in May, The Second Disc did a Friday Feature on the chilling, iconic and somehow commercially unreleased score to Alfred Hitchock's Pyscho, written by Bernard Hermann. With Halloween approaching (and a killer screening of Psycho planned tonight at New York's Film Forum), what else is there to write about? Those of you with particularly steel-trap-like memories may recall a set of sequels - sequels! - to the film, released in the 1980s. If that weren't inexplicable enough for you, they
Intrada Releases Two Classic '60s Scores from the Vault
Intrada's latest batch of titles may be on the shorter side when it comes to pure musical recognition, but they have three scores released for the first time anywhere - two of which are from two classic adapted film works of the early '60s. Those scores are to 1961's Raisin in the Sun and 1962's Requiem for a Heavyweight, both penned by Laurence Rosenthal. Requiem is an adaptation of the famous Playhouse 90 teleplay penned by Rod Serling (this adaptation stars Anthony Quinn as the boxer and
Friday Feature: "Alien" and "Aliens"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhGdRSkiUw] With Halloween almost approaching, there's never been a better time to revisit notable horror film scores than with our ongoing series of Friday Features. This week, we cover the first two, multiply-reissued scores in the infamous Alien franchise. Happily, both of the reissues discussed herein are readily available, so if you're inspired to hear the music of these classic films, you don't have to dig particularly deep. Have a read after the
La La Land Spooks Up Sales, Another Catalogue Score
La La Land Records has scared up a spooktacular score from a romance film this week, as well as a bootiful bounty of titles on sale.* This week's catalogue title (alongside an impressive, triple-disc edition of Bear McCreary's music to the FOX television series Human Target) is a bit of an obscurity: Christopher Young's score to the 1988 romantic drama Haunted Summer. Based on true events, Haunted Summer tells the story of Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley's vacation to Lake Geneva in
Stage and Screen: John Barry, Steve Lawrence Get Reissued
Kritzerland continues to mine the MGM/UA soundtrack library for its latest release, a two-for-one CD. The disc, a limited edition of 1,000, contains the score to Bryan Forbes' 1967 thriller The Whisperers composed by the legendary John Barry as well as Richard Rodney Bennett's score to Sidney Lumet's 1977 adaptation of Peter Shaffer's play Equus. (Barry's very different score to The Deep has already enjoyed a terrific reissue earlier this year, courtesy our friends at Intrada, and it's been
Perseverance Leads to Two New Score Reissues
To be honest, The Second Disc hadn't heard of Perseverance Records until yesterday, but they sure did score a nice pair of score reissues for November. The label, which has specialized in smaller-scale soundtracks and soundtrack reissues since 2002 (most notably the score to the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers), will release expanded scores of the '80s action epic Red Sonja (1985) and the hugely successful drama Rain Man (1989). Red Sonja, based on the Marvel Comics character,
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