/ Soundtracks

La-La Land Records has a great slate of archival soundtrack titles up for order today. First up is a big one: the score to Breakdown, a 1997 thriller written and directed by Jonathan Mostow (who would later become a moderately successful action director with films like U-571 (2000), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and Surrogates (2009)). It starred Kurt Russell as a husband whose wife is abducted in a small midwestern town en route to California. The score, previously , was composed

Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin has never been one to be boxed into any single genre.  He created one of the most memorable television themes of all time with his “Mission: Impossible,” recorded jazz albums for labels like Verve and Creed Taylor’s CTI, and scored innumerable films, racking up six Oscar nominations in the process.  Now, after the recent release by Quartet Records of Schifrin’s score to Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You, another one of living legend Schifrin’s most unknown scores

Rory Calhoun as Marco Polo?  The California-born star of films like How to Marry a Millionaire and camp cult classic Motel Hell was cast in the title role of 1962's freewheeling Italian historical epic (shot in CinemaScope, no less!) Marco Polo.  When the film was picked up for release in America, it was courtesy the wild ones at American-International Pictures!  This Marco Polo was directed by Hugo Fregonese and featured a multi-cultural cast with Calhoun playing opposite Yoko Tani.  And like

One word describes a television movie event that harkened back to epics like Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. That same word is the title of a soundtrack from one of film's great musical legends that's become one of the most-desired archival releases. And now, the wait is over: Intrada Records today announced the release of the complete original score to Masada (1981). Masada was based on the siege of the titular Jewish citadel in Israel in A.D. 73. The defenders of the citadel held bravely

Film score collectors, don’t put those wallets away just yet.  Kritzerland announced a rare treat from Pino Donaggio, The Berlin Affair, on Friday.  Varese Sarabande’s CD Club makes its release announcement today, and Film Score Monthly has just confirmed another two titles including one unique surprise.  First up is a two-for-one CD from the pen of Laurence Rosenthal, 1966’s Hotel Paradiso and 1967’s The Comedians.  Second is a rare musical to be released on the Film Score Monthly label.  Until

In a rare Friday announcement, Kritzerland this morning unveiled its latest soundtrack reissue/restoration.  From Pino Donaggio, the renowned composer of Carrie and Dressed to Kill, comes the score to 1985's The Berlin Affair in its first-ever CD release. Liliana Cavani's film was based on Junichiro Tanazaki's novel The Buddhist Cross and dealt with its controversial themes head-on.  In 1938 Berlin, Louise, the wife of a young Nazi, enters into a romantic relationship with artist Mitsuko

If you're a voracious reader of pop liner notes, there's a good chance you might have come across the name Franke Previte. If not, you're about to have a chance to reconnect with the man and his music. Previte was the lead singer of Franke & The Knockouts, a New Jersey band whose best-known song, "Sweetheart," went to No. 10 in 1981. Of course, like so many other bands, they're probably best known for what they did after splitting up; the band's second drummer, Tico Torres, went on to sit

Intrada's newest release batch has only one catalogue score (the other is a symphonic piece by Arthur Rubenstein) but it's a keeper: it's the earliest film work of legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith currently on CD. City of Fear, a 1959 thriller about an escaped convict who believes himself to be in possession of a canister of heroin - but in fact has something much more dangerous - was only one of the first half-dozen credits for the young Goldsmith, and only his second film score after a host

This Friday is a momentous occasion for fans of Superman: after a decade on the air, the television drama Smallville - which focuses on a teenaged Clark Kent's transition into adulthood, bringing him closer to his destiny as the Man of Steel - will complete its run with an extended series finale that will likely finally see actor Tom Welling wearing the blue tights and red cape (even if for a brief moment). Though some have certainly reacted with bemused shock that Smallville is still on the

One year before Curtis Hanson made film noir hip again with LA Confidential, director Lee Tamahori and screenwriter Pete Dexter proved that there was still a lot of life in the old form.  They assembled an all-star cast led by Nick Nolte, Chazz Palminteri, Jennifer Connelly and John Malkovich for Mulholland Falls.  The production was top-notch, with the legendary Haskell Wexler (In the Heat of the Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Thomas Crown Affair) signed as cinematographer, and

This week's soundtrack reissues from Intrada are an underrated '70s soundtrack album making its CD debut and the premiere of a '50s World War II score. First up, the score to Sleuth, a 1972 film adaptation of the Tony-winning play by Anthony Shaffer. The British playwright adapted his own work for the screen, and All About Eve director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was at the helm, with a stellar cast anchored by Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine, both of whom were nominated for Oscars for their

Anyone who thinks the world of soundtrack reissues is a simple one hasn't been keeping up with the tempest brewing over Perseverance Records. The indie soundtrack label is coming under heavy fire for what many perceive as an improperly licensed release of Elmer Bernstein's score to Slipstream. Interestingly, the charge is being led not by fans but by another label head: Film Score Monthly's Lukas Kendall, who posted on his label's message board a pair of messages pulling the curtain back on

It can fill up a room in seconds, gets unexplainably bigger every day and can consume anything it touches. No, not your music collection - The Blob! The ectoplasmic entity - as remade in 1988 - is the latest expanded soundtrack to come from La-La Land Records today. A remake of the classic 1958 sci-fi/horror flick, The Blob finds the titular monster consuming the helpless population of a California town - but rather than some space creature, this blob is a military bio-weapon gone horribly