As film score fans edge ever closer to the inevitably killer archival score reissues typically made available around the holiday shopping season, a host of great soundtrack re-releases are already newly available from some of our favorite specialty labels, including some must-hear, classic re-recordings. La-La Land Records takes a brief break from Bond to make available two seasonally appropriate scores. First up is Maurice Jarre’s score to the haunting cult classic Jacob’s Ladder, a psychological thriller about a Vietnam veteran caught between a harrowing past experience that seems to be affecting reality in…
Soundtrack Watch: ‘Cape Fear’ Remake Score Rises from the Depths at Quartet
Quartet Records will revisit a special musical approach to a remake of a classic suspense thriller: Martin Scorsese’s 1991 adaptation of Cape Fear. The 2CD set, will include a remastered and expanded presentations of Elmer Bernstein’s score to the remake, adapted from the original 1962 film’s music by Bernard Herrmann. Produced by Neil S. Bulk and Mike Matessino (who also remasters the score from engineer Shawn Murphy’s original six-track mixes), the set features both the expanded score presentation and the original soundtrack album, augmented by Jeff Bond’s liner notes. Universal’s original Cape…
The Weekend Stream: September 4, 2021
While The Second Disc prides itself on connecting people to reissues and box sets they can keep on their shelves, it’s no secret that listening audiences are also digital – catalogue music lovers, too – and our passion is connecting people to music from the past that they might adore. So we’ve introduced a new feature: The Weekend Stream, which focuses on hidden gems that recently made it to digital channels that might make your playlists a little brighter! Rick James, Glow (Deluxe Edition) / Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick…
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Soundtrack Watch: Everybody’s Talkin’ About Quartet’s Score Reissues
As we approach the end of 2020, soundtrack labels are working overtime to put out some great archival score presentations. Not to be ignored this time of year is an impressive line-up from European label Quartet Records: last week they announced three incredible expanded releases and a new re-recording. Additionally, they recently issued another two expanded releases that are absolutely worth fans’ time. Those recent releases are a pair of acclaimed scores from 1990: Jerry Goldsmith’s work on Total Recall, and Maurice Jarre’s soundtrack to the thriller Jacob’s Ladder. Total Recall found…
A New Sound: El Collects the Far-Out Music That Inspired Sixties Rock
For years, the El imprint of Cherry Red has been collecting all the strangest and most fascinating avant-garde classical pieces, electronic experiments, and oddball rarities for a fervent group of admirers. Though their releases can be a little esoteric, El’s collections have always been able to welcome in new listeners. And now, they offer what might be the essential introduction to twentieth-century avant-garde and classical (at least for listeners tuned to popular music). It’s called I’d Love To Turn You On: Classical and Avant-Garde Music That Inspired The Counter-Culture, and it’s in…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up. Here’s what’s on the way today, March 22! Aretha Franklin, Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings (Rhino/Atlantic Catalog Group) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings presents Aretha Franklin’s iconic concerts at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles during January 1972 in full. Both the Thursday night and Friday night sets are accounted for, spread across four 180-gram LPs. For more about the Amazing Grace vinyl reissue, check out our post here! Aretha Franklin, Songs of Faith: Aretha Gospel (Geffen/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Songs…
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The Sun Won’t Set: Vocalion Reissues Quadraphonic Sondheim, Herrmann, Waxman on SACD
In recent months, the U.K.’s Dutton Vocalion label has reissued a number of rare quadraphonic mixes on SACD, including titles from Poco, Johnnie Taylor, The Guess Who, The Hues Corporation, Rick Derringer, Art Garfunkel, and more. The label has just announced its slate for September, highlighted by the SACD debut of the quad mix of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music and two film score releases from movie maestro Charles Gerhardt. All of Vocalion’s quadraphonic SACDs are hybrid discs, meaning that the stereo layers can be played in standard CD players. Director-producer…
A Swingin’ Safari: El Reissues Classics From James Last, Bert Kaempfert, Bernard Herrmann
Cherry Red’s El imprint has recently turned its attention to a trio of disparate composer-conductors. Happy Sounds Forever reissues the 1963 album from James Last, the king of “happy music,” and adds selections from the catalogue of Bert Kaempfert (“Strangers in the Night”) to round out the disc. On the other end of the spectrum, the label also has The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann, a collection dedicated to film score maestro and Alfred Hitchcock’s most notable musical collaborator. James Last, born Hans Last in 1929 Germany, began his career as…
Release Round-Up: Week of April 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Impressions, The Best of The Impressions: The Curtom Years (Varese Vintage) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Varese Vintage has an impressive line-up of releases this week! First up, the label has brought together 18 prime cuts from the premier purveyors of Chicago soul, Curtis Mayfield and the legendary Impressions. This set features singles released on the Curtom label between 1968 and 1976 including the R&B hits “Fool for You,” “Choice of Colors,” “Say You Love Me,” “Finally Got Myself Together (I’m a Changed…
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Kritzerland Brings Herrmann’s “Snows,” Intrada Delivers Goodwin’s Disney “Oddball”
Kritzerland has announced its latest release, and it’s another classic score from the pen of the legendary Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Vertigo). Twentieth Century Fox’s lavish 1952 film The Snows of Kilimanjaro starred Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner under the direction of Henry King and cinematography of the renowned Leon Shamroy. Kilimanjaro, nominated for two Academy Awards, was one of the year’s most successful movies, and yielded more memorable music from the veteran composer Herrmann. Kritzerland promises that “Herrmann captures all moods of the story, from nostalgia to sadness to joy…
Bernard Herrmann’s “Hangover Square” Soundtrack Expanded On New Two-For-One CD
Fresh off its successful Indiegogo campaign, Kritzerland has returned to the music of Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver) for its latest soundtrack release. Two Herrmann scores – 1945’s Hangover Square and 1952’s 5 Fingers – have been paired on one CD. Though both have been previously released on CD, they have been newly transferred for Kritzerland by our friend Mike Matessino, and Hangover Square (a favorite score of none other than Stephen Sondheim) has been expanded by sixteen never-before-released minutes of music! Below, you’ll find Kritzerland’s press release as well as pre-order…
Kritzerland Turns 10! Label Launches New Soundtrack Series, Begins Indiegogo Campaign
Happy Birthday, Kritzerland! Ten years ago this month, producer Bruce Kimmel, known for his work at labels including Bay Cities and Varese Sarabande, launched the Kritzerland label. Since 2005, Kritzerland has released over 150 CDs: classic soundtracks from composers like Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, John Barry and John Williams, vintage cast recordings of musicals including stunning remixes of Follies and Promises, Promises, and solo albums by artists such as Sandy Bainum and the elusive Guy Haines. Among the label’s recent highlights is a deluxe 2-CD premiere of the complete songs and score…
Rare Bernard Herrmann Score To “12-Mile Reef” Resurfaces On CD
Romeo and Juliet at sea? Such was the premise behind 1953’s epic adventure Beneath the 12-Mile Reef. Only the third film shot in the widescreen CinemaScope process, the Twentieth Century Fox film starred Robert Wagner and Terry Moore as the star-crossed lovers from warring families on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Adding luster to the picture was the score by Bernard Herrmann. By 1953, Herrmann was already well-known for his Oscar-winning score to The Devil and Daniel Webster and nominees Citizen Kane and Anna and the King of Siam; his career-defining triumphs with director…
Klaatu Rising: Bernard Herrmann’s “The Day The Earth Stood Still” Returns To CD
Klaatu barada nikto. With those three words, Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) saved the world from certain destruction at the hands of the eight-foot robot Gort in the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Director Robert Wise’s film remains one of the most chilling and effective Cold War-era films, wrapping its plea for peace in a compelling, documentary-style sci-fi narrative. Chief among its assets was a score by maestro Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver). Herrmann’s intense, exciting themes will soon be reissued on CD by Kritzerland in a newly-remastered edition which…
