The last calendar page of the year (and, in this case, even the first!) means a bounty of soundtrack reissues! La-La Land Records, Varese Sarabande and Quartet have all recently planned some exciting expansions for your favorite score collector. La-La Land may have claimed that they were “serving coal” this year, with a lot of their typically big end-of-year titles stuck in approval delays – but they still prepared two late-period favorites from two classic film composers (plus an exciting vinyl title for James Bond fans) before kicking off January with two…
Super Sequel Soundtracks Are La-La Land’s Black Friday Focus for 2024
Before announcing their typically grandiose year-end slate of archival soundtrack titles, there were rumblings in the film score fan community that La-La Land – whose release schedule offered everything from Star Trek to James Bond to the first Steven Spielberg-John Williams collaboration in 2024 – might do things a little differently. It turns out those rumors were correct: ahead of their usual Black Friday blowout, the label has instead announced three titles approved for license from major labels and studios and ready to manufacture for the top of November. All three are sequel…
An Offer You Can’t Refuse: La-La Land’s 2022 Black Friday Batch May Be Their Best
Black Friday isn’t just a day for holiday sales and Record Store Day’s second event of the year – it’s also the day La-La Land Records announces their final (and often biggest) soundtrack reissues of the year. And it might not get bigger than 2022’s batch of titles, which feature two underrated scores from a pair of legendary composers, two massive franchise favorites with rich themes, and the soundtrack to what some consider the greatest American film ever made. Up first is one of those works from a great composer: perennial favorite…
The Weekend Stream: April 30, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to discover! This week’s got live favorites from The Boss, a Record Store Day rarity, a ’90s tribute album to some rock legends and much more. Bruce Springsteen, The Live Series: Songs of Location (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple Music / Amazon) The Thrill Hill Archives have occasionally made some themed Bruce Springsteen playlists available to stream, drawn from various live archival releases issued through Nugs.net. The…
Varese Vintage Reissues Soundtracks from Nino Rota, Taj Mahal
Varese Vintage has just reissued a pair of soundtracks on CD from an accomplished master of the film score genre (Nino Rota) and an American blues legend (Taj Mahal). 1979’s Hurricane proved to be Nino Rota’s final score. It found the Italian-born composer (The Godfather, La Dolce Vita) adding a lush layer to the romantic “man-against-nature” adventure story. Producer Dino De Laurentiis (King Kong, Flash Gordon) insisted the movie penned by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (the Batman television show, Three Days of the Condor) wasn’t a disaster movie, as it instead emphasized the…
Where Do I Begin: Quartet Preps ‘Love Story,’ ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and More for Latest Expanded Soundtrack Slate
The Oscars are almost upon us, and soundtrack label Quartet Records recently announced four archival score titles all tied with winning Academy Awards across the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. The oldest title is also the only of the four which actually earned a trophy for Best Original Score: the 1970 drama Love Story. An adaptation of sorts of a bestselling romance novel by Erich Segal (who turned his screenplay into a novel at Paramount Pictures’ request to drum up anticipation for the film), Love Story tells the tale of a wealthy college…
That’s Amore: “Arrivederci Italy” Features Jerry Vale, Dean Martin, Rita Pavone, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone
IN MEMORIAM: JERRY VALE (1930-2014) : While readying the following article for publication, we learned of the passing of Jerry Vale on May 18, 2014 at the age of 83. Jerry was one of the last great gentlemen of song, and a mainstay of the Columbia Records roster for many years. He notched 18 singles on the Hot 10o between 1953 and 1967, and 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart through 1971, including the AC chart-topper “Have You Looked Into Your Heart” in 1964. Though best-known for his Italian-themed songs like “Innamorata”…










