Does your local branch of our shared pandemic hellscape need some new tunes? If it does, the soundtrack labels of the world have got your back. September’s giving us quite the soundtrack smorgasbord, so let’s get right to it.
La-La Land Records has three – yes, three! – new releases on tap, starting with a two disc set of vintage ’70s TV music from The Streets Of San Francisco, the third volume of the label’s Quinn Martin Collection. The set includes music from the pilot episode and nine later episodes, all composed by Patrick Williams. Only 2000 copies of this set will be pressed.
The next La-La Land release slides even further back in time, presenting Jack Marshall’s music from the 1966 movie Munster, Go Home for the first time in any format. (That’s right – this has never been out on LP or cassette; it’s making its debut on CD 54 years after the fact.) Marshall also scored the Munsters on TV, so this one will be a treat for Munsters fans. 3000 copies will be available.
On the much more modern end of things is the release of John Powell’s score from the 1999 rom-com Forces Of Nature, which has also not been available commercially prior to this release. Including some of the composer’s demos (a vital stage of the process before committing to the resources of a live orchestra), this will be limited to 1000 copies.
From Intrada comes a remastered two-disc reissue of Laurence Rosenthal’s Emmy nominated score from the 1985 TV miniseries Mussolini: The Untold Story. Rosenthal himself conducted the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, delivering two hours of music in total. (If you’re wondering who won the Emmy that year: it was another Rosenthal score for another miniseries!)
Varese Sarabande is also stepping back into 1999 for one of its latest releases, an expanded edition of the late, great Elmer Bernstein’s score from the big-screen adaptation Wild Wild West. New bonus tracks not heard on previous releases of this score include additional music composed by Bernstein’s son, fellow composer Peter Bernstein, as well as some demos. 2000 copies are being made available.
Quartet Records has a couple of new releases of note too; one is a 2-CD remastered CD release of John Addison’s score from 1976’s Swashbuckler. Previously released as a single disc by Intrada, Quartet’s Swashbuckler release presents the complete film score as mixed for the movie, as well as the contents of the original 1976 soundtrack LP. The film score features some unused alternate cues; 2000 copies of this reissue are up for grabs.
Also from Quartet, and again available for the first time, is Pino Donaggio’s score from the Middle Eastern-themed 2001 Jean Claude Van Damme action thriller The Order. Boasting an impressive orchestra and choir, this is a slightly obscure and extremely limited release, topping out at only 500 copies available worldwide (!!), a surprisingly low run given the popularity of the film’s star and the impressive choice of composer.
There are some decent digital releases available now as well; Clint Mansell and Kevin Kiner team up for the score from season 2 of the DC streaming series Doom Patrol, a fun show that features some fun music to match. In the category of “most surprising release”, or perhaps in the category of “holy crap, they can put the Star Wars name on anything and it’ll sell”, is Gordy Haab’s score from the Youtube competition series Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge.
As this was essentially a Star Wars-themed game show, there really wasn’t a whole lot of music – the album clocks in at just a little over 18 minutes, and yet costs as much as quite a few (much longer) digital soundtrack releases. But it does serve as a useful reminder that, with season two of The Mandalorian about six weeks away, we may once again have the complete score from each episode of that series to look forward to on the day of each episode’s release, if Disney Music follows the pattern established in The Mandalorian’s first season. And those releases will most definitely be worth picking up.
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