Soundtrack News & Upcoming Releases

Before I get to the latest tally of new and upcoming soundtrack releases, I have to point out a recent announcement from A&E, who are releasing a fully-loaded Blu-ray edition of Space: 1999, Season 1 in Region 1 / Region A land. Yes, that series, which looked great, sounded great, had awesome GIANT TOYS (some selling for hundreds on eBay now), but was saddled with wretched scripts, and the worst acting of Martin Landau's career.

I'm a partial fan of the series, in the sense of having a perverted fascination in watching a TV concept that was developed after the design had been finalized, the toys had been built and shipped to stores, and the actors had been cast before any scripts were written and vetted for production. The show's reputation as a gorgeous production of nothingness are true, but a lot of creativity went into the visual and aural conceptualizations of Season 1, which is why grown-up kids remember it for sights and sounds that were sometimes quite weird. (Season 2, which will inevitably follow, is another matter. Arguably the worst re-tooling of a concept, re-aligning it for kids born with pudding instead of synaptic brain matter.)

Click HERE for details revealed thus far, which included isolated score tracks. Still no confirmation on whether the North American release will contain all of the British Network extras, but a full-blown special edition has been due for a long time coming, and say what you will about the series, because I can't wait to see how Moonbase Alpha and its limitless supply of Eagles will look in HD. (I just hope among the extras someone will explain how the base never managed to run out of the combustible space vehicles.)

Sony has announced David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) for a 2-disc BR release Nov. 2, though no confirmation if, among the new and old extras, there will be the isolated score track from the older "Limited Edition" 2-disc DVD release from 2000 that's been in print for 10 years. That track, incidentally, features quite a bit of music not on the original soundtrack album.

Kino Lorber (formerly Kino) released more specs on the upcoming BR and DVD editions of Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) , details of which have been snipped and posted at the Digital Bits.

Lastly, Intrada will reveal their next Special Collection release on Mon. Aug. 31st. Seeing how the blasted Predator CD was gone in around a day, it may be worth your while to act fast when the new title's revealed, since it's also limited to 3000 copies.

Based on the label's Grand Poobah blog, some have conjectured it may be John Barry's The Deep (1977). Of course no one can nor will confirm it, but if you read the details, there's something awfully familiar, since the original LP sold well, and the film was a pooling of two studios - EMI and Columbia. The LP was released by Casablanca Records & Filmworks (which I believe is owned by Universal) and was never released (legally) on CD, and the score (likely owned by Sony) has been something Barry fans have wanted for decades.

Wholly coincidental, a post at FSM's message board contains a link to a vintage TV ad for the soundtrack album. The platter came out in standard black vinyl, and in a special blue vinyl pressing, with a mini-poster.

If The Deep is indeed a mere 5 days away from getting a 2-disc release, it sure would be nice if the extended TV edition one day makes it to Blu-ray via seamless branching. The current Columbia BR has a portion of the extra scenes integrated into the film, but I'd like to see the full 50+ mins. of sublime dullness on disc, purely for curioisty, and to see what footage matched the comic book I bought as a kid, and re-read many times, not knowing some scenes were not in the theatrical cut.

It was convention at the time for producers to sometimes shoot extra scenes for TV, since profanity and, in this case, Bisset's wet boobies, couldn't be shown in detail on the, er, boob tube. The cosmetic filler material also allowed networks to inflate a film to a bulbous 3 hours, allowing for a tightly packed 2-parter, and lots of extra ad revenue gleaned over two nights. These broadcasts were genuine TV events for viewers, since some of these flicks weren't out on video, and in many cases the extra footage was never seen in any other venue except on TV. The only exception of late is Waterworld (1995), which was released on DVD ( but not BR) in a longer edition, with the footage shown on network TV.

Moving on, below is the latest tally of new and upcoming soundtracks from around planet Earth.

If you're a label and would like to have your latest release listed and reviewed at KQEK.com, feel free to shoot a query, via editor2010 "at" kqek "dot" "com". (Just omit the parentheses... but if you're a spammer, please include them, so that your gobbledeegook get bounced to our special representative in Pinikindu, who will ensure your words of wisdom are fully appreciated.)

NEW AND UPCOMING SOUNDTRACKS:

ABKCO Records (USA)

Middle Men (Brian Tyler)

Alhambra (Germany)

Themba (Annette Focks)

BSX Records (USA)

Dexter: Season 4 (Daniel Licht)

Going Up of David Lev, The (Jerry Goldsmith) --- ltd. 2000 copies

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams (Patrick Copeland)

Chris’ Soundtrack Corner (Germany)

Papaya dei caraibi / Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals (Stelvio Cipriani) --- early Sept.

Vai gorilla / The Hired Gun (Fabio Frzzi, Franco Bixio, Vince Tempera) --- early Sept.

Colosseum (Germany)

Hochzeitspolka (Jacob Ilja) --- Sept. 24

L’arbre / The Tree (Grégoire Hetzel) --- Sept. 1

Disques Cinemusique (Canada)

25 Ans De Musique De Cinéma Français (various)

Suite Francaise, Intermedes et autres oeuvres orchestrales (Mauice Jaubert)

Film Score Monthly (FSM) (USA)

CHiPs, Vol. 3: Season 4 (1980-1981) (Alan Silvestri, John Parker) --- ltd. 1000 copies

Dragon Seed (Herbet Stothart) --- 2 CDs, ltd. 1000 copies

Hunters are for Killing (Jerry Fielding) --- ltd. 2000 copies

TV Omnibus: Volume One (1992-1976) (various) --- 5 CDs, ltd. 2000 copies

GDM (Italy)

Addio zio Tom / Goodbye Uncle Tom (Riz Ortolani)

Anastasia mio fratello / My Brother Anastasia (Piero Piccioni) --- early Sept.

Drammi Gotici / Gothic Dramas (Ennio Morricone) --- early Sept.

Un tranquillo posto di campagna / A Quiet Place in the Country (Ennio Morricone)

Intrada (USA)

Cohen and Tate (Bill Conti) --- ltd. 1200 copies

Maxie (Georges Delerue) --- ltd. 1200 copies

Mean Season, The (Lalo Schifrin) --- ltd. 1200 copies

SpaceCamp (John Williams) --- ltd. 3000

These Thousand Hills + The Proud Ones (Leigh Harline, Lionel Newman) --- ltd. 1200 copies

Kritzerland Records (USA)

Billy Barnes’ L.A. (Billy Barnes) --- ltd. 1000 copies --- early Sept.

One-Eyed Jacks (Hugo Friedhofer) --- 2 CDs, ltd .1000 copies --- mid-Sept.

Saint Joan (Mischa Spoliansky) --- ltd. 1000 copies

Lakeshore Records (USA)

Dinner for Schmucks (Theodore Shapiro)

Piranha 3D (Michael Wandmacher)

Vampires Suck (Christopher Lennertz) --- Aug. 31

La-La Land Records (USA)

Batman (Danny Elfman) --- 2 CDs, ltd. 5000 copies

Beach Blanket Bingo (Les Baxter)

Krull (James Horner) --- 2 CDs, ltd. 3000 copies

Lone Gunman, The / Harsh Realm (Mark Snow) --- ltd. 2000 copies

Predators (John Debney, Alan Silvestri)

MovieScore Media (Sweden)

Deadline (Carlos Jose Alvarez)

Legend of Silkboy, The (Alain Mayrand)

Within (Jeff Toyne)

Perseverance Records (USA)

Red Sonja (Ennio Morricone)

Unforgettable (Christopher Young) --- ltd. 1200 copies --- coming soon

Polskie Radio (Poland) --- see Soundtracks.pl

Ojciec Mateusz (Michael Lorenc)

Projekt Dziecko (Maciej Zielinski)

Silva Screen (USA / UK)

Classic Greek Film Music (various) --- Oct. 16

Expendables, The (Brian Tyler)

Get Carter (Roy Budd)

Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Trilogy (Jacob Groth)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Brad Fiedel)

Town, The (Harry Gregson-Williams) --- Sept. 14

Tadlow (UK)

Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre) --- 2 CDs, re-recording

Varese Sarabande (USA)

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (Christopher Lennertz)

Charlie St. Cloud (Rolfe Kent)

Hachiko: A Dog's Story (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek) --- Oct. 12

Lost: The Final Season (Michael Giacchno) --- Sept. 14

Nanny McPhee Returns (James Newton Howard)

Never Let Me Go (Rachel Portman) --- Sept. 14

Pillars of the Earth, The (Trevor Morris) --- Sept. 21

Spartacus (Alex North) --- 6 CDs + 1 DVD

Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Joseph LoDuca) --- Sept. 21

True Blood: Season 2 (Nathan Barr) --- Sept. 14

Tudors: Season 3, The (Trevor Morris)