La La Land Blows Up White House, Catches a Wave

Wow! Commenter ~Rupe was some sort of a prophet today when he discussed the need for soundtrack labels to repress certain out-of-print soundtracks. The second of La La Land Record’s soundtrack releases today (after David Arnold’s complete score to the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day) fulfills that need in spades: the label is releasing a brand-new pressing of John Williams’ score to the 1972 disaster classic The Poseidon Adventure.

Williams gained early mainstream recognition as the musician who scored the best-known disaster films in the 1970s, notably Poseidon, The Towering Inferno and Earthquake (1974). The Poseidon Adventure was part of the second installment of Film Score Monthly’s Silver Age Classics line in 1998, pressed onto 3,000 discs on a double bill with Williams’ score to The Paper Chase (1974).

Unfortunately, that long-sold-out set only presented 12 tracks, mostly in mono. But La La Land, armed with more than a decade of audio advancements, has presented the complete score for the first time in stereo, drawn from the original 2″ 24-track tapes.

This set is a must-have for any Williams completist, and it’s available now. View the full specs after the jump! (And let’s not forget ID4 either – specs for this 5,000-copy double-disc set are viewable afterwards too. And get ’em here while they’re hot!)

Reissue Theory: Shania Twain, “Come On Over”

Behind every devoted catalogue fan is a long-suffering but good-natured band of friends who smile politely and listen to us jaw on about liner notes, bonus tracks and the like.

Those readers with partners or spouses are probably grinning right now, and so am I. Today is the birthday of a special someone (in a hat tip to MusicTAP, I’ll call her Miss Disc) and in a show of geeky affection I have put together a Reissue Theory for one of her favorite records, which is thankfully one that could benefit from deluxe treatment.

Shania Twain spent the 1990s as a solid Canadian-born country star, but her third record was something special. With the help of super-producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange (who, besides producing Twain’s last record, The Woman in Me (1995), was married to her at the time), Twain developed an unheard-of crossover sound that meshed the best of country with the freshest dance and pop one could ask for at the time. Come On Over was a smash after its 1997 release, topping the charts in 10 countries and selling more than 30 million copies worldwide (the biggest-selling record by a female solo artist and one of the top 10 best-selling records in America).

And those songs! Twelve of the LP’s 16 tracks were released to various radio formats and became FM staples. Cuts like “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” “You’re Still the One,” “From This Moment On” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” ushered in a movement of country-pop that paved the way for class acts from The Dixie Chicks to Taylor Swift.

Like many best-sellers, the album has quite the history on CD. Foreign audiences weren’t quite ready for the Nashville sound of the record, so Mercury Records remixed the entire album (save pentultimate track “Rock This Country!”) with a Eurobeat feel when releasing it internationally in 1998. Then things got interesting: that version of the album was tweaked and released on its own in the U.S. as Come On Over: The International Version (1999). (So there’s a U.S. international version and an…international international version.) This notion would be milked even further for Twain’s next record, 2002’s Up!; that record was released as a two-disc set of country and pop mixes with a download code for a third album mix inspired by Eastern dance tracks.

A reissue of this LP would befit Universal’s usual Deluxe Edition format, with both versions of the record (and a handful of bonus tracks, in spite of the album’s hour-long running time) making up such a hypothetical set. Hit the jump (and raise a glass for Miss Disc’s birthday) to see the Come On Over reissue that someday could be.

Release Round-Up: Lightfoot, Queen, ID4 and More

• Amazon has posted pre-order links for new remasters for folk legend (and non-dead person) Gordon Lightfoot. Wounded Bird will distribute these new releases of the LPs he recorded for Warner/Reprise, from 1970’s Sit Down Young Stranger to 1998’s A Painter Passing Through (pre-order links are missing East of Midnight (1983) – not sure as to why). They’re due June 8.
• EMI has set a May 31 release date for Queen’s The Singles Collection Volume 3. This replicates 13 original 7″ singles (sorry dance fans, no 12″ mixes here) from “It’s a Hard Life” (from The Works in 1984) to “Scandal” (from The Miracle (1989)). A fourth and final set is in the works as well.
• As previously mentioned, La La Land Records will be releasing a two-disc expansion of David Arnold’s score to Independence Day tomorrow. It’s a 5,000-copy edition, with the first 100 autographed by the composer himself. The label also has another release planned; no details given (usually the label announces a week in advance but since ID4 was leaked months ago they changed things a bit) except that it will be limited to 3,000 copies. This makes it a relatively sizable release, too. Both go on sale tomorrow at 12 p.m. PST.
• And if you’ve been living in a cave, check out the discussion over at ICE about the potential remastering and reissuing of the Badfinger catalogue. The tragic power-pop masters may be getting some love on CD over the summer from Rhino, it seems – as always, stay tuned when more info becomes available.