Williams, Herrmann, Conti Join Varese Club

The sleeping giant that is Varese Sarabande’s CD Club awoke for the second time yesterday, announcing four killer soundtracks from the film score vaults for your perusal.

Chief among the surprises in this week’s batch was the announcement of a John Williams score from the Universal Pictures film Midway (1976) – a major coup for fans of the Maestro. A gripping World War II drama starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Toshiro Mifune and a host of A-list actors, Midway sees Williams in true form, with heroic marches and romantic motifs. Until this disc, Midway remained Williams’ only score since 1975’s JAWS to not have a soundtrack release, having existed in full solely through a 1998 rerecording released by Varese. The 3,000-unit release is remastered almost entirely from the original master tapes (two tracks are sourced from mono music stems).

Varese’s other heavy hitter in the batch is the second and final volume of music composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann for the iconic television series The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. In honor of the composer’s 100th birthday, this three-disc set presents in full the last nine episodes that Herrmann wrote music for the successful anthology series. (Volume 1 was sold during the last CD Club batch.) This one’s limited to 2,000 copies.

Composer Marco Beltrami is getting applause for his score for the upcoming prequel to 1982’s The Thing, and with a director’s cut Blu-Ray release of another film he scored, Mimic, having hit store shelves recently, Varese expands their original album for the CD Club. Beltrami scored the Guillermo del Toro film with the horror/suspense panache that made scores like Scream so popular. The deluxe Mimic will be capped at 1,000 copies.

The set closes out with a straight reissue of Bill Conti’s great score to The Karate Kid Part II, originally released as part of a box set in 2007 but available on its own in a limited run of 1,000 units.

All titles will ship the week of October 24 and can be ordered after the jump.

John Williams, Midway: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Varese Sarabande VCL 1011 1124, 2011 – original film released 1976)

1. Prologue/Main Title
2. Yamamoto’s Choice
3. Signal Corps Con
4. Yamamoto’s Second Meeting
5. Hiroshima Harbor
6. Haruko’s Dilemma
7. By Order of Nimitz
8. Canceling Operation K
9. Strawberry 5
10. Missing the Flatlands
11. Morning of the Battle
12. Scout 4
13. Ensign Gay Afloat
14. Burning Carriers
15. Crash Landing
16. Good News for the Nimitz
17. Matt Takes Off/Matt’s Crash/Red Parks Fighters/Attack Begins *
18. End Credits *
19. The Men of the Yorktown March
20. Midway March

* denotes track mastered from the original monaural music stems

Bernard Herrmann, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Volume 2 (Varese Sarabande 1011 1125, 2011)

Disc 1

1. Main Title (Funeral March of a Marionette)
2. Suite 1 from “Misadventure” (Chapter Title/Eva on Phone/George Leaves/Colin Pleads/To Commercial/Rumpled Bed/Colin Passes Out)
3. Suite 2 from “Misadventure” (False Clothes/Amateur Blackmailer/Eva, The Seducer)
4. Suite 3 from “Misadventure” (Overcome by Gas/Out of Commercial/Eva Call Police/End Title)
5. Suite 1 from “Consider Her Ways” (Chapter Title/Ambulance/To Commercial #1)
6. Suite 2 from “Consider Her Ways” (Out of Commercial #1/Exhausted Jane/To Commercial #2)
7. Suite 3 from “Consider Her Ways” (Helping Jane/Jane Crying/Screaming Jane/To Commercial #3)
8. Suite 4 from “Consider Her Ways” (Out of Commercial #3/Burning Scene/End Title)
9. Suite 1 from “Where the Woodbine Twineth” (Chapter Title/I Thought/Nell and Eva/Dark Bedroom/Eva Gone/I Don’t Like You/Mingo Says/Kitchen Scene/Questioning Eva/They Are/To Commercial #1)
10. Suite 2 from “Where the Woodbine Twineth” (Out of Commercial #1/Suz Reacts/Eva Tattles/Nell Hears Eva/To Commercial #2)
11. Suite 3 from “Where the Woodbine Twineth” (I Forgot/Nell Hears Eva/Nell Takes Doll)
12. Suite 4 from “Where the Woodbine Twineth” (Eva/Nell/End Title)

Disc 2

1. Suite 1 from “An Unlocked Window” (Chapter Title/Stalking Man/Storm Rages/Apprehensive Stella/Nervous Maude/To Commercial #1)
2. Suite 2 from “An Unlocked Window” (Out of Commercial #1/Tree Noises/Maude Drinking/Maude Holds Log/Lightning Flashes/To Commercial #2)
3. Suite 3 from “An Unlocked Window” (Out of Commercial #2/Maude with Candelabra/Sleeping Maude/To Commercial #3)
4. Suite 4 from “An Unlocked Window” (Man in Topcoat/Terrified Stella/Man on Porch/Footprints on Rug/Maniacal Laugh/Man Hit/Wig/End Title)
5. Suite 1 from “Wally the Beard” (Chapter Title/Preoccupied/Toupee/Noreen/Noreen’s Boyfriend)
6. Suite 2 from “Wally the Beard” (Landlady Knocks/New Landlady/Sailboat/Walter and Noreen/Bearded Love/To Commercial #1)
7. Suite 3 from “Wally the Beard” (Out of Commercial #1/Fishing Equipment/Checking Clothing/Lieutenant Johnson/Walter Disclosed/To Commercial #2)
8. Suite 4 from “Wally the Beard” (Out of Commercial #2/Walter Surprises Noreen/Noreen Accepts Walter/Wally at Marina/Wally Talks/End Title)
9. Suite 1 from “Death Scene” (Chapter Title/Nicky Pays Off/To Commercial #1)
10. Suite 2 from “Death Scene” (Out of Commercial #1/Old Billboard/Leo and Nicky/To Commercial #2)
11. Suite 3 from “Death Scene” (Leo Scheming #1/Nicky Teases Leo/Leo Scheming #2)
12. Suite 4 from “Death Scene” (Movies/Picture Show/Leo’s End/End Title)

Disc 3

1. Suite from “Terror At Northfield” (Chapter Title/Patrol Car/Susan Driving/Accident Scene/Cooley Staring At Body/Apprehensive Cooley)
2. Suite 2 from “Terror At Northfield (Cooley by Sign/Cooley Killed Frenchie/Mrs. Lafonte/Deserted Street/Library/Shadowing Susan)
3. Suite 3 from “Terror At Northfield” (Frantic Susan/Screaming Susan/Flora At Window/Flora Faints/Meeting Adjourned)
4. Suite 4 from “Terror At Northfield (Will Reading Letter/Cooley’s Phone Call/Will At Cooley’s Farm/Cooley Grabs Susan/End Title)
5. Suite 1 from “The Jar” (Chapter Title/Bringing The Jar Home/Introducing Thedy /Ribbons/Thedy and Jar/Charlie Talks to Jar/To Commercial #1)
6. Suite 2 from “The Jar” (Out of Commercial #1/Guests and Jar/Jahdoo and Jar/Arguing About Jar/Thedy Returns Home/To Commercial #2)
7. Suite 3 from “The Jar” (Out of Commercial #2/Misty Swamp/Jahdoo Saves Charlie/To Commercial #3)
8. Suite 4 from “The Jar” (Out of Commercial #3/Thedy Discloses Contents/Charlie Kills Thedy/Crowd and Jar/Jahdoo’s Belief/End Title)
9. Suite 1 from “The Life Work of Juan Diaz” (Chapter Title/Skulls/Open Grave/Frightened Juan/Gravedigger and Juan #1/To Commercial #1)
10. Suite 2 from “The Life Work of Juan Diaz” (Out of Commercial #1/Gravedigger and Juan #2/Ricardo’s Reaction/Jorge and Children/Jorge and Juan)
11. Suite 3 from “The Life Work of Juan Diaz” (Jorge and Maria/Drunken Gravedigger/Frightened Maria/Match Flame/Juan’s Head)
12. Suite 4 from “The Life Work of Juan Diaz” (Dazed Gravedigger/Diaz Museum/End Title)
13. End Title (Funeral March of a Marionette)

Marco Beltrami, Mimic: The Deluxe Edition (Varese Sarabande 1011 1126, 2011 – original film released 1997)

1. Main Titles
2. Children’s Hospital
3. Release the Judas
4. Press Conference
5. Bathtub
6. Priest Dies
7. Investigation Begins
8. Dark Angels
9. Problems in the Lab
10. Funny Shoes
11. Delancey St. Station
12. Locker Room
13. Susan Meets Chuy
14. Goodbye Boys
15. Susan & Dr. Gates
16. Chuy Steps Out
17. Pregnancy Test
18. Manny’s Search
19. Manny’s Underground
20. Susan Joins the Photos
21. Mimic Snatches Susan
22. Scaffolding Falls
23. Alone in Den
24. Chased by a Bug
25. Josh Bites It
26. Race to the Subway
27. Mimics 101
28. I’ll Go
29. Fleeing Terror
30. Bug Killer
31. Reunited
32. End Credits
33. Slow Tango
34. Manny’s Tango

Portions of this disc originally released as Varese Sarabande VSD-5683, 1997.

Bill Conti, The Karate Kid Part II: Original Motion Picture Score (Varese Sarabande 1011 1127, 2011 – original film released 1986)

1. Main Title
2. No Mercy
3. Six Months Later
4. Breathing/Daniel Nails It
5. Okinawa
6. Honor Very Serious
7. Time Flies
8. Enter Sato
9. Miyagi’s Home
10. No Choice
11. The Funeral
12. Their Song
13. Rekindled Love
14. Miyagi
15. Miyagi’s Attack
16. Daniel and Kumiko
17. Daniel Leaves
18. Old Friends
19. Moon Spots
20. Daniel’s Triumph

This disc was originally released as part of Varese Sarabande box set 0307 1059, 2007.