La-La Land Releases “Dave,” “The Relic” Scores

Following a strong 2012 release slate, La-La Land Records looks to be keeping the spirit of catalogue soundtracks alive with their first releases of the new year: one an expansion of a score to a modern comedy classic, the other a premiere release of the music to a ’90s sci-fi flick.

Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) is a simple businessman with a bizarre trait: he’s the spitting image of the President of the United States of America. When that president falls ill, his team decides to use Dave to their advantage. There’s just one problem for his political cronies: he’s more earnest than anyone on Capitol Hill! Dave, co-starring Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella and Ben Kingsley and directed by Ivan Reitman (of Ghostbusters and Kindergarten Cop fame), was a smash upon release, and LLL now expands the original soundtrack by noted film composer/pop arranger James Newton Howard. (The label has, in the past, detailed intentions to expand all the soundtracks released on the Big Screen Records label; Dave is part and parcel of that plan!)

Elsewhere, La-La Land tackles John Debney’s score to The Relic. Based on the first novel by successful collaborators Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, the film concerns a string of mysterious murders around a Chicago museum, and the quest to discover who – or what – is behind it. Debney’s score was previously only available as a self-distributed promotional disc, and is now available to add to your collection.

La-La Land majordomo MV Gerhard also spilled some details on their next batches of titles: January 29 will see a release of John Barry’s score to the 1977 romantic film First Love, which was mostly unused in the final film, while February 12 sees a four-disc compilation of music from the acclaimed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine television series!

Dave is limited to 3,000 copies, while The Relic is capped at 2,000. Hit the jump to place your orders and check out the track lists!

Morning of Their Lives: Bee Gees’ Original Australian Albums Reissued on CD by Festival Label

Though Bee Gees’ First introduced Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb to the world at large, the album title was actually a misnomer. The Bee Gees’ first album was, in fact, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs, released in Australia in 1965 on Festival Records’ Leedon label.  Two albums were released in Australia before the Gibbs’ international debut, with a third “odds-and-ends” collection having arrived in late 1967 just months after Bee Gees’ First.  The Bee Gees’ Australian output has been released on CD numerous times over the years.  These editions have ranged from the comprehensive to the downright poor, from labels both legitimate and “gray area.”  Now, for the first time, all three of the Bee Gees’ original Australian albums are being prepped for reissue on remastered CDs from Festival Records, part of Warner Music Australia.  These discs (available individually or as part of a 3-CD box set) and a new Australian-era anthology, at left, will arrive down under from the recently-reactivated Festival imprint on February 1.

1965’s The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs was the first long-playing album for Barry, Robin and Maurice, but the Brothers Gibb had been signed to Festival Records since early 1963.  The precocious (and precociously talented) youngsters recorded a number of singles as oldest brother Barry carved out a reputation as a professional songwriter.  The Bee Gees also appeared, often uncredited, on numerous recordings from other Festival artists.  (Many of these guest appearances were collected on the Assault the Vaults CD compilation, which fetches quite a bit secondhand if you can find it at all.)   The Sing and Play album was assembled from five new songs and nine previously released Barry-written songs dating back to the group’s second single in 1963 (“Timber!” b/w “Take Hold of That Star”). Of the five new songs, two were promoted via a new single (“I Was a Lover, A Leader of Men” b/w “And the Children Laughing”) while the remaining three were exclusive to the LP.  Every track on this LP is available on the 1998 Festival collection Brilliant from Birth (which is still available secondhand at reasonable prices), but the new reissue is the first time the original sequence has appeared on CD.

In 1966, the Bee Gees had their biggest success with a song that Barry Gibb still performs today: “Spicks and Specks.”  The catchy track made it to No. 3 in Sydney, staying in the Top 40 for 19 weeks, and in other areas of Australia reached pole position.  “Spicks and Specks” b/w “I Am the World” made such an impression that its release led to the group’s signing with Polydor in the U.K.; it became the group’s first single there.  The Bee Gees’ new album, naturally, was titled after the hit song.  Spicks and Specks used most of the tracks intended for an aborted LP entitled Monday’s Rain.  This album was never issued outside Australia, and again, while all of the tracks appear on Brilliant from Birth, the upcoming reissue is its first CD appearance in its original configuration.

There’s plenty more after the jump, including full track listings for all titles!