Soundtrack Watch: Intrada is “Dressed to Kill,” La-La Land Goes to “Rosewood”

Calling all soundtrack enthusiasts: the past week of film score reissues from our favorite soundtrack reissue labels has been a bountiful one, indeed!

Last week, Intrada debuted an expanded edition of the score to Brian DePalma’s modern suspense picture, Dressed to Kill (1980). Nancy Allen plays a call girl who witnesses a murder, and Michael Caine is the victim’s psychologist, who might have more of a connection to the murder than meets the eye. DePalma’s controversial film owed more than a little to Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho in tone and subject matter, but Pino Donaggio’s score was worlds apart from Bernard Hermann’s fearsome soundtrack to that film. Donaggio commands a full orchestra with an almost romantic main theme contrasted throughout by rhythmic passages representing the suspense and murder throughout.

For this release, Intrada greatly expands upon the original Varese Sarabande LP, featuring nearly an hour of music, nearly all of it newly mixed from the original multitrack session masters, which turned up after years of vault searching. Fans of Donaggio’s work for DePalma will not be disappointed by this one.

And La-La Land delivers a special treat for fans of John Williams: an expanded edition of his score to 1997’s Rosewood. Comparably obscure to his works for Steven Spielberg, big-budget fantasies or even the dramas of auteurs like Oliver Stone, this John Singleton film dramatized a racially-motivated violent event in Florida in 1923, bringing together Ving Rhames and Jon Voight as an unlikely team who sets out to fight against the racists who are attacking the titular black community. Williams, of course, handled things with typical grace and gravitas, utilizing a choir for the haunting “Look Down, Lord” and infusing passages with period color, including light blues and gospel shadings.

Rosewood‘s expanded presentation, limited to 3,500 units, includes two discs – one featuring the original mix and edit of the score as heard in the film, the other featuring the original Sony Classical soundtrack album. Mike Matessino, who co-produced with Sony Music’s Didier C. Deutsch, masters the disc, and Jeff Bond writes a powerful set of liner notes. Also exciting: Rosewood is first in a planned series of scores from LLL celebrating the 90th anniversary of Warner Bros. Pictures – and it’s one of many titles you can get through the label’s current dads-and-grads/Memorial Day sale, where everything is 20% off with a coupon code featured on La-La Land’s website.

After the jump, you can order your copies of both titles and check out the track lists!

Pino Donaggio, Dressed to Kill: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack – Expanded Edition (originally released as Varese Sarabande STV-81148, 1980 – expanded Intrada Special Collection Vol. 246, 2013)

1. Theme from Dressed to Kill (Main Title) *
2. Kate’s Confession *
3. Bad Night
4. The Museum *
5. The Cab *
6. The Note *
7. The Forgotten Ring *
8. Death in the Elevator *
9. Telephone Message from Bobbi
10. Marino and Elliot
11. Peter Builds Camera
12. Peter Sets Camera
13. Flight from Bobbi *
14. Liz Chased by Hoods
15. Liz and Peter – A Romantic Interlude *
16. Liz and Peter Watch Film
17. Dressed to Kill
18. The Erotic Story *
19. The Transformation *
20. Liz At Police Station
21. The Asylum *
22. Bobbi Outside House
23. The Nightmare *
24. Theme from Dressed to Kill (End Title)

* indicates portion with previously-released material

John Williams, Rosewood: Music from the Motion Picture – Limited Edition (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1244, 2013)

Disc 1: Original film score (previously unreleased)

1. Rosewood
2. The Town of Sumner
3. The Arrival of Mann
4. Mann Goes Shopping/Mann Meets Scrappie
5. Prayers at Dinner/The Wrights/War Drums
6. Scrappie and Mann Bond/The Beating
7. False Accusation
8. The Lie/Arresting Aaron
9. Roughing Up Aaron/Aaron in Jail
10. Sam’s Murder
11. Discovering Sam’s Body/Mann’s First Exit
12. Exchanging Gifts/Cracker Mob
13. Sarah is Shot/Attack on the House
14. Kids to the Woods/The House Burns
15. The Fire/Fanny’s Guilt
16. The Klan Gathers/Wright’s Decision/The Crackers Gather
17. Mann Rescues the Kids
18. Hide the Man, John/Wright’s Dilemma/We Meet at Eight
19. Mann Leads the Group
20. Crossing the Road
21. The Capture of Mann/Mann’s Great Escape
22. Burning Town/Sylvester Joins the Group
23. After the Fire
24. End Titles

Disc 2: Original soundtrack album (released as Sony Classical SK 63031, 1997)

1. Rosewood
2. Look Down, Lord
3. The Hounds of Sumner
4. Healing
5. Light My Way
6. Trouble in Town
7. Aunt Sarah’s Death
8. After the Fire
9. The Town of Sumner
10. The Town Burns
11. Scrappie and Mann Bond
12. The Freedom Train
13. False Accusation
14. Mann at Rosewood
15. Look Down, Lord (Reprise and Finale)