“Star Trek,” “Abyss” Surface in Surprise Varese Club Batch

Varese Sarabande has opened up a new batch of CD Club limited edition soundtrack reissues for the holidays. Beginning in 2014, six titles – including two deluxe editions – will start shipping from the long-running soundtrack label.

First up, a milestone from the final frontier: Varese expands the soundtrack to 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. This time, the USS Enterprise encounters a dangerous foe from within the Romulan Empire: a villainous clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by a then-unknown Tom Hardy, later celebrated for his performances in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises as the criminal mastermind Bane). Nemesis was the final mission for both the crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation and composer Jerry Goldsmith, whose scores to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection became icons of the franchise. Goldsmith’s dark, sinister score ultimately gave way to that heroic fanfare we all know and love, and was one of the few high points of the critically-maligned, financially-unsuccessful film. It was also one of the final scores by the ever-prolific Goldsmith until his passing the following year. With this double-disc expanded release, one now has the exciting ability to purchase the complete scores to all ten of the original TOS and TNG-era Trek films.

Varese next heads from space to undersea with a double-disc presentation of Alan Silvestri’s score to The Abyss. James Cameron’s third blockbuster of the 1980s (following the critical and commercial smash hits The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986)) has a crew of Navy SEALs hoping to recover a lost submarine before a Soviet crew does – but what they find deep under the waves could be much more dangerous. Featuring Oscar-winning special effects (including the iconic “pseudopod” sequence, where a computer-generated water tentacle appears before the crew), The Abyss is one of Cameron’s more underrated big-budget efforts, a film that increased in critical appraisal after the release of a “Special Edition” in 1992. (With the film’s 25th anniversary approaching this year, a Blu-Ray premiere would certainly be optimal!) Silvestri’s score is now presented on two discs with 10 alternate cues.

The label’s reissue wave concludes with four straight reissues, all of which have been out of print for years. There’s the 1978 suspense Brass Target, a fictional tale suggesting the car crash that killed U.S. General George S. Patton was in fact a conpsiracy; Laurence Rosenthal’s score was the very first album of original material ever released by Varese Sarabande, and makes its CD debut here. Michael Kamen’s score to the 1987 courtroom drama Suspect, starring Cher and Dennis Quaid as a public defender and jury member working together to solve the murder of a Justice Department clerk (a then-unknown Liam Neeson plays the deaf-mute, homeless Vietnam veteran accused of her killing), also gets reissued onto CD, this time featuring all 17 of its cues indexed individually instead of as the two suites that occupied each side of the original album. The batch is rounded out by reissues of James Horner’s score to Vibes, a maligned 1988 comedy starring Cyndi Lauper and Jeff Goldblum as psychics in search of a fabled lost city, and Jerry Goldsmith’s first all-electronic score to Runaway, a Michael Crichton-penned and directed sci-fi thriller with Tom Selleck. (Goldsmith’s original LP was greatly expanded as a limited edition CD in 2006; this program is now back on disc.)

All titles are strictly limited: Star Trek tops out at 5,000 units, The Abyss at 3,000, Brass Target at 1,000 and the remainder at 2,000 apiece. They ship this week, so hit the jump and place your orders!

Jerry Goldsmith, Star Trek Nemesis: Music from the Motion Picture – The Deluxe Edition (originally released as Varese Sarabande 302 066 430-2, 2002 – reissued as Varese Sarabande VCL 1213 1143, 2014)

Disc 1

1. Remus
2. The Box
3. My Right Arm
4. Star Field/Positronic Signal
5. The Argo
6. Odds and Ends
7. Your Brother/Course Plotted
8. Repairs
9. The Knife
10. Perfect Timing/Allegiance
11. Secrets
12. The Mine
13. Ideals
14. Options
15. Bed Time/Transport
16. Blood Test
17. The Mirror
18. The Scorpion
19. His Plans/Data & B-4
20. Battle Stations
21. Attack Pattern
22. The Invitation/True Nature/Let’s Go to Work
23. Lateral Run
24. The Viceroy

Disc 2

1. Engage
2. Full Reverse
3. Not Functional
4. Final Flight
5. Firing Sequence
6. A New Friend
7. That Song/An Honor
8. A New Ending
9. Riker’s Strut #1 (Source – composed by Mike Lang)
10. Riker’s Strut #2 (Source – composed by Mike Lang)
11. Blue Skies (Vocal by Brent Spiner)
12. Blue Skies (Instrumental)
13. Secrets (Alternate Mix)
14. The Mine (Alternate)
15. Options (Alternate)
16. Options (Alternate Mix)
17. Data & B-4 (Alternate)
18. Battle Stations (Alternate Mix)
19. Attack Pattern (Alternate Mix)
20. True Nature (Alternate Mix)
21. A New Ending (Alternate)
22. Director and Composer

Alan Silvestri, The Abyss: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – The Deluxe Edition (originally released as Varese Sarabande VSD-5235, 1989 – reissued Varese Sarabande VCL 1213 1144, 2014)

Disc 1

1. Opening Title
2. Montana/Crash/Flood
3. Marker Buoy/They’re Coming
4. Let Me Drown Your Rat/Search The Montana
5. Jammer Freaks
6. He’s Convulsing
7. MIRV Recovery/SEALs Return
8. Crashing Crane
9. What a Drag
10. The Draggiest Man
11. Lindsey’s Close Encounter
12. Here’s MIRV/Some Huevos
13. Have to Take Steps/Jarhead is Watching
14. The Pseudopod
15. Coffey Break
16. Freeze
17. Bud and Cat Dive/Click
18. The Fight
19. What a Drag (Original)

Disc 2

1. Coffey Implodes
2. The Only Way
3. Resurrection
4. Bud’s Big Dive
5. Defusing the Bomb
6. Bud on the Ledge
7. Bud Reborn/Blinky Bows
8. Back on the Air
9. Finale and End Credits
10. Opening Title (Demo)
11. Flood and Sinking (Alternate)/Unused Synth Cue
12. Crashing Crane (Alternate)
13. What a Drag (Wild Original)
14. Some Huevos (Alternate)
15. The Pseudopod (Alternate)
16. The Fight (Alternate)
17. The Only Way (Alternate)
18. Lindsey Dies (Alternate)
19. Vocal Insert

Laurence Rosenthal, Brass Target: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (originally released as Varese Sarabande VC 81082, 1978 – reissued Varese Sarabande VCL 1213 1145, 2014)

1. Mara’s Theme/The Man from Switzerland
2. Violence in the Bell Tower
3. The Ferry on Lake Lucerne
4. The Weapon and The Disguise
5. Reminiscing
6. Setting the Stage
7. The “Accident”
8. The Last of Webber/End Title (Mara’s Theme)

Michael Kamen, Suspect: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Varese Encore) (originally released as Varese Sarabande VCD-47315, 1987 – reissued Varese Sarabande VCL 1213 1146, 2014)

1. Main Title
2. Lady in the Lake
3. Carl
4. You’re Deaf
5. Kathleen
6. Help Me
7. Kath and Morty
8. Private Eye
9. Waiting for Vote
10. Complicity
11. Cufflink/Michael
12. Michael Strikes
13. Eddie Finds Michael
14. The Files
15. The Cells
16. The Courtroom
17. End Credits

James Horner, Vibes: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Varese Encore) (originally released as Varese Sarabande VCL-9001.4, 1990 – reissued Varese Sarabande VCL 1213 1147, 2014)

1. Main Title
2. Opening the Pyramid
3. Andes Arrival
4. Mountain Trek
5. The Secret Revealed
6. The Lost City
7. The Journey Begins
8. Silvia’s Vision
9. End Title

Jerry Goldsmith, Runaway: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – The Deluxe Edition (Varese Encore) (originally released as Varese Sarabande STV-81234, 1985 and expanded Varese Sarabande VCL 1106 1055, 2006 – reissued Varese Sarabande VCL 1213 1148, 2014)

1. Main Title
2. Bug Machine
3. The Floater
4. No Interview
5. Crazed Robot
6. She Went Home
7. ACME Service
8. The Spider
9. Alley Flight
10. Shootin’ Up The Ritz
11. The Bullet
12. She Makes Pasta
13. Psychic Reading
14. The Tap
15. Lockons
16. Sushi Switch
17. Spider in the Toilet
18. The Computer
19. The Monitor
20. Construction Site
21. 40th Floor
22. Over the Edge
23. Luther Dies
24. No Luther (The Resolution)