You Must Remember This: TCM, Masterworks Compile “Classic Sound of Hollywood” From Mancini, Williams, Morricone, More

On April 1, Sony’s Masterworks division and Turner Classic Movies marked the cable network’s twentieth anniversary with a new 2-CD collection of vintage Hollywood movie themes. Play It Again: The Classic Sound of Hollywood continues the Masterworks/TCM series that has previously encompassed archival releases from Doris Day, Mario Lanza and Fred Astaire. Composers represented include Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Maurice Jarre, Elmer Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Henry Mancini, Ennio Morricone and John Williams.  Most of the tracks on Play It Again aren’t derived from the original film soundtracks, but rather from renditions played by the likes of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Pops.

The first disc is drawn entirely from RCA Red Seal’s series of Classic Film Scores as recorded by conductor Charles Gerhardt and London’s National Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 1970s. It includes three suites from composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold featuring his themes from Of Human Bondage, Between Two Worlds, and The Sea Hawk. Underscoring the diversity of this set, the disc also contains cues from the sensationally steamy Peyton Place (Franz Waxman), the creature feature The Thing (From Another World) (Dimitri Tiomkin) and even the Biblical epic Salomé (Daniele Amfitheatrof).  In 2010, Masterworks reissued this series as it originally appeared on LP, orphaning a handful of recordings.  The three of these “stray” recordings are the Peyton Place main title, the “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Salomé and the suite from The Thing.  In addition, the Korngold suites for The Sea Hawk and Of Human Bondage are different edits from those contained on the reissued Korngold CD in the Gerhardt series; this disc marks their first appearance on CD in over a decade.

What will you find on Disc 2?  Hit the jump for that, and more – including the full track listing and order links!

Nils Lofgren “Faces the Music” with Massive, Career-Spanning 10-Disc Box Set

This Thursday evening, Nils Lofgren joins the esteemed ranks of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers when he’s inducted into the institution as a member of The E Street Band. But Lofgren’s work as one of Bruce Springsteen’s resident axemen is only one facet of his exhilarating 45-year career in music. On May 27, 2014, Fantasy Records will deliver the ultimate celebration of Lofgren’s creativity and longevity with Face the Music. This definitive 9-CD/1-DVD box set contains 169 tracks drawn from Lofgren’s major-label and independently-released solo albums (including with his early band Grin), not to mention his own archives. Two of the CDs feature 40 previously unreleased recordings, while the DVD includes 20 diverse video clips.

The Chicago-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist had been immersed in music since his childhood, and was still in his teenage years when Neil Young called upon him to add piano and guitar to his now-classic 1970 album After the Gold Rush. It began an association between Lofgren and Young’s music that continues to this very day, and the young musician even briefly joined Crazy Horse, playing on the 1971 self-titled album by Young’s frequent collaborators. Lofgren’s own band, Grin, recorded four well-received albums of melodic yet edgy rock-and-roll between 1971 and 1973 on the Epic and A&M labels, before Nils launched his own solo career with 1975’s eponymous debut on A&M.

That solo career has lasted to this very day, even as Lofgren continues as a member of The E Street Band, a position he has held since 1984. Between 1975 and 2011, he’s released over twenty solo albums on labels including MCA, CBS, Rykodisc and his own Cattle Track Road Records. Many of these recordings are difficult to find today; as Lofgren notes in the press release for Face the Music, “If it takes 45 minutes of work on the Internet to find one track from 40 years ago, that’s not really available in my eyes.” Needless to say, many of Lofgren’s friends dropped in during his studio sessions, and so the box set features contributions from such luminaries as Young, Springsteen, Ringo Starr, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Levon Helm, Al Kooper, Buddy Miles, Aynsley Dunbar, Willie Nelson, Lou Gramm and Sam Moore of Sam and Dave. A testament to Lofgren’s prolific songwriting, the box also makes room for songs co-written by Lofgren and the late Lou Reed as well as with Alice Cooper’s associates Dick Wagner and Bob Ezrin.

Lofgren himself was instrumental in selecting the 169 tracks, stating, “[Fantasy parent Concord Records] had their good ideas, and then they said, ‘It’s your boxed set, so you pick.’ They asked me to make the final choices and decisions, including every song.” Grin is represented with such tracks as “Like Rain,” “White Lies,” “Slippery Fingers,” and “Beggar’s Day” (the last of which he also recorded with Crazy Horse), plus solo tracks like “Back It Up,” “The Sun Hasn’t Set,” “You’re the Weight,” “Incidentally … It’s Over,” and “Dreams Die Hard.”  Of his later-period material, Lofgren has tapped his records of original compositions plus live recordings, the soundtrack to the 1993 film Every Breath, his 2001 all-instrumental release Tuff Stuff! The Best of the All-Madden Team Band and 2008’s The Loner, a tribute to his longtime friend Neil Young. Besides the stellar Young covers of favorites like “Mr. Soul” and “I Am a Child,” there are also songs from Del Shannon (“I Go to Pieces”) and Bruce Springsteen (“Wreck on the Highway”).

The two CDs of previously unreleased music starts with Lofgren’s pre-Grin days with Paul Dowell and the Dolphin, and also features never-before-heard nuggets from Grin. Lofgren says, “The piece de resistance for me was finding an old master tape of Neil Young singing and playing piano on ‘Keith Don’t Go’ with Grin, and getting his permission to use it after we remixed it.”

After the jump, we have much, much more on Nils, including the complete track listing and pre-order links!

Release Round-Up: Week of April 8

ABBA, Waterloo: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition / ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits – 40th Anniversary Edition (Polar/UMC)

In celebration of the Swedish quartet’s breakthrough single (and Eurovision contest winner), here are two of many planned ABBA catalogue projects for the year – a CD/DVD expansion of the band’s 1974 album with plenty of rare video footage, and a triple-disc set featuring the band’s best-selling 1992 compilation, a 1993 sequel, More Gold: More ABBA Hits and a new disc of single B-sides.

Waterloo: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
ABBA Gold: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Bobby Darin, The Bobby Darin Show (MPI)

Thirteen full-length episodes of the great entertainer’s NBC variety show make it to DVD with guest appearances from Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, Peggy Lee, Nancy Sinatra and more!  The 3-DVD set also includes bonus material such as newsreel, promo and documentary footage. (Amazon U.S.)

Emmylou Harris, Wrecking Ball: Deluxe Edition (Nonesuch)

Harris’ Grammy-winning 1995 album, produced by Daniel Lanois, is expanded with a bonus disc of a dozen outtakes and a new documentary on the making of the LP. (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Linda Ronstadt, Duets (Rhino)

As we prepare for Ronstadt’s deserved acceptance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week, this compilation offers several of her greatest hits with partners. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Chaka Khan, Chaka: 35th Anniversary Edition / Evelyn “Champagne” King, Action – The Evelyn “Champagne” King Anthology 1977-1986 (Big Break Records)

Chaka’s debut solo album and a new Evelyn King compilation are up from the U.K. soul reissue label this week. As always, a full rundown of BBR’s titles will be coming soon!

Chaka: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Evelyn: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

 

Jo Stafford, Live in London 1959 (Sepia)

Sepia unearths a rare concert from the late vocalist, recorded at the London Palladium and featuring songs by Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter and others. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)