Release Round-Up: Week of June 24

The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night: The Criterion Collection (Criterion)

The first Beatles film gets the luxe treatment for its 50th anniversary – sounds pretty fab!

Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Three Dog Night, Three Dog Night: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic)

Iconoclassic remasters and expands the debut album from the band fronted by Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells!  Bonus tracks include two mono single sides and “Time to Get Alone” written and produced by Brian Wilson. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Various Artists, Studio Rio Presents The Brazil Connection (Legacy)

This fun little release features brand-new bossa nova recordings backing some great original R&B vocals, including Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” and more. A perfect summer party album!

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Jersey Boys: Music from the Motion Picture and Broadway Musical (WaterTower Music/Rhino)

The hit Broadway play is now a film, directed by Clint Eastwood, and the soundtrack features both original hits by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons plus new versions recorded for the film itself. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – The Legacy Collection (Walt Disney Records)

Disney’s exciting new “Legacy Collection” line of expanded soundtracks to their classic films kicks off with a 20th anniversary edition of the soundtrack to The Lion King, featuring all the songs you love from Elton John and Tim Rice, over 30 minutes of unreleased score and demo material and striking new artwork created just for this package. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Can You Feel The Love Tonight: 2-CD Expanded Edition of “The Lion King” Kicks Off Disney Legacy Collection

With Walt Disney Records’ juggernaut soundtrack to Frozen preparing to enjoy its thirteenth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – becoming one of only 39 albums in the history of the chart to have spent at least 13 weeks at pole position – the time has never been better for the record label to revisit the studio’s classic animated film library. Today, Walt Disney Records announced what’s arguably its most ambitious reissue program ever. The Legacy Collection will mark the anniversaries of Disney’s beloved animated films with expanded editions of its original soundtracks, and 12 such releases are already on the schedule kicking off this June and running through 2015.  This landmark line follows such Disney’s other recent initiatives as The Lost Chords and the ongoing series with film score specialist label Intrada.

The first release of the Legacy Collection, set for release on June 24, is a 2-CD expansion of the Academy Award-winning score to 1994’s The Lion King, featuring songs by Elton John and Tim Rice and score by Hans Zimmer. The album, certified 10x platinum in 1995, will grow from 12 tracks in its original release to 33 tracks here – including 30 minutes of previously unreleased music. In addition, the new release will include liner notes from Zimmer and producer Don Hahn. Lorelay Bove, a visual development artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, provides new artwork for the release. Bove will create the look of the Legacy Collection by creating the covers for all releases. The Legacy Collection is being released by Walt Disney Records in conjunction with D23, The Official Disney Fan Club. D23 members will get a chance to preview tracks from the Legacy releases during the D23 Disney Fanniversary Celebration roadshow, which will tour the U.S. later this year, and D23 members will also have the opportunity to purchase the complete set paired with club-exclusive lithographs for each title.

Following the release of The Lion King, the Legacy Collection will celebrate 12 anniversaries including Pinocchio (75th), Fantasia (75th), Cinderella (65th), Lady and the Tramp (60th), Sleeping Beauty (55th), Mary Poppins (50th), The Little Mermaid (25th), and Toy Story (20th), among others. Even Disneyland itself will receive a special title in the series in advance of its 60th birthday next year. After the jump, we have the complete list of the first 12 reissues plus the track listing for the new edition of The Lion King!

Soundtrack Round-Up: More Kong, Eastwood, Zimmer Highlights from Intrada, La-La Land

If you thought Film Score Monthly’s reissue of the score to King Kong (1976) was as big as it gets for soundtracks lately, allow us to show you the newest releases from Intrada and La-La Land – one of which features the giant ape himself!

Ten years after toppling off the World Trade Center to his apparent death, King Kong Lives – also produced by Dino de Laurentiis and directed by John Gullermin – reveals the giant ape is in fact alive, kept under a medically-induced coma while scientists search in vain for another ape to offer a blood transfusion to power an artificial heart made for the beast. As luck would have it, a female ape is found and offered to revive Kong – but when both animals escape captivity, it’s a race for two scientists to find them before the army does.

While the belated Lives received indifferent reviews, fans have lauded the heroic soundtrack by John Scott, which ignores any stigma of low-budget action in favor of active, expressive, big music. MCA released a thorough LP in 1986 (not coincidentally, the same year they introduced their Audio-Animatronic Kong on the Universal Studios Tour), but it only ever saw release on CD by the Victor label in Japan – a pressing somewhat marred by “bonus tracks” consisting of Kong’s various roars and grunts. Intrada’s new edition – featuring two collectible covers in one package, including the above modification of the original LP sleeve – omits those roars, making it once again all about the music.

And what else is new with Intrada and La-La Land, too? Hit the jump to find out!

Intrada Rescues “White Fang” from the Wild

Intrada’s latest releases were supposed to be a double shot of Disney, but changes in the label’s schedule have yielded just one new title for this week: the first release of the multifaceted score to 1991’s live-action Disney flick White Fang.

Based on Jack London’s novel of the same name, White Fang told the tale of a Yukon explorer (Ethan Hawke) and the wolfdog he befriends. The acclaimed film’s music was conducted primarily by two very different composers: an orchestral old hand in Basil Pouledoris, and a synthesizer-based upstart in Hans Zimmer. Both mens’ works appeared in the finished film, with slightly more emphasis on Pouledoris.

But because Intrada knows how to treat soundtrack fans, they’ve included both over two discs. Both scores receive their premiere releases in this set, sourced from the original analog (for Pouledoris) and digital (for Zimmer) masters kept in perfect condition in Disney’s fabled vaults.

Order your copy now, after the jump!

Hans Zimmer Roars Back With “Thelma and Louise” From Kritzerland

Last weekend, The Lion King sat atop the box office once more, a potent reminder not only of the 1994 film’s enduring power but of its music.  Though Elton John and Tim Rice famously composed its songs, it was Hans Zimmer who picked up an Academy Award for the orchestral score.  Zimmer made his first major splash in Hollywood with the score to Barry Levinson’s 1988 film Rain Man, following it up with high profile assignments such as Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Days of Thunder (1990) and Thelma & Louise (1991).   This morning, Kritzerland delivered a gift to Zimmer’s many fans, announcing its release of the first-ever complete release on CD of the score to Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise.  The original MCA soundtrack recording was an almost all-songs affair, so on the occasion of the film’s 20^th anniversary, Zimmer’s score is finally available, including its dynamic slide guitar work from Pete Haycock.

We’ll let producer Bruce Kimmel’s press release speak for itself; the soundtrack is due the last week of October, but pre-orders directly from the label usually arrive an average of four weeks early!

Sometimes the right people come together at the right time to make the right movie for the right audience. Certainly it happened in 1991 with Thelma & Louise, a film where each of its creative elements came together and resulted in a film that truly struck a chord with audiences and critics. A road movie, a buddy movie, a comedy, a tragedy, Thelma & Louise became an instant classic. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are perfection as Thelma and Louise, both delivering multi-layered and iconic performances. Harvey Keitel is their equal as Detective Hal Slocumb, and Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt are all excellent in supporting roles.

Every creative component of the film is masterful – from direction, writing, acting, editing, photography, art direction, costuming – it’s all of a piece and that includes the great score by Hans Zimmer. Zimmer, born in 1957, had begun scoring films on his own in the 1980s, with projects such as A World Apart, Paperhouse, and others. But it was in 1988 that he got his big break, scoring the Barry Levinson film Rain Man. Rain Man was a smash, and Zimmer received his first Oscar nomination. Then came Twister, Black Rain, and Driving Miss Daisy, and since then he has been one of the most successful film composers in history, composing scores for such hits as Days Of Thunder, A League Of Their Own, The Lion King, As Good As It Gets, Crimson Tide, The Rock, The Prince Of Egypt, Gladiator, Hannibal, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, Kung Fu Panda, Sherlock Holmes, Inception, and many, many others. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards and taken home the prize once – for The Lion King.

Zimmer’s score for Thelma & Louise captures Scott’s visuals and the tone of the film perfectly. While there are a fair number of pop songs used in the movie, it’s Zimmer’s twangy, mournful, exciting, hard-driving, bluesy music that really propels the film and helps give it its distinctive feel – and it features the absolutely mind-bending guitar work of the great Pete Haycock.

Hit the jump to continue reading the press release, plus the full track listing and pre-order link!