Intrada Premieres Three Rugged Scores on Two Discs

The latest haul from Intrada is three ’60s and ’70s scores for some tough-guy pictures, each from three different, classic composers and all making their debut on any format.

First up, Elmer Bernstein scores Cahill: U.S. Marshal (1973). Bernstein obviously had some Western chops – The Magnificent Seven, anyone? – and he certainly had quite the opportunity to flex those muscles for this film. The title character, a black-hatted lawman pursuing a bank robber (George Kennedy) and his accomplices (who happen to be the marshal’s sons), was played by none other than John Wayne. The score to this Warner Bros. picture – which included a song, “A Man Gets to Thinkin’,” with lyrics by Don Black – is notable as one of the first recorded on multitrack tape (2″, 16-channel tape, to be exact), meaning a new stereo remix could be constructed just for this disc. Jeff Bond provides detailed liner notes for the set.

Intrada’s other release this week is a two-fer: first, there’s Hell is for Heroes, a 1962 film about an Army squad’s near-impossible task to hold the Siegfried Line against German forces for two days straight in 1944. Despite an all-star cast, including Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, James Coburn, Fess Parker and Bob Newhart (in his first film role), budgetary restrictions and on-set conflicts (namely between McQueen and writer Robert Pirosh, who created the TV series Combat!) sank the film; Leonard Rosenman’s short, active score, though, is a highlight, and presented in full on the first part of the disc.

Hell is for Heroes is paired with Jerry Fielding’s score to Escape from Alcatraz, an adaptation of J. Campbell Bruce’s book starring Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris, who in real life did escape the maximum security prison and was never found since. Working for the fifth and final time with director Don Siegel (who helmed Coogan‘s Bluff and Dirty Harry with Eastwood starring), Alcatraz features a unique, experimental “musique concrete” score by Fielding written to reflect the harsh conditions of the prison, newly remixed in stereo.

All titles are available “while quantities and interest remain”; hit the jump to read the track lists and place your orders!

In Case You Missed It: Stand Up and Cheer! Intrada Releases “Hoosiers” Soundtrack and More

We begin our first day of catalogue coverage for 2013 by…keeping up with some titles that came out last year that slipped through our wires. (I know, I know. Really, it just sat in drafts for a week or two while I kept wrapping presents instead of finalizing it. -Ed.) Rest assured, though, that these – the final three catalogue soundtrack releases from Intrada Records – are worth your time in any year.

First up is one of Intrada’s most intriguing releases in awhile, in that it’s two scores for the same movie, neither of which were really used! Based on the novel of the same name, The Last Hard Men (1976) featured Charlton Heston and James Coburn as bitter, aging rivals on either side of the law in early 20th century Arizona. The film’s original score by Leonard Rosenman was deemed too bleakly reflective of the picture by 20th Century-Fox, and Fox musical scion Lionel Newman was hired for an unusual task: he would re-record various pieces written for Fox Westerns by Jerry Goldsmith, including selections from 100 Rifles, Rio Conchos and Stagecoach for use in the final film. In one final, bizarre twist, those re-recordings were also scrapped in favor of Goldsmith’s original recordings, which were considered favorable enough when temped into the final mix. So, for the first time ever, Rosenman’s unused original music and Newman’s unused re-recordings are presented in their entirety.

Keep reading after the jump for a look at two Golden Age scores on one release and another long-awaited expansion from one of the 20th century’s most famous film composers!

Soundtrack Surplus: Varese, Intrada, La-La Land Announce List of Heavyweights

Soundtrack fans had a lot of courses to chew on this week, with batches from Intrada and Varese Sarabande landing within mere hours of each other on Monday and Tuesday and a reissue announced for next week by La-La Land Records.

Over at Intrada, fans got to enjoy a new entry in the label’s Special Collection series: Michael Small’s sexy, suspenseful score to The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). Small’s soundtrack is released in full for the first time anywhere, featuring a handful of alternate cues intended for a soundtrack LP that never materialized.

Intrada’s second release is an interesting one: a reissue of the expanded score to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier by Jerry Goldsmith. As you may recall, La-La Land’s expansion of the album, which combined the complete score with the original soundtrack LP and bonus material, was a sellout not long after its limited release in 2010. Paramount apparently requested it be back in print in perpetuity – now, virtually every classic Trek soundtrack reissue of the past few years is now available in unlimited quantities – and so, with only minor changes in artwork, it can boldly go to your collection once more.

Varese dropped a crazy amount of titles on Tuesday, and you can read all about them after the jump!

Intrada Ends Banner Year, Boldly Goes Where Few Have Gone Before

Intrada knows how to another great year of soundtracks: with three oft-requested and legendary soundtracks, all expanded and mostly unlimited.

By far the biggest news for contemporary score fans is the news of another expanded score from the Star Trek universe. The past few years have seen expanded scores for four Trek films (1982’s The Wrath of Khan, 1984’s The Search for Spock, 1989’s The Final Frontier and 2009’s reboot of the franchise) and two collections of music from the beloved The Next Generation television series.

Intrada puts in its first Trek entry with Leonard Rosenman’s music to 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. One of the most accessible entries in the series, Voyage sees the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise journey to San Francisco in our then-present day to save humpback whales from extinction, thereby preventing an intergalactic probe from crippling the future Earth’s power grid. The unlimited Intrada reissue presents the complete score to the film, including  album alternates and other newly-unearthed extras (including a much-coveted alternate version of the opening titles that draws more from Alexander Courage’s iconic television theme song).

But that’s far from the only riches in Intrada’s year-end batch. The label has a thorough, unlimited expansion of Jerry Goldsmith’s score to the 1966 war film The Sand Pebbles (expanded by Varese Sarabande in 2002). The double-disc set, featuring music from the Robert Wise-directed picture starring Steve McQueen in his only Oscar-nominated performance, features newly-remixed score cues and 18 alternate and source cues, all in stereo. And finally, there’s a limited pressing of the soundtrack to The Wrong Box, a 1966 Victorian-era black comedy scored by legendary James Bond composer John Barry, featuring the rare stereo version of the original soundtrack (sourced from a mint LP, as original masters have been lost) as well as some session-tape sourced bonus tracks in mono and stereo.

Hit the jump for full track breakdowns and order links!