Well, this is another bucket-list project. Ever since I first heard it 22 years ago, James Newton Howard’s score to Waterworld has been one of my favorite scores of the 1990s. Bold, brash, thematic and epic, the soundtrack for this orchestral score got a lot of time in my CD player. Having worked on a few expanded reissues of JNH projects, I would keep asking about the possibility of doing an expanded Waterworld. At one point, I was told it was …
Once again, I was fortunate to be involved with a current title, this time for Paramount’s Baywatch, featuring a score by Christopher Lennertz. My role was similar to the past current titles from Paramount, in a coordination role between the studio, La-La Land Records, and the ad agency that was handling the artwork. Some of that meant conforming the art files to fit La-La Land Records’ template – and some of those files really tested the limits of my computer! …
Back in 2013, La-La Land Records released Elmer Bernstein’s scores to The Shootist and The Sons of Katie Elder on one disc. The latter portion was the 1965 re-recording done for the LP, meaning that the original film score recorded still had yet to be released -until now. This new album is sourced from the original mono film music stem, as well as selected cues from an Electro-vox recording found in the archives. In addition to the score and source cues, we …
Producing a single score soundtrack can be a lot of work. When it’s a trilogy box set, that’s like cramming three projects into one, and can be a bit overwhelming Thankfully, for The Naked Gun Trilogy, I worked with Neil S. Bulk to make this the best album possible. He spent an ungodly amount of time going through all the various recorded takes for each film, picking the proper version, and noting good alternate options for bonus tracks. We knew that we …
I’ve always loved Marc Shaiman’s delightfully fun score to The Addams Family. The thematic score is immensely hummable, and when it was clear that we were able to do a new expanded soundtrack release of the music, I immediately dove right in. We got the bulk of the music from DATs, but there were a few cues that were on analog sources which we had transferred. What that meant was that we not only had the full score, but we also …
My original memory of D.A.R.Y.L. was actually reading the novelization – I don’t think I saw the film for years after that. One of the movie’s memorable aspects was the thematic score by Marvin Hamlisch, culminating in the Teddy Pendergrass song, “Back Where I Belong”. Flash forward to 2013, and we’re finally going to be putting out an album for the film. Working on D.A.R.Y.L. was smooth sailing – everything was sourced from the original stereo 1/4″ reels, and we even had …
One of my favorite Hans Zimmer scores from the 1990s (aside from The Rock) is, without a doubt, The Peacemaker. The adrenaline-fueled action, dramatic Russian-styled (ala Crimson Tide) choir and emotional melodies just resonated with me for some reason. So it was truly wonderful to be able to tackle the project as a new expanded limited edition. Once we got the DATs from Paramount Pictures transferred, it was straightforward to put the album together. There was only one alternate track available (a different vocal performance), so to fill out the …
It’s hard to believe that David Arnold’s score to The Stepford Wives never saw the light of day as a soundtrack album. Sure it wasn’t the hit film they wanted it to be, but in 2004, there were plenty of other films that under-performed at the box office and still had score albums. In any case, releasing the soundtrack was always on my list of titles at Paramount, and when it finally came up in the schedule, I was thrilled that it …
John Debney’s score to Lair was one of those “wow” scores. First heard in a concert suite in Spain in 2007 and then officially released with the game later that year, the score was huge and epic, filled with large orchestral themes and choral music. This new 2-disc album was sourced from 24-bit, 96kHz high resolution audio found in John Debney’s personal archive. Working with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), as well as Debney, it was definitely a challenge to pull together the album …
One of the few Jerry Goldsmith scoring sessions I had the privilege of attending was for The Sum of All Fears, the fourth Jack Ryan movie (and in effect, a reboot of the series) directed by Phil Alden Robinson. Years later, I would then have the opportunity to put together an expanded release of the soundtrack. The highlight of the score is the opening title, an operatic and heart-wrenching aria sung by Shana Blake Hill, but it was a pleasure to rediscover …