For fans of Jerry Goldsmith's score for Ridley Scott 1978 movie Alien, this two-disc Intrada set is the ultimate fantasy. Everything is here and then some. Disc 1 contains Goldsmith's entire score as he originally intended it with every cue in place, including those that were later cut from the film plus his recomposed versions of cues the director made him change (Goldsmith's original main theme, for example, appears without its signature heroic trumpet melody because the director thought it wasn't creepy enough). Disc 2 includes the original soundtrack as issued on LP plus six other bonus tracks of demonstration takes and even the brief except from Eine kleine Nachtmusik used in the film. The stereo sound here is fabulous, the performances definitive, and the liner notes exhaustive. And the score, like the film, is a classic of its genre. With its mixture of the ecstatic chromaticism of Scriabin, the skittering strings of Penderecki, the harmonic waves of Ligeti, and the atmospheric percussion of Herrmann, Goldsmith's score became a template for all subsequent science fiction/horror movies. But as this splendid release so amply shows, the original still can't be beat.
The Limited Deluxe Edition features 23 songs (an additional 7 songs) including all the original songs performed in the film by Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell, "The Weary Kind" performed by Ryan Bingham (the theme song heard in the film's trailer and closing credits) and music featured in the film by Waylon Jennings, Lucinda Williams, Buck Owens, Sam Phillips and many more. It is packaged with a 12 page booklet featuring liner notes, lyrics and photographs. The soundtrack was co-produced by 10-time Grammy Award winner T Bone Burnett. Burnett, who co-produced the soundtrack with guitarist/songwriter Stephen Bruton. Synopsis Four-time Academy Award® nominee JEFF BRIDGES stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake, a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times.
Forget Black Friday, Franksgiving is the real event as today ushers in the long-awaited release of Alex Winter’s highly acclaimed documentary, ZAPPA, about the prolific genius composer, free speech activist, cultural ambassador to Czechoslovakia and legendary musician, Frank Zappa, as well as the surprise digital release of the corresponding ZAPPA Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. A perfect complement to the film, the 68-track soundtrack is available to stream and download now via Zappa Records/UMe. ZAPPA is now available in the U.S. on demand from Magnolia Pictures.
Don Ellis was a hot item in 1971. He had done a few big band albums that sounded like Doc Severson plugged into Frank Zappa'a sound system, and was opening a lot of rock shows, back in the era when you could get rock and roll kids to listen to and appreciate jazz. So, Billy Friedkin makes French Connection, and gets Don to score it. Billy must have known he had a hit on his hands, and wanted a big name to put on the composer credit. Ellis does an entire, half hour score for the movie. Not a lot of this music made it into the film: evidently, Billy wanted to have a gritty film with lots of street noises, and, tastefully edited Don's score to bare bones. It works in the movie, but a lot of really good music never saw the light of day.