La La Land Records Lethal Weapon Complete Soundtrack Collection Released

The 80s was full of buddy cop movies, and one of the finest is Lethal Weapon.  It was 1987 when Mel Gibson and Danny Glover gave us the hilarious and action packed team that eventually lasted another 3 sequels.

A big part of these movies were the soundtrack scores by Michael Kamen.  Orchestra heavy but with plenty of Jazzy themes and driven by the distinctive saxaphone sound, it was a classic and memorable set of soundtrack scores.

The classic Michael Kamen scores for all four of the Lethal Weapon movies are now being released in one collection by La La Land Records as part of an 8 CD boxset.  This is the first time all the scores in their almost complete form have been released, and a must have for any Michael Kamen score collectors.

You can check out more here:

http://www.lalalandrecords.com/LethalWeapon.html


The La La Land description is as follows.

(8-CD BOX SET) LIMTED EDITION OF 3000 UNITS
STARTS SHIPPING DEC 5th

La-La Land Records, Warner Bros. and WEA celebrate Warner Bros.' 90th Anniversary, with the LETHAL WEAPON SOUNDTRACK COLLECTION - an 8-CD BOX SET featuring Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, and David Sanborn's iconic film scores from all four LETHAL WEAPON films. Each LETHAL WEAPON score is contained in its own 2-CD jewel case, and all four scores, along with a 40-Page booklet, are housed in an attractive slip case.

Finally, some of the greatest action film music ever composed — from the most celebrated cop-action saga of all time — is presented here in a deluxe presentation worthy of their legacy. The scores to LETHAL WEAPON 1-3 have been greatly expanded beyond their original soundtrack album presentations (the original soundtrack assemblies are remastered and presented as well.) and the score from LETHAL WEAPON 4 makes its world premiere with this set. A bounty of previously unreleased score music is featured here, literally hours worth, along with bonus score tracks and knockout songs from the likes of Sting, Elton John, George Harrison, The Beach Boys and more — not to mention the Bobby Helms rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock," which opens the original LETHAL WEAPON!

Produced by Neil S. Bulk and MV Gerhard and mastered by James Nelson from WB vault materials, this amazing release, limited to 3000 Units, features a 40 Page booklet with exclusive liners by film music writer Jeff Bond, with new comments from director Richard Donner, and explosive art design by Jim Titus. Once you dig into this sensational set, we know you'll agree with us when it comes to Michael Kamen and LETHAL WEAPON, you'll never get "too old for this sh#*!"

Days Of Thunder Score Release - La La Land Records Limited Edition - Hans Zimmer

If any of you can remember the Hans Zimmer of the late 80s, early 90s, then you will surely recognise his score for the Tony Scott racing action masterpiece from 1990.

Starring Tom Cruise, and from the Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson team, this was a great movie with those distinctive visuals that only Tony Scott could deliver.

Apparently, Days Of Thunder was most likely going to be a third team up between Tony Scott and Harold Faltermeyer (having already done Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop 2), but by this time, Faltermeyer was moving out of Hollywood and back to Germany.

It would have been interesting to have seen what Faltermeyer would have done with the score, with most likely a similar type to the Top Gun music he created, along with some memorable theme songs.

Nevertheless, Hans Zimmer, fresh from Rain Main and Black Rain was the man given the task of scoring the visuals on this movie, and he delivered everything perfectly.

Frenetic, energetic, and plenty of action cues, this is a worthy score from the early Zimmer period of scoring.
This was when Zimmer was at his best, pulsating synthesizers, orchestra hits, wild guitars and the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure.

This score is one of the blueprints for the next decade or so of scores during the 1990s, although some may argue Mark Mancina is the one who did just as much (Bad Boys, Speed).

The title track "Last Note Of Freedom" is a great song, written by Hans Zimmer and Billy Idol of all people and performed by David Coverdale (Whitesnaker lead singer).  This is a great track, starting off slow, and eventually ending in a fast guitar driven finish, much like the movie itself, mirroring the frenetic action of the Daytona racing.

The entire score has been available as an unreleased bootleg for a number of years now, but La La Land have finally released it in official format which is better late than never.

Most of the score is present apart from maybe 1 or 2 cues which if I recall correctly are during the racing scenes. The bootleg score usually has 24 or 26 tracks if I recall correctly.

http://www.hans-zimmer.com/index.php?rub=disco&id=22

This release does include however, some alternate takes and some extra tracks which fill up the CD.

Here is the full release information from La La Land Records.

La-La Land Records and Paramount Pictures present the world premiere release of acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer's (BLACK RAIN, THELMA & LOUISE, THE DARK KNIGHT, MAN OF STEEL) full-throttle original score to the 1990 racing drama feature DAYS OF THUNDER, starring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall, and directed by Tony Scott. After waiting decades, film music enthusiasts have finally been rewarded with a worthy release of this Zimmer classic. Clocking in at over 70 minutes, this CD absolutely roars with the kind of blistering dramatic action scoring that vividly demonstrates how Zimmer became one of filmdom's most important contemporary composers. Rounding out the music presentation are some notable bonus tracks and the song "The Last Note of Freedom," performed by David Cloverdale. Produced by Dan Goldwasser and mastered by Doug Schwartz, this special limited release of 3000 Units was supervised by the film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer and star Tom Cruise. The sleek art design is by Dan Goldwasser, with exclusive, in-depth liner notes by film music writer Tim Greiving, which include feature comments from Bruckheimer and Cruise. This release is dedicated to the late Tony Scott.

TRACK LISTING:

1. Days of Thunder (Main Title) 3:08
2. Rowdy Drives/Who Is This Driver? 2:06
3. Let Me Drive/Cole Drives Rowdy's Car 2:26
4. Car Building 2:05
5. Darlington - Cole Wins 4:47
6. You're Home/Daytona Race/The Crash 3:29
7. The Hospital 2:20
8. Wheelchair Race 0:37
9. Rental Car Race* 3:50
10. Claire Arrives at Her Apartment 1:55
11. Physical Kiss 1:05
12. Cole Blows His Engine 1:10
13. Wheeler/Cole Smashes 2:25
14. Cole at the Laundry/Cole Agrees to Drive Rowdy's Car 2:11
15. Cole and Harry Fight/Harry Talks to Car 2:52
16. Cole in Truck/Pre-Race 3:52
17. The Last Race 10:20
18. "The Last Note of Freedom" 4:57 performed by David Coverdale 
    
    BONUS TRACKS
19. The Hospital (alternate) 2:21
20. Wheelchair Race (alternate) 0:38
21. Claire Arrives at Her Apartment (alternate ending) 1:53
22. Cole Blows His Engine (alternate) 1:12
23. Pre-Race (alternate mix) 2:25
24. Days of Thunder (Main Title) (rock arrangement) 4:59 
    
    TOTAL ALBUM TIME 71:14 

This release is limited to 3000, and you can get your copy direct here:

http://lalalandrecords.com/DaysOfThunder.html

You can also get this release from a number of other online stores also.

Tangerine Dream - Thief Soundtrack Score Re-Release from Perseverance Records

If you love your Tangerine Dream music, then you can get your hands on a remastered version of the Thief Soundtrack Score from Perseverance Records in November 2013.

It is available from here:

http://www.fortytwotradingco.com/thief-deluxe-edition/

Some info here shows its the first release featuring both "Confrontation" and "Beach Scene" for the first time.

The first 50 CDs will signed by Chris Franke and Craig Safan. 

Thief was Michael Mann’s directorial debut. The film featured James Caan as a professional safecracker who agrees to do a job for the mafia. Many consider this film to be James Caan’s best role to date. Also starring Tuesday Weld, James Belushi, Willie Nelson, Dennis Farina and a number of professional thieves as well as police in supporting roles, the film is now a classic of the 1980s.

Scored by Tangerine Dream, it has become one of their signature film scores. Multiple versions of the score have been released over the years. Our release contains both Confrontation and Beach Scene, depending on what previous version of the LP or CD was sold, either of which were left off of previous reissues. In our opinion, this is one of the best electronic scores of the 1980s, and we are happy to bring it back with a limited edition run of 4,000 units. Many missed out on the last reissue, so we are happy to be offering this with the proper track list.

Release Notes:

• Terrific masters provided by Warner Music.
• Extensive liner notes by James Anthony Phillips.
• 9 track release that includes both Beach Scene and Confrontation. This corrects the errors on previous releases where both tracks were never on the same release. Usually it was a release with Confrontation and no Beach Scene or vice versa. Wounded Bird even had issues where the CD was pressed with a different version of the album (either Beach Scene was included or there was a version with Igneous missing).
• Only 4,000 copies will be manufactured. We will not make any more after we reach that total.
• We used the original Elektra LP cover art. We added an additional music credit for Craig Safan’s track, Confrontation.
• As we always state—our deal for this album lasts for a specific period of years. With the market shifting dramatically to digital, it is highly doubtful another label would reissue this recording. Grab it while you can.

Dumb & Dumber To Score - Todd Rundgren or Empire of the Sun?

After 20 Years, they are finally doing a sequel to Dumb & Dumber, the early 1990's comedy classic starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.

The Todd Rundgren score for the original surfaced a few years ago on youtube, with some classic themes in there.  He made quite effective use of his own song "can we still be friends" which he redid as part of the musical score, updating it and melding perfectly with the rest of the score.

Empire of the Sun are a unique band with a unique sound, so it may be possible that they will bring something equally as good as Todd Rundgren did all those years back.

Let's hope they do something great. Dumb & Dumber's music was very distinct, so hopefully Empire of the Sun can do something as good.

Normally, fan requests for sequels are never met, but in this instance, it seems they felt the time was right. 1994 and now 2014, time sure does fly.

Teen Wolf T Shirts - Get Yourself a Stiles T Shirt and don't be a Dicknose

If you love your Teen Wolf (The REAL 1985 one, not the disgraceful modern MTV garbage!) and want to emulate the hero of the movie Stiles, then you must get one of his infamous T Shirts.

The "What are you looking at dicknose" T shirt is a legendary part of motion picture history.

You can get these from a few places online, but only a few have the correct font and lettering done exactly as the original.

This one here from Amazon is a dead on accurate version.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teen-Wolf-shirt-looking-dicknose/dp/B00A3QZOA2

Other Stiles T shirts to look out for include "Life Sucks Then You Die", and "Obnoxious The Movie", along with the hand drawn "Teen Wolf" t shirt that he sells in the movie.  These can be found on ebay amongst other places usually.

Beverly Hills Cop Returns, but now on TV and without Harold Faltermeyer

After almost 19 Years, there is another installment of Beverly Hills Cop, except this time it will be on TV, rather than the big screen.

This is expected to be a continuation of the movie series with Brandon T Jackson as Aaron Foley, the obligatory son of Axel Foley.

Unfortunately, there is no Harold Faltermeyer involved with this, so nobody knows what type of music we will get with this pilot episode.

What people don't realise is that without Harold Faltermeyer's music, Beverly Hills Cop loses a great deal of its success.

Faltermeyer's electro synth work is catchy, memorable and simply evokes a fever of action and comedy like no other.

There seems to be no music for tv shows as in the days of Miami Vice with Jan Hammer and movies like Harold Faltermeyer, so it remains to be seen whether this new continuation will be a flop or simply another nail in the coffin of a vastly underused character.

Axel Foley should have had many more adventures, it seems like this next one may bring more, but who knows what will happen.