Ryko Responses

Compiled by Lukas Kendall

Last Wednesday we finally broke news of Rykodisc's upcoming series of soundtrack reissues to United Artists films. (Go here for the complete information and release slate.) We asked for input from the readers, and here it is:

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Robert Bowd, bbowd@interlog.com

This is great news! And I am glad that you, and your compadres, are directly involved. Of course, my real reason for contacting you is to ask you to lobby for a release of Elmer Bernstein's wonderful Hawaii score.

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Dwight Hartsell, pvtmac@bellsouth.net

Who now owns the rights to Newman's Greatest Story Ever Told? My old LP is a UA release, but I couldn't find it listed in the soundtrack database link. This beautiful score would make a fantastic 2CD release, including all those great Hallelujahs (and minus all the Handel and Verdi stuff that Stevens insisted on)!

I don't know who has the rights to this at the moment. It came out originally on a UA LP, but I see in Osborne's LP price guide that MCA reissued it in the mid-80s, also on LP. If MCA still has the rights, it won't be a part of Ryko's series.

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Paul Conway, pwc@bgg.com

Well that was certainly welcome news today about Ryko. I notice the UA catalog also contains The Knack... and The Whisperers by Barry. Hope you'll suggest these for future releases as well. As it stands, what is upcoming is very impressive.

Jeff Rougvie, director of A&R at Ryko, now plans to do The Knack some time in 1998, as well as Last Tango in Paris (Gato Barbieri).

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Robert Borowski, borowski@earthlink.net

In the words of the late Joe E. Ross: "Ooo! Ooo!" Kewl news about Rykodisc... congratulations...

Is there any chance of a CD of the score to Breakheart Pass coming out of this deal? I've got the old bootleg LP, which I've listened to so often it's practically tissue paper... I'm not quite sure if it belongs to Turner or MGM, but I'll write a letter to either about it's reissue--or issue--if you think it would to any good.

Breakheart Pass is a United Artists film and would be available to Ryko for their series. The problem is that because all previous releases have been bootlegs, the re-use fees to the union orchestra have never been paid, and they're probably pretty considerable. Ryko thus far has concentrated on those titles previously available on vinyl, because once a score is released on LP or CD (legitimately!) the re-use no longer applies.

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Miguel Rosario, mrosario@imail.valpo.k12.in.us

I just read the good news regarding the MGM and Rykodisc deal. It is indeed great. I second your recommendation on a re-issue of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, so feel free to pass that information along with the people you are working with (I hope it helps). I saw the movie as kid and wanted to get the soundtrack. Now as an adult I will be able to afforded the minute I know is out!

I would love a Golden Voyage of Sinbad CD, but I hear now that MGM no longer has any master tapes. That kinda puts a wrench into it.

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Bill Holley, poggles@montrose.net

BRAVO Lukas!!! Great news about the "The Deal." I'm ready for the new releases. I can live with some dialogue and crappy songs as long as the good stuff is forth coming. If your are in a casual conversation with the Ryko people why not descretly suggest a couple like say A Bridge Too Far (Addison) or The Missouri Breaks (Williams). I've been listening and collecting film music for 20 years, this is a great time to be a soundtrack geek.

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John Schuermann, JSchuer416@aol.com

I know you're probably getting tons of these, but here's a request you can pass on to your close buddies at Rykodisc--The Missouri Breaks. Yeah, I know Jeff Bond hates this score, but I think it's quite interesting and original (plus it contains one of John William's most beautiful love themes).

By the way, the LP was mentioned in Stereo Review as one of the best recorded albums of all time (not just soundtrack albums, either) voted as such by one of the country's leading audiophile societies.

I have yet to hear any talk of reissuing either Bridge Too Far or Missouri Breaks, but especially with the latter, a Williams title and, yes, an audiophile recording, it would be nuts for it not to happen.

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Tom DeMary, demary@arlut.utexas.edu

I am glad to see some action on the UA archive. This was THE soundtrack label in the '60s. I'm not too excited by dialog inclusion and the initial selection, but I do want the albums to succeed.

Great Escape and Magnificent Seven have high name recognition, but Intrada already did The Great Escape. The album of Return of the Seven is a studio album of The Magnificent Seven--it bears no resemblence to the music in the film Return of the Seven--they just need to change the name to have a Mag 7 album (of course, I'd love the have the original tracks and am expecting Bernstein to rule with his upcoming Varese recording).

Both of these are currently slated for the next batch after the January releases.

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Adilson José de Aquino, always@uol.com.br

If possible, try to suggest the soundtrack on CD of the movie Grand-Prix (Maurice Jarre) and an official CD from Born Free (John Barry) in the new series of Rykodisc, these two titles are very popular in Brasil. In my store in Brasil, the people always have asked me about these titles.

Unfortunately, these two are MGM Records titles from the '60s and not UA Records titles, so they are not included in this particular deal. See the article from last week on the distinction.

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Richard Ashton, ashton@home.com

Fantastic news about the new MGM discs and a great article you posted. As a John Barry fan I can barely wait to see the Bond soundtracks getting the red carpet treatment--even if we have to wait for the EMI arbitration.

Could you possibly expand on that point for me. I am assuming that EMI/Manhattan has a CD license to the Bond soundtracks as many of them were originally on the now defunct UA label?? The EMI CDs appear to have petered out in that few of them are on the shelves any more. It looks like there are no new additional pressings.

Any news on The Living Daylights CD on Warner? It seems to be impossible to get. Do you know if there are any plans for that puppy to get re-released?

Any chances that the EMI thing will be sorted out in time to coincide with the Christmas release of the new Bond film (perfect timing for a re-release series)?

As I mentioned last week, those titles that are UA films and EMI albums are now caught in arbitration hearings between MGM and EMI, as to who will have ownership of them in the future. If the arbiter sides with MGM, they will certainly be included in the upcoming Ryko series. I know that many of the existing EMI CDs of this material (all Bond scores, Dr. No through Moonraker) are still in record stores; I would assume they are selling the remainders of the existing pressings. It would be pretty much impossible for any of this stuff to come out for Christmas, even if the legal stuff is resolved tomorrow, because of the lead time necessary to get a title into the distribution chain and manufacturing process.

The Living Daylights was licensed to Warner Bros. Records when the film came out in 1987, and I am assuming it is still in Warner's domain as far as any re-release. In other words, it probably won't happen. If it reverts to MGM, then it probably will come out on Ryko, just as Octopussy has reverted from A&M Records to MGM, and it is coming out in a matter of weeks.

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Jim Hollis, JHOLLIS517@aol.com

This is intersting to see the UA stuff back. I am sort of curious on Mad World. This soundtrack was actually a re-recording with a studio orchestra. Reason being that the Los Angeles Philharmonic was contracted with Capitol Records at the time of release (1963 I believe) and for that reason, UA could not release the original studio sessions that were used in the film. Several years ago I was told that even Ernest Gold did not know where the original session tapes were and that the re-recording that has been always been available on LP would have to stand for that reason.

The upcoming CD is also the LP recording. I don't know of the situation recording the existence of the original film tracks. It is very possible they are indeed lost: UA threw out a ton of stuff in the early 1980s.

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Peter Hackman, pjhackman@bsuvc.bsu.edu

I just read your article on the MGM soundtrack deal and I just bought Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on LP but I can't wait to have it on CD. Do you know of any deals as to if they are going to release Bill Conti's awsome score to the 1987 United Artists movie Baby Boom? Conti did a great job on this score and I have always wanted it. Thanks so much!

I don't know of any plans to release this title.

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Those are the responses for now. A lot of good suggestions were made and they will be passed on to Rykodisc. This series is going to be an ongoing thing, so even if the album you want doesn't happen in the first batch of 12 or 15, that doesn't mean it won't happen a year or two down the line.

I should make it clear that I'm certainly not making the decisions what to release! My involvement has been to coordinate the liner notes for most of the CDs, and to consult for Ryko and MGM if there's anything my staff and I can help with. This we are very happy to do, and we are looking forward to the upcoming discs.

Send your ideas and comments today: Lukas@filmscoremonthly.com