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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALEPH RECORDS TO RELEASE ENTER THE DRAGON: EXTENDED EDITION SOUNDTRACK
COMPOSED BY LALO SCHIFRIN
Featuring 56 Minutes of Music, Much of It Previously Unavailable In Any Format
(October 27, 2014 – Los Angeles, CA) Aleph Records is proud to release the ENTER THE DRAGON: EXTENDED EDITION soundtrack on CD November 11, 2014. The album features 56 minutes of Lalo Schifrin’s original score, much of it previously unavailable in any format.
"It was a challenge to take music from the Orient – not the stereotypical Fu Manchu ideas that Hollywood had about Chinese music, but something more authentic – and do it bigger than life, as Ennio Morricone had in the spaghetti westerns," said Schifrin.
ENTER THE DRAGON was the first martial arts film produced by Americans and would be actor Bruce Lee’s final film. Both the film and Schifrin’s score have earned cult followings in the 40 years since the initial release. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 2004.
But to a certain generation, it is Schifrin’s score for ENTER THE DRAGON that set the standard. Director Brett Ratner (who would go on to hire Schifrin to score his RUSH HOUR trilogy) said “ENTER THE DRAGON is one of my favorite movies, but its one of my favorite movies for one main reason: that it’s the best score I have ever heard in any movie,” (KCRW interview, October 26, 2011).
Kung Fu culture has proven to be a major influence on the development of hiphop culture, movies and music – and both the film and Lalo’s score are still recognized as major influencers. Even as recently as 2013, the group Blue Scholars released a song called “Lalo Schifrin”, boasting the lyric “I compose fight music like Lalo Schifrin/Me and Bruce Lee, not so different.”
Recruited by an intelligence agency, outstanding martial arts student Bruce Lee participates in a brutal karate tournament hosted by the evil Han (Kien Shih). Along with champions Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly), he uncovers Han's white slavery and drug trafficking ring located on a secret island fortress. In the exciting climax, hundreds of freed prisoners fight in an epic battle with Lee and Han locked in a deadly duel.
"Lee told me that there was a 2,000-year tradition in martial arts," Schifrin described his first meeting with the film’s star Bruce Lee. "He had to learn all of the rules in order to break them. Right away, I found we had that in common: I studied classical music, centuries of European classical tradition, rules and regulations, things that you can and cannot do. And then we break all the rules."
Track Listing:
• Prologue - The First Fight 2:36
• Main Titles 2:20
• Su-Lin (The Monk) 4:56
• Sampans and Flashbacks 6:19
• Han’s Island 2:54
• The Banquet 3:02
• Headset Jazz 2:10
• The Gentle Softness 2:40
• Into The Night 3:43
• Goodbye Oharra 1:54
• Bamboo Birdcage 2:32
• Han’s Cruelty 3:09
• The Human Fly 3:34
• The Big Battle 4:47
• Broken Mirrors 5:54
• End Titles 1:06
• Theme From Enter The Dragon 2:23
• Main Titles (Alternate) 3:17
Aleph Records presents the ENTER THE DRAGON: EXTENDED EDITION, available on CD on November 11, 2014.
ABOUT LALO SCHIFRIN
Lalo Schifrin is a true Renaissance man. As a pianist, composer and conductor, he is equally at home conducting a symphony orchestra, performing at an international jazz festival, scoring a film or television show, or creating works for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and even The Sultan of Oman.
As a young man in his native Argentina, Lalo Schifrin received classical training in music, and also studied law. He came from a musical family, and his father, Luis Schifrin, was the concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires at the Teatro Colon. Lalo Schifrin continued his formal music education at the Paris Conservatory during the early 1950’s. Simultaneously, he became a professional jazz pianist, composer and arranger, playing and recording in Europe.
When Schifrin returned to Buenos Aires in the mid 1950’s, he formed his own big concert band. It was during a performance of this band that Dizzy Gillespie heard Schifrin play and asked him to become his pianist and arranger. In 1958, Schifrin moved to the United States and thus began a remarkable career.
To date, Lalo Schifrin has written over 100 film and television scores including Mission Impossible, Mannix, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, The Cincinnati Kid, Amityville Horror, four of the Dirty Harry films, and more recently Abominable and the Rush Hour trilogy. Lalo Schifrin has now won five Grammys® (twenty-two nominations), one Cable ACE Award, and six Academy Award® nominations. His longtime involvement in both the jazz and symphonic worlds came together in 1993 as pianist and conductor for his on-going series of “Jazz Meets the Symphony” recordings.
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For more information contact cinemediapromo@yahoo.com, or @cinemediapromo on Twitter
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I thought it was pretty clear that it was the original: basically a reissue of the earlier expanded CD but perhaps re-mastered and with the album track "Theme from Enter The Dragon" added.
As an owner of the first CD release I probably don't need this, but damn it, I just love this score so much I might have to get this edition anyway.
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If you count the Special Edition DVD with its Isolated Score "everything" was available before and for some tracks there are Album and Film Versions that are somewhat different like Headset Jazz or Sampans which could have been added as Bonus Tracks for a "more" complete package!
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I thought it was pretty clear that it was the original: basically a reissue of the earlier expanded CD but perhaps re-mastered and with the album track "Theme from Enter The Dragon" added. As an owner of the first CD release I probably don't need this, but damn it, I just love this score so much I might have to get this edition anyway.
Stephen, I've got the CD that came out in the early 2000's as part of deluxe VHS/LaserDisc box sets. I was given the CD by a friend who bought the VHS. Is this the expanded version you've got?
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Think I'll pick this up along with The Day The Earth Stood Still.
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The difference is that they've now included the "album version" of the main title, so now you no longer have the have the "album version" CD to have that.
I believe they also said its remastered.
Other than that, yes, the same.
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Posted: |
Sep 12, 2015 - 5:25 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Here's a familiar story - I got the LP when it first came out and so the news of the previous expanded releases etc kind of washed over me. I hadn't even heard the LP for 25 years, but like most early soundtrack aquisitions, every note is ingrained in my brain.
Anyway, in my recent reappraisal of Lalo's body of work I thought "what the heck" and I ordered this. Came through the other day with a few other things and... I don't know if I'm breathing in fumes or something, but it's absolutely amazing. I can hardly work up enthusiasm for anything at my age but I'm really enjoying my soundtracks again lately, especially the ones as great as this.
So I'm not really saying anything new about ENTER THE DRAGON. I just wanted to transmit a bit of positive vibes. For me, this is just about the perfect soundtrack, and from Lalo at the height of his considerable powers. It's like David Shire's THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 - when it's finished you want to play it again. That may seem strange, because at nearly an hour you'd think that ENTER THE DRAGON would wear out its welcome. For some it might. Yes, the old LP was mean and lean, but I really love the balance of the extended tracks with the additional more moody material on this. And there's some helluva great drumming going on! Absolutely love the jazz drum solo in "The Big Battle". It's reminding me of something else, perhaps by Roy Budd? Does THE BLACK WINDMILL have a madly energetic drum solo in one of its tracks? Whatever, ENTER THE DRAGON is brilliant.
I think I asked this question about THE AMITYVILLE HORROR yesterday, but today I'm asking it about DRAGON. Was the old LP the original soundtrack, or was it a re-recording done around the same time? As I said at the start of this rabbit, I have every note of the LP stuck in my Neanderthal head, even though I haven't heard it for 25 years. I can hear when the tracks have been augmented, such as in "Sampans", which now includes the flashbacks interspersed as in the film. But the material which WAS on the old LP sounds pretty damn similar, if not exactly the same. I think what I'm hearing as slightly different may be just the result of different sonics, because I'm hearing much more nuances now, and the balance seems new.
Anyway, I'm so glad that I've still got a wish list longer than my arm, because it means I'll be getting stuff from old films for the rest of my life and still not have time to hear everything before I die. That's actually GOOD news to me!
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Posted: |
Sep 13, 2015 - 6:30 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Man, this sure sounds like Rush Hour!! 
Oh, well played Kev!
I know that RUSH HOUR has been compared to ENTER THE DRAGON - it's the "updated" which put me off, so I never bothered with the CD. Lalo has expanded his musical horizons constantly, and I stopped in about '79. I think that's one up to him, but maybe not.
But your post made me do a bit of exploring. I actually listened to some RUSH HOUR on YouTube, plus there are sound clips up at SoundtrackCollector. As I feared, on the surface it's like the difference between hearing the raw, lean sound of DIRTY HARRY or MAGNUM FORCE and something like the deadly drum-machine dominated SUDDEN IMPACT.
I even went on to hear some bits of RUSH HOUR 2 and 3. Some of the bits I heard were actually pretty good. My general impression though is that Lalo is using a heavier symphonic style, which sounds to me slightly generic and routine. But I do like some of the little melodic modulations in the themes. But it's still no ENTER THE DRAGON. Oh Lalo, why did you have to change with the times?
Signed,
OnyaBirri
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I seem to recall Brett Ratner definitely wanted an Enter the Dragon feel; you can tell Lalo tried to recreate the feeling in the music. I don't think it was anywhere near as compelling as the original, but it was nice to revisit that style.
As Onya states, the scores got more 'symphonic' and got rather less interesting IMO.
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As Onya states, the scores got more 'symphonic' and got rather less interesting IMO.
Simon, I didn't even know that Onya wrote that. He's only been on holiday here for a day and has already commandeered the computer and the fridge. Anyway, doesn't matter. I agree with what he posted.
I re-read your post, Graham 
And undoubtedly he would have said that...
(I played Lalo's F/X2 the other day. Very eighties style, much 'smoother' sound than I would wish for from Lalo.
But not as bad as Serial which was very bland...
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