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The Vanishing Found - Varese Sarabande CD Club announces its limited Club Releases for Spring

On Monday, Varese Sarabande Records announced their Spring CD Club editions, proffering a quartet of rare and previously unreleased soundtracks in limited editions ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 copies. 

Not surprisingly, a Jerry Goldsmith score headlines Varese’s consist this season.  Heading the pack with a 3,000 copy edition is the first ever legit release of Goldsmith’s score for The Vanishing, George Sluizer’s 1993 psychological thriller, remade from a 1988 Dutch film called Spoorloos, about a young woman (Sandra Bullock) who mysteriously vanishes, sending her boyfriend (Kiefer Sutherland) on a years-long quest to find her, eventually confronting the kidnapper (Jeff Bridges). Goldsmith’s was one of the composer’s very rare ‘90s scores to go without an album release. “The score is both intense and beautiful, while steeped in psychological intrigue,” notes Varese in their online announcement. “It is stylistically similar to the composer’s brilliant work on Basic Instinct but is as unique as ever for Goldsmith and includes a rare exploration in jazz as the composer wraps up his score with a jazz trio.”  A few cues from The Vanishing were premiered on Varese’s expensive 2004 boxed set, Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox. For this CD, however, the entire 65 minute score was remixed from the original multi-track tapes, presenting a definitive new look at Goldsmith’s overlooked music for this film.

Announced at the 2,500-copy category is a 4-CD set containing Bill Conti’s unreleased scores for each of the Karate Kid movies.  Conti’s score for 1984’s The Karate Kid is another of the quintessential scores from the 80s that everyone remembers. It is also a score that left film music fans of the time absolutely bewildered that such a famous score for such a successful film could go unreleased. “Conti’s score is, at turns, charming, beautiful, pensive and powerful,” notes Varese. “It hits all the right notes and features none other than Georges Zamfir himself on pan flute, representing the mystic side of Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi.”  Conti returned for The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) with an even bigger score, expanding on his original themes and creating new ones, as he did in 1989’s Part III. With a new producer and director, Conti returned to conclude his work on the franchise in 1994 with The Next Karate Kid.  “Conti’s music for the series is absolutely stunning,” notes Varese Sarabande in their announcement of the release. “Unbelievably, not one of the four scores has ever been released before. In the spirit of ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ we decided to rescue not just Conti’s original classic but to prepare the definitive Karate Kid box set to redress the entire situation.”  

Also included in their quartet of new releases are premiere releases of George Fenton’s charming and heartfelt score for 1987’s 84 Charing Cross Road, a romantic drama starring Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, and Judi Dench (limited to only 1,000 copies); and Dave Grusin’s jazz-infused score for Author! Author! – Arthur Hiller’s 1982 comedy-drama about a Broadway playwright Ivan Travalian (Al Pacino) and the challenges of his new play, his leading lady, and his dallying wife.  This CD is limited to 2,000 copies. Legendary pianist/jazz artists/film composer George Grusin, noted for his much-loved scores for On Golden Pond, My Bodyguard, Tootsie and The Goonies, Grusin’s absence from the scoring stage has been one of the more lamentable aspects of modern film music.  His pop-infused score for Author! Author! “is warm and inviting and features infectious melodies that are always eminently comfortable and easy to love. Dave Grusin suffered along with everyone else during the 1980s, when it came to score album releases, and so we are particularly thrilled to present Author! Author, just in time for a new DVD release of the film, coming in April.”  Grusin’s score for Author! Author! was actually a rescore job, and as a very special bonus, the CD includes the unused and, in fact, unheard original score for the film by none other than Johnny Mandel.  “Two legendary jazz composers both scoring the same film,” notes Varese. “Mandel’s is a darker take on the story - a beautiful work, the very existence of which is a revelation.” 

Each of these releases can be ordered from Varese Sarabande’s web site (if sold out, try their German distributor, www.colosseum.de or any of the online markets listed in our weekly Soundtrax columns).

Most of the 1,000-copy CD Clubs releases have sold out within days of the announcement.  CD’s will ship on March 26^th.