I am wondering if there are any Henry Mancini scores set for release this year. I'm still hoping for an expanded "The Great Race" if possible. The Mancini estate may be a source.
Was there not talk of an expanded The Pink Panther (1963) some years ago? I thought I read about that in a post!? It was announced at the same time as the Mancini CD box and the pink vinyl of The Pink Panther.
Did I misunderstand?
I would really love a complete The Pink Panther, with the film version of "It had Better be Tonight" as the cue for the skiing scenes.
Was there not talk of an expanded The Pink Panther (1963) some years ago? I thought I read about that in a post!? It was announced at the same time as the Mancini CD box and the pink vinyl of The Pink Panther.
Did I misunderstand?
I would really love a complete The Pink Panther, with the film version of "It had Better be Tonight" as the cue for the skiing scenes.
That "expanded release" talk was pretty much of a red herring. THE PINK PANTHER was "expanded" for its release in the November 2014 11-CD box set "Henry Mancini: The Classic Soundtrack Collection." Two bonus tracks were added:
1. Meglio Stasera (It Had Better Be Tonight) – Fran Jeffries (from the MGM film “The Pink Panther”) 2. The Pink Panther – James Galway & The National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Henry Mancini (from the album "James Galway & Henry Mancini: In the Pink" [RCA RCD1-5315, 1984])
So, it seems as if the track you most want is on there. You just have to buy the whole box set to get it.
I would love "A Shot in the Dark" but I believe it is lost. Or at least has not yet been found.
Indeed the original tracks from "A Shot In the Dark" have not been located. And unlike most of Mancini's 1960's scores, there was no full-album LP release of "A Shot In the Dark."
Two tracks from "A Shot In the Dark" (likely re-recorded) were released on an RCA Victor 45 (No. 47-8381) at the time of the film's release. These later re-appeared on a 1967 Mancini album entitled "Mancini Plays Mancini (and Other Composers)" [ RCA Camden -- LP: CAS-2158 / CD: 6100].
The theme from "A Shot In the Dark" also appears on the 1988 CD for "Trail of the Pink Panther" ( EMI Manhattan CDP 7 90627 2).
Really? kind of doubt that since I remember reading somewhere fairly recently that the material is actually available... only it is owned by one of the studios that do not cooperate with Quartet... therefore it's up to Intrada or some other US based label to do it...
I may be the only person alive who'd love a release of his "Prisoner of Zenda."
Likewise - I may be the only person who'd love a new edition of NIGHTWING. The Varese CD was a welcome addition to my collection, but the sound quality wasn't ideal and it's missing the big action cue from the ending.
La-La Land Records posted this on their face book page at the end of 2014:
Jerry, Michael, John and James will be finding their ways back into our catalog in the New Year along with some fresh faces as well. Some of you doubting THOMAS’ may reMARK that this passage is WAXing poetically on upcoming titles, but we are quite SHORE and BARRY confident of our slate of releases coming out in 2015…Mancini.
So it seems that a Mancini score was planned for 2015, which I guess must be coming out this year now?
I'd go for Zenda in a heartbeat too. Apparently, so far at least, I'm the only one pining for Little Miss Marker.
I don't remember a lot of music in "Marker". It might make a good pairing with "W.C. Fields and Me" without the dialogue. Both were Universal films. "Girl from Petrovka" was also.
The Great Waldo Pepper (1975). Not a lot of music, but very nice, there was a short MCA LP. When Intrada was releasing a lot of UMG albums I was hoping that this would be released as a two-fer with another album, but no release so far.
A lot has happened during the last 15 years, but there may still be some 1950s stuff in the Universal vaults (including a few odds and ends that appeared on LP, but never on CD), some scores that did not get the RCA album treatment and literally TONS of stuff from the post-RCA period.
It's about time for some Mancini Frenzy. Excluding recent Quartet reissues of Santa and Sunflower, it's been quite a while since the last one (Prisoner of Zenda, probably). With Kritzerland's days of releasing previously unavailable film music long over and focusing on reissues and theatre these days, hopefully something is on at least Intrada's list or maybe more from LLL & Universal through the Heritage series...