In honor of the 85th anniversary of Jerry Goldsmith's birth, the Varese Sarabande CD Club is releasing one the composer's few remaning "Holy Grail" unreleased scores - director John Huston's twisty 1963 mystery THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER, starring George C. Scott, Kirk Douglas and a roster of top-stars in prosthetic makeup-laden cameos (in a kind of forerunner to Cloud Atlas - both films even feature the explosion of a passenger jet) including Tony Curtis, Burt Lanaster, Robert Mitchum and Frank Sinatra (Video Watchdog's March 2004 issue had a memorable interview with actor Jan Merlin, who revealed just how little those big name stars actually appeared in the Bud Westmore/John Chambers makeups in Adrian Messenger). On a personal note, this was one of the first Goldsmith scores to become a favorite of mine, and I've wanted a soundtrack release since roughly 1977, so for me this is a true soundtrack Holy Grail.

The latest limited edition CD from the label features the score for the period fantasy THE ADVENTURER: THE CURSE OF THE MIDAS BOX, starring Aneurin Barnard, Michael Sheen, Lena Headey and Sam Neill, which received a limited theatrical release earlier this year. The score was composed by Fernando Velazquez (The Impossible, Mama, The Orphanage) and the CD is limited to 1000 units. Both discs are expected to begin shipping the week of February 24th, but as per last December's CD Club releases, Varese has announced that shoppers will be charged for the full amount within days of their order even if the discs do not ship until weeks later.

Next week's new releases from Intrada are the first-ever release of Maurice Jarre's score for the 1988 drama DISTANT THUNDER, with John Lithgow as a traumatized Vietnam War vet and Ralph Macchio as his estranged son, and a box-set featuring the music from six LPs Elmer Bernstein recorded for the Ava label in the 1960s -- BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL, THE CARETAKERS, THE CARPETBAGGERS, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and MOVIE & TV THEMES COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY ELMER BERNSTEIN.

GNP Crescendo is releasing an expanded version of Dennis McCarthy's score for Star Trek: The Next Generation's premiere episode, ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT, paired with McCarthy's previously unreleased score for the first season episode THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM.

On Thursday, February 27th at UCLA's Royce Hall, the Academy will present an OSCAR CONCERT featuring an 80-piece orchestra performing suites from the five nominated scores -- The Book Thief, Gravity, Her, Philomena and Saving Mr. Banks, currently planned to be conducted by their composers -- plus performances of the four nominated songs.

Kritzerland is re-releasing a CD titled JEEPERS CREEPERS: GREAT SONGS FROM HORROR FILMS, with new recordings of such classic horror-related songs as "The Blob," "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" and "Who Killed Teddy Bear."

CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Anton - Daniel Tjernberg, Mikael Tjernberg - Intermezzo
Demetrius and the Gladiators - Franz Waxman - Kritzerland
Escape from L.A. - John Carpenter, Shirley Walker - La-La Land
Firefly: Music for Solo Piano - Greg Edmonson - Buysoundtrax
Flesh + Blood - Basil Poledouris - La-La Land
Knights of Badassdom - Bear McCreary - Sparks & Shadows
The Lego Movie - Mark Mothersbaugh - Watertower
Pit and the Pendulum - Richard Band - Perseverance
A Winter's Tale - Hans Zimmer, Rupert Gregson-Williams - Watertower

IN THEATERS TODAY

About Last Night - Marcus Miller - Song CD due March 7 on Columbia
Adult World - BC Smith
Date and Switch - Eric D. Johnson
Down and Dangerous - Deklun
Easy Money: Hard to Kill - Jon Ekstrand
Endless Love - Christophe Beck
Girl on a Bicycle - Craig Richey
The Returned - Jonathan Goldsmith
RoboCop - Pedro Bromfman - Score CD on Sony
A Stranger in Paradise - Keith Ruggiero
Visitors - Philip Glass - Score CD on Orange Mountain
Winter’s Tale - Hans Zimmer, Rupert Gregson-Williams - Score CD on Watertower

COMING SOON

February 18
Distant Thunder - Maurice Jarre - Intrada Special Collection
Elmer Bernstein collection - Elmer Bernstein - Intrada Special Collection
Roswell/Communion (re-recordings) - Elliot Goldenthal, Eric Clapton - Buysoundtrax
The Runner Stumbles - Ernest Gold - Buysoundtrax
Sharky's Machine - various - Varese Sarabande
That Awkward Moment - David Torn - Varese Sarabande
Tim's Vermeer - Conrad Pope - Milan
February 25
The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box - Fernando Velazquez - Varese Sarabande
Atlantis: The Last Days of Kaptara - Peter Bateman - MovieScore Media/Kronos
The List of Adrian Messenger - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Philomena - Alexandre Desplat - Decca
Pompeii - Clinton Shorter - Milan
The Thirteenth Tale - Benjamin Wallfisch - MovieScore Media/Kronos
Welcome to the Jungle - Karl Presusser - MovieScore Media/Kronos
March 4
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat - ABKCO
Mr. Peabody & Sherman - Danny Elfman - Relativity Music
Non-Stop - John Ottman - Varese Sarabande
300: Rise of an Empire - Junkie XL - Watertower
March 11
After the Dark - Nicholas O'Toole, Jonathan Korn - Varese Sarabande
Enemy - Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans - Milan
Flash Gordon Vol. 1 - Michael Picton - Perseverance
The Right King of Wrong - Rachel Portman - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
An Adventure in Space and Time - Edmund Butt - Silva
Agguato Sul Bosforo - Stelvio Cipriani - GDM
Beauty and the Beast - Pierre Adenot - Quartet
Delirious - Cliff Eidelman - Quartet
The Doll Squad - Nicholas Carras - Monstrous Movie Music
Fin De Semana Al Desnudo - Anton Garcia Abril - Quartet
Ladyhawke - Andrew Powell - La-La Land
Patrick - Pino Donaggio - Quartet
Secret Sharer/Tsotsi - Guy Farley - Caldera
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint/The Arsenal of Freedom - Dennis McCarthy - GNP Crescendo
Three Days (of Hamlet) - Jonathan Beard - Buysoundtrax
A Time of Destiny - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
Una Vita Venduta - Ennio Morricone - GDM

THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY

February 14 - Werner Heymann born (1886)
February 14 - Elliot Lawrence born (1925)
February 14 - Ken Thorne begins recording his score for Superman III (1983)
February 15 - Georges Auric born (1899)
February 15 - Miklos Rozsa records his replacement score for Crest of the Wave (1954)
February 16 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for King of Kings (1961)
February 17 - Ron Goodwin born (1925)
February 17 - Alfred Newman died (1970)
February 17 - Jerry Fielding died (1980)
February 18 - Lalo Schifrin begins recording his score for Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
February 18 - Nathaniel Shilkret died (1982)
February 19 - Charles Bernstein begins recording his score for Gator (1976)
February 19 - Marvin Hamlisch begins recording his score for I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)
February 20 - William Lava died (1971)
February 20 - Recording sessions begin on Jerry Goldsmith's score for Alien (1979)

DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?

THE LEGO MOVIE - Mark Mothersbaugh

"The overall sensation (enhanced by Mark Mothersbaugh’s playful electronic score) is one of being whisked from one trippy Lego environment to the next -- the trippiest of all being Unikitty’s homeland, a conflict-free pastel Shangri-La known, in what I’m going to wager will be the only Aristophanes reference in a toy-based movie this year, as 'Cloud-Cuckoo Land.'"

Dana Stevens, Slate.com

"Indeed, 'Everything Is Awesome,' as the deliberately idiotic and insanely catchy theme song to 'The LEGO Movie' puts it. ('Blue skies, bouncy springs/ We just named you awesome things/ A Nobel Prize, a piece of string/ You know what’s awesome? Everything!') Written (in the non-LEGO universe) by Devo founder Mark Mothersbaugh and performed by pop duo Tegan and Sara with the Lonely Island, it’s the only song ever played on the only radio station anyone listens to in the all-LEGO world of Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), an anonymous LEGO figurine and construction worker whose only concern is to follow instructions. As a sinister LEGO law-enforcement robot intones with the song playing at a tense juncture, 'That is my jam.' ('That is also my jam,' responds his partner, delivering a LEGO-claw fist-bump.)"

Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.

Screenings of older films, at the following L.A. movie theaters: AMPAS, American Cinematheque: Aero, American Cinematheque: Egyptian, LACMA, New Beverly, Nuart, Silent Movie Theater and UCLA.

February 14
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (Henry Mancini) [Cinematheque: Aero]
CASABLANCA (Max Steiner) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin) [Silent Movie Theater]
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Jon Brion) [Silent Movie Theater]
HAROLD AND MAUDE (Cat Stevens) [Nuart]
MEN IN HER LIFE, LOVER COME BACK [UCLA]

February 15
ANNIE HALL [Silent Movie Theater]
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
AT BERKELEY [Cinematheque: Aero]
CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin) [Silent Movie Theater]
WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE [UCLA]

February 16
ANNIE HALL [Silent Movie Theater]
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (John Barry), NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (Michel Legrand) [New Beverly]
SUNRISE [Cinematheque: Aero]
WHISPER OF THE HEART (Yuji Nomi), ONLY YESTERDAY (Katsu Hoji) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
YE-ZAI, PINOY SUNDAY (Yeo-Jen Tsai) [UCLA]

February 17
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (John Barry), NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (Michel Legrand) [New Beverly]
RUSHMORE (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Silent Movie Theater]

February 18
CASINO [Arclight Hollywood]
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (John Barry), NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (Michel Legrand) [New Beverly]
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Elmer Bernstein) [LACMA]
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (John Williams) [Silent Movie Theater]

February 19
ED WOOD (Howard Shore) [Arclight Hollywood]
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (Mark Mothersbaugh) [New Beverly]

February 20
AIRPORT (Alfred Newman), AIRPORT 1975 (John Cacavas) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
BAND OF OUTSIDERS (Michel Legrand), VIVRE SA VIE (Michel Legrand) [Cinematheque: Aero]
BLUE VELVET (Angelo Badalamenti) [Arclight Hollywood]
EUROTRIP (James L. Venable) [Arclight Hollywood]

February 21
BAD TIMING (Richard Hartley) [Silent Movie Theater]
BILLY BUDD (Antony Hopkins) [Cinematheque: Aero]
STARSHIP TROOPERS (Basil Poledouris [Silent Movie Theater]
STRANGE IMPERSONATION, THE LAST FRONTIER (Leigh Harline) [UCLA]
TWO FOR THE ROAD (Henry Mancini) [Silent Movie Theater]

February 22
BREATHLESS (Marital Solal), LE PETIT SOLDAT (Maurice Leroux) [Cinematheque: Aero]
FOOTLIGHT PARADE [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE (Joe Hisaishi), PORCO ROSSO (Joe Hisaishi) [Egyptian]
TRICK (David Friedman) [UCLA]
TWO FOR THE ROAD (Henry Mancini) [Silent Movie Theater]
WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE II: RAINBOW BRIDGE [UCLA]

February 23
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) [UCLA]
ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES (Edward Ward), JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (Bernard Herrmann) [New Beverly]
GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (Michio Mamiya), OCEAN WAVES (Shigeru Nagata) [Cinematheque: Egyptian]
OUR NEIGHBORS (Lin Li), HOME SWEET HOME (Chia Chang Liu) [UCLA]
TWO FOR THE ROAD (Henry Mancini) [Silent Movie Theater]
WEEKEND (Antoine Duhamel), LA CHINOISE [Cinematheque: Aero]