I have to say, I'm a massive fan of the Varese club but the last two sets of releases (and most
of the one previous to those as well) were really disappointing. I was hoping for them to plumb
the depths of the label for some tasty back catalogue that had previously seen only an LP
release but (sigh) no. Maybe they have run out. I'm just not into releases prior to about 1968
though so maybe that's it?.... and I must say Intrada have seriously rocked the soundtrack
world with their seemingly unstoppable efforts from the past year!

wingrove, February 25, 2008; 4:49 AM

I was thinking the same thing: while I don't mind picking up some classics, it looks like they've sold the rights to all their 80s and 90s scores to La La Land or someone.

That said, I went North and not South:
Viva Zapata / The 13th Letter
and two older Club titles also by Alex North:
The Agony and the Ecstasy DE
The Long, Hot Summer / The Sanctury

Still waiting for the "WOW! Gotta get THAT!" VCL release.



manyon, February 25, 2008; 5:18 AM

i thought there was supposed to be 7 releases..... nothing here that grabs me at all

Salem_Saberhagen400, February 25, 2008; 5:23 AM

It's 7 discs, rather than 7 titles (North and South is a 4-CD set).


manyon, February 25, 2008; 5:25 AM

what a disspointment!!!

no Goldsmith
no Horner
no Williams
no Silvestri
no Kamen
no Poledouris

come on varese, these are the composers we are waiting for!!!

red.bprd, February 25, 2008; 5:33 AM

Ah, yes, 7 disks - had a blonde moment there, which, considering i'm not blonde is not good :-/

Salem_Saberhagen400, February 25, 2008; 5:49 AM

Yes indeed, who are these Bernstein, North, Newman guys ? Anyone ever heard of these composers ? Where are they from ? Any known score some of them might have done ?

42zaphod, February 25, 2008; 7:24 AM

Who are these composers? You're kidding I hope. Just in case you're not kidding...

Elmer Bernstein: Ghost Busters, The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, True Grit just to name a few you may have heard about.

Bill Conti: Karate Kid film series, For Your Eyes Only (007), Rocky series and Broadcast News are all his and more.

David Newman, member of the famous Newman family of composers (Alfred, Lionel, Thomas, & Randy). He composed Hoffa, Ice Age, Affair of the Necklace, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and others.

Alex North: Agony and the Ecstasy, Dragonslayer, Devil's Brigade, Cleopatra, The Long Hot Summer, The Misfits, Spartacus, Desiree are his works and the list goes on.

I hope you may some day get a chance to at least hear some of these scores to know the talent of these composers and learn of their fame. Checkout the filmo/discography of each on this site. I'm serious.



hpmoorejr, February 25, 2008; 11:11 AM

To me, magic would be the scores for "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" (1976) Jaime Mendoza Nava and "The Hills Have Eyes" (1976) Don Peake.

Read somewhere awhile back that Varese Sarabande didn't keep the copyrights of much of their older releases and are unable to do a CD production for that reason. I try to steer clear of all the legalities. That's for someone else to worry about, not me.

victoravalentine, February 25, 2008; 11:48 AM

Of course I was kidding. But I thought that the guy who wrote

"come on varese, these are the composers we are waiting for!!! "

was kidding too.

Obviously he didn't.

As far as I'm concerned composers don't get any better than Elmer Bernstein.

42zaphod, February 25, 2008; 3:04 PM

I wasn't kidding. these are my composers. I never liked bernstein, north, rosza, herman. just not my kindred.

goldsmith, horner, williams, arnold, beltrami, tyler, folk - these are my guys.

like I use to say - tastes differ

take care!

red.bprd, February 25, 2008; 3:17 PM

Well, you said "we", not "I". But otherwise you are right sir ! Tastes differ. But when looking on the past Varese club releases, you can see that these composers that you don't like prevail.

42zaphod, February 25, 2008; 4:07 PM

Different strokes for different folks...

Excellent releases!

serifiot, February 26, 2008; 7:10 PM

You've got to be kidding Matilda is one of the best score they've released in ages - and many feel the same way as me - only 70 left in stock as I type, so hurry!

jmreed, March 20, 2008; 6:04 PM