Seeing is believing! Quartet Records, in collaboration with Capitol Records and Calash Corporation, proudly presents the premiere release of Henry Mancini's complete score for this 1985 Christmas movie.
The film, directed by Jeannot Szwarc, starred Dudley Moore, David Huddleston and John Lithgow. An ambitious and expensive project produced by Alexander Salkind, it was not the box-office hit it was expected to be.
One of the most important aspects of the film was its soundtrack, for which Salkind hired the great Henry Mancini. The composer was deeply involved in the production, composing more than 85 minutes of original music for the 109-minute film. This soundtrack is surely one of the biggest efforts of his career, written in the same period as Lifeforce and The Great Mouse Detective.
Mancini' score is so beautiful, diverse and emotional, it not strange that it has become the film's most remembered and appreciated feature. Recorded in CTS Studios in London with The London Metropolitan Orchestra, the score also features The Ambrosian Children's Choir performing several charming songs written by Mancini and Leslie Bricusse.
For the original album, released in 1985 by EMI America, Mancini and sound engineer Rod McMaster prepared a program of highlights: 13 tracks lasting only 37 minutes (from an 85-minute score!). Some themes were modified for their album version – with different durations, slightly different mixes or the addition of pop elements. Almost all of Mancini's symphonic effort was missing.
After a long search for all the source material and an effort to bring together the different rights owners (the film was a complicated coproduction), we can now present Mancini's masterful score in its entirety, remixed from 2″ 24-track and ½″ 3-track stereo session masters vaulted in mint condition in Abbey Road Studios, London (where McMaster mixed the EMI disc). In addition to the complete score, it has been great to discover a lot of extra material that Mancini recorded for the film: songs with alternate lyrics, different orchestrations, etc. Courtesy of Capitol Records, we have also included the original 1985 album version, mastered from first generation master tapes stored in the Abbey Road vaults.
This deluxe, 3CD release includes a 32-page full-color booklet with liner notes and track-by-track analysis by Jeff Bond.
Track listing
DISC ONE: THE FILM SCORE
1 Main Title: Every Christmas Eve /
Santa's Theme (4:27)
2 North Star/ Arrival of the Elves (4:07)
3 Santa's New Home (4:14)
4 The Magic Workshop (1:43)
5 Reindeer Stable (1:52)
6 Making Toys (Film Version) (4:01)
7 Season's Greetings (1:36)
8 The Ancient One (2:32)
9 Santa Claus / First Sleigh Ride /
Christmas Rhapsody (5:28)
10 Naughty or Nice
(Does not appear in the film) (1:04)
11 Into the XXTH Century (1:38)
12 It's Christmas Again (2:39)
13 March of the Elves (2:55)
14 Table Scraps (1:19)
15 A New Sleigh Ride / Santa Meets Joe (1:41)
16 Sleigh Ride Over Manhattan (4:15)
17 Cornelia's Home (1:53)
18 Bad Toys (0:38)
19 Sad Patch (3:11)
20 Vanishing Elf (1:42)
21 No Free Toys (1:12)
22 Present for Joe (0:48)
23 Patch, Natch! (1:17)
24 Patchmobile / Patch Versus Santa (5:13)
25 Lollipop Flight (1:39)
26 Stronger Formula (1:37)
27 The World Is Different (1:02)
28 A New Doll (0:49)
29 Eavesdropping (2:35)
DISC TWO: THE FILM SCORE (CONT.)
1 Letter From Cornelia (2:30)
2 Elf Portrait (1:45)
3 Flight From Police (1:06)
4 To the North Pole / Super Duper Looper /
Reunited Again (6:09)
5 End Titles: Thank You, Santa
(Does not appear in the film) (4:47)
THE EXTRAS
6 Every Christmas Eve (Alternate Lyrics) (4:28)
7 Making Toys (Children's Choir) (4:01)
8 Making Toys (Carousel Version) (0:27)
9 Making Toys (Men's Choir) (4:01)
10 Making Toys (Instrumental Alternate) (4:00)
11 Patch Versus Santa (Alternate) (4:34)
12 To the North Pole (Alternate) (3:49)
13 Thank You, Santa (Alternate Vocal) (3:35)
14 Every Christmas Eve
(Instrumental Version) (4:27)
15 It's Christmas Again
(Instrumental Version) (1:20)
16 It's Christmas Again (Christmas Bells) (1:21)
17 Chopin's Waltz (Source) (0:30)
18 Patch, Natch! (Instrumental Version) (1:14)
19 Thank You, Santa (Instrumental Version) (4:29)
20 Patch Toys (Percussion Insert) (0:27)
21 Christmas Jingles (Rehearsal) (2:53)
22 Making Toys (TV Spot) (0:26)
DISC THREE: THE 1985 SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
1 Main Title: Every Christmas Eve /
Santa's Theme (4:11)
2 Arrival of the Elves (4:08)
3 Making Toys (4:01)
4 Christmas Rhapsody (3:53)
5 It's Christmas Again (2:31)
6 March of the Elves (2:55)
7 Patch, Natch! (1:15)
8 It's Christmas All Over the World (5:02)
9 Shouldn't Do That (3:33)
10 Sleigh Ride Over Manhattan (4:16)
11 Sad Patch (3:12)
12 Patch Versus Santa (4:13)
13 Thank You, Santa (3:09) |
