I don’t think the score has ever sounded better.”įist pages from new liner notes for La-La Lands’ remastered Star Trek II soundtrackĪ key part of Cordell’s approach was conducting new interviews with director Nicholas Meyer, producer Robert Sallin, former Paramount Vice President and Head of Music Joel Sill, James Horner’s widow, Sara, and many others. “So I kept asking myself: What can these notes provide, so that they might occasionally say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that,’ or ‘Oh, I never made that connection,’ or ‘Oh, I have to listen to that track again.’ I really wanted to find something new, so that the notes would sort of justify their existence. “A lot of people who are going to get this, like me, probably have the Film Score Monthly edition,” Cordell said. It allows you to find a different way of talking about everything.”Ĭordell’s approach, then, was to write the notes that he would like to read. The last couple of liner notes I’ve written in the past few years didn’t have a track by track, and I found it liberating. “It just seemed that to do that again would be redundant. “There had already been a terrific track by track dissection that Jeff Bond, Lukas Kendall and Al Kaplan did for the Film Score Monthly/Retrograde Records release,” Cordell said. Listen to an exclusive sample of “Kirk Takes Command” from the remastered soundtrack below:Īnother feature unique to this release: brand new liner notes from Deniz Cordell, who chose to approach his work in an essay style. We also did one where we adjusted the bagpipes to better match the orchestra, because we can do that now, digitally.”
So the E flat recording is new to this release. “The bagpipes are tuned differently and play in a different key than a traditional orchestra,” Bulk explained, “so they recorded two versions of ‘Amazing Grace’-the orchestra part-in different keys to see which one they could get closer to the bagpipes. Other bonuses include two tracks originally prepared for-but not used in-the 1982 album (“Kirk in Space Shuttle” and “Kirk Takes Command”) and unreleased alternate takes, including two additional versions of “Amazing Grace.”
“That was one of those things where I didn’t know that existed 11 years ago, nor was there space for it if I did.” And now we can all enjoy it. “You’re in the thanks because of that!” he told me. One of the bonus tracks, titled “Theme of Star Trek II,” is the first CD release of what was a special edit originally released in 1982 as a 45 rpm single-and it’s only there because your humble reporter told Bulk about its existence. “That specific album program has not been remastered since the first CD came out 30 years ago, so it felt like it was time to do it.”īack cover and track list for La-La Lands’ remastered Star Trek II soundtrack The original soundtrack album tracks are new transfers, but they’re the same tapes that we used for the Retrograde album.” Bulk said that the tracks were also fully remixed and remastered by Mike Matessino. “Everything on the score presentation is from the new high res tape transfers, and so are the bonus tracks. This wealth of material allowed Bulk to create a new two-CD release featuring the original score as presented in the film on disc one, with the original 1982 album release and additional bonus tracks on disc two. “I thought, ‘I know what the inventory is, we’re gonna get these tapes and I can get this done very quickly.’ And what happened was Paramount found a lot more tapes-and it turns out they were the recording sessions. “I thought we were going to get the exact same tapes as last time,” he said. “It may not be radically different,” he said, “but it would satisfy me.”Ĭover of La-La Land’s remastered Star Trek II soundtrackĪs it turns out, a surprise awaited him when he requested the master tapes from the studio. But in the 12 years since, Bulk felt he’d learned a thing or two about how he could make a few things even better. “I had thrown out some suggestions,” he said in a recent phone interview with TrekMovie, “and Trek II was one I’d wanted to revisit.”īulk worked with veteran music mixer and editor Mike Matessino on Retrograde Records’ 2009 expanded CD release of James Horner’s beloved music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and to this day remains very proud of that disc. Bulk’s mind when he found out there was a hole in La-La Land Records’ CD release schedule. Good words, and maybe–just maybe–they were in the back of soundtrack producer Neil S. “If Genesis is indeed ‘life from death,’ I must return to this place again.”
TrekMovie talked to the team who put it all together to get the details. There is also a new extensive set of liner notes. Today La-La Land Records just released a new 2-CD limited edition extended soundtrack for James Horner’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which has been totally remastered.