COLLECTING RARE FILM MUSIC ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK LPS -- VARESE SARABANDE RECORDS--THE EARLY YEARS OF A GREAT SOUNDTRACK LP COMPANY!

During the latter part of the 1970s decade, after the Japanese and British were busy reissuing some very desirable rare soundtrack LPs, along came a small company that was named Varese Sarabande Records.  Its intent was to 'fill the holes' of those rare soundtrack LPs that hadn't been reissued or ever released before.  They had an association with the MCA company and were most interested in the older Decca library of rare soundtrack LP titles.  They didn't limit themselves to just older Decca titles, however. 

Among their first releases were two rare LES BAXTER film scores:  the 1970 cult horror film starring surprisingly the late Sandra Dee, 'THE DUNWICH HORROR' which was selling in the late 70s at nearly $200 mint; the other was the 1960 Steve Reeves' sword and sandal action film, 'GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS' original released on American International Records and selling in the $200 range.  From the Decca library was the back-to-back soundtrack LP for the 1950s 'FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN' and 'WRITTEN ON THE WIND' (a beautiful main title vocal by the Four Aces!) composed by the legendary ALEX NORTH. The original Decca soundtrack LP was valued in the $150 range mint. One problem with Decca Records was they seemed to have some problem with vinyl surface noise even when the record was mint.  Thus, when the Japanese reissued many of the Decca soundtrack LPs in the 1970s (please read our separate Ebay guide 'Collecting Rare Film Music Soundtrack LPs, Part 5) they became highly coveted because the fidelity was superior with no surface noise. Another coveted soundtrack was for 1959's HUGO FRIEDHOFER soundtrack LP for 'THIS EARTH IS MINE', which Varese reissued.  Mention must be made that Varese took great care in the reissues, in most cases, utilizing the original front cover artwork in quality reproductions.

Perhaps one of the most desirable releases Varese made was in 1980 when it issued for the first time ever the soundtrack LP for the 1950 John Wayne / Maureen O'Hara / John Ford directed western 'RIO GRANDE' composed by the great film composer VICTOR YOUNG. The front cover graphics feature the original movie poster artwork, and the result is stunning!  Young's score is so well done--he was a master of film music in the western genre (ironically, after scoring over 300 films, his only Academy Award was presented posthumously for 1956's 'AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS'!).

A combination of two former 10" soundtrack LPs were reissued by Varese for 1949's 'SAMSON AND DELILAH' (starring the beautiful Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature) and 1952's 'THE QUIET MAN' (starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and directed by John For) both scored by VICTOR YOUNG. The 'SAMSON AND DELILAH' 10" soundtrack LP was going for as much as $300 mint, while 'QUIET MAN' was nearly $150 mint prior to this reissue.

We have an interesting tale to tell about MAX STEINER's adventure film score to 1959's 'JOHN PAUL JONES', originally issued on Warner Brothers #WS1293.  This soundtrack LP was worth in the range of $100 to $150 mint in the 1970s.  We were approached in 1975 about purchasing a 10,000 piece LP collection that was almost all soundtrack LPs, and most of them were MINT CONDITION!  There were a lot of 'dogs' in the collection, but at the other end was the inclusion of nearly 40 copies of 'JOHN PAUL JONES' in stereo and monaural formats.  To get some of our money back, our customers benefited as we put them on sale for less than $40 each mint condition!

There was a lot of cult interest in 1957's soundtrack LP for 'MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES' scored by FRANK SKINNER and was the story of the legendary Lon Chaney Sr., played by James Cagney and also starred Dorothy Malone. Collector interest in the soundtrack LP came as much from followers of Chaney plus horror genre collectors, although had his own following having worked in the Universal Studios stable alongside HANS J SALTER since the 1930s.  The original sold in the 1970s in the $100 - $150 range prior to this reissue.  (We will discuss the effect of reissues on the value of original issues in a future edition of this series).

Another early reissue was that for 1964's '36 HOURS' a pychological drama starring James Garner and Eva Marie Saint, scored by the legendary DIMITRI TIOMKIN and originally issued on Vee Jay Records (Beatles fans take note!). About the same time another Vee Jay Records soundtrack LP was reissued for LES BAXTER's 1961 film score for 'MASTER OF THE WORLD' a science-fiction story based on a Jules Verne novel, starring Vincent Price.  Both of these titles soundtrack LP originals were selling for over $100 mint in the 1970s.

One of the soundtrack LPs that was duplicated from a Japanese reissue was for 1958's war drama 'THE YOUNG LIONS' scored by the legendary HUGO FRIEDHOFER (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Laguna Beach about two years prior to his passing--he was very cordial when I approached him--I  think he was surprised that I recognized him!). The film starred Marlon Brando, Dean Martin and Monty Clift; a cult film even today!

Two most notable reissues on Varese have to be for BERNARD HERRMANN's 1958 '7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD', one of the most coveted soundtrack LPs, originally issued on Colpix Records only in 'Monaural' sound. The Japanese and the British beat Varese in reissuing this rare soundtrack LP, but they reissued it with a brand new front cover (a beautiful illustration--a soundtrack LP collector would probably want this reissue along with the original Colpix cover).  What Varese did that was so spectacular was to find the original master tapes in STEREO and reissued the Colpix cover with the 'STEREO' banner across the top!  The other notable early reissue has to be that for 1971's PETER SCHICKELE score to the science-fiction cult favorite 'SILENT RUNNING'. The desirable version of the original and the Varese reissue is the GREEN CLEAR VINYL LIMITED ISSUE LP version. The significance of the green vinyl is that Bruce Dern's character is trying to save the last of the earth's botanical plants.  The original GREEN VINYL soundtrack LP is still today worth over $400 mint, while the GREEN VINYL Varese reissue is over $100 mint!

Such were some of the juicy reissues this record label produced during its early days of production.  We'll be publishing a 'Discography' of Varese soundtrack LP titles in the future, so look for it!

For availability of Varese Record soundtrack LPs we have now, please click on our Ebay store at 'RTS Rarities' above. We also have hundreds of Broadway Shows / Original Cast LPs, Television, Jazz, Classical, Pop / Nostalgia, imports, 45s, along with Videos, Books and Collectibles! If you'd like to jump the gun and find out what those Varese Records titles are you can purchase our RTS PRICE GUIDE for $10 postpaid. It includes market values, credits for film composers, record numbers, year of release, including television, Broadway Original Cast LPs, imports, 45s; guidelines on collecting, condition vs. market value, and much more! RTS, BOX 93897, LAS VEGAS, NV 89193.