Two years ago La-La Land Records gave us an expanded release of the music of The Godfather, a revelatory release in part because the original album had been plagued by subpar sound quality. As the sound on the original album Part II wasn’t quite as poor, perhaps the recent expanded release of that score won’t astonish quite as much, but nonetheless hearing this classic score sounding almost like it was recorded today is still a remarkable achievement. The score program is twice as long now, the main benefit seeming to be the additional exploration of Nino Rota’s exquisite immigrant theme (it’s also worth noting that this isn’t as repetitive as some other Rota scores that suffer when heard in full). The full slate of Carmine Coppola’s source music is probably for completists only, but intriguingly the label was able to uncover the full slate of source music Nino Rota contributed, much of it not even used in the film, and some of those jazz compositions are tremendously entertaining. Add in Tim Greiving’s tremendously informative liner notes and you have a true contender for the year’s finest archival release.

*****

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Prior 2024 album posts
- Live and Let Die - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=131612
- Octopussy - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=131627
- Hellboy II - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=131961
- HTTYD: The Hidden World - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=132742
- Top Gun - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=132758
- Rock-a-Doodle - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=132825
- Something Wicked This Way Comes - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134359
- Night Passage - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134397
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134671
- Backdraft - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134759
- Nightbreed - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134774
- Scorpio - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134915
- Star Wars: Rebels S3 & S4 - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136026
- You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136088
- For Love of the Game - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136102
- Eye of the Needle - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136116
- Dinosaur - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136878
- Torn Curtain - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=136901
- Goldfinger - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=137378
- Jurassic Park III - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=137846