"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" Soundtrack Releasing in June

Varèse Sarabande will release Rod McKuen Performs and Conducts All His Songs From A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN And Selections From THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, ME NATALIE And JOANNA on CD June 23, 2015. The album includes liner notes written by McKuen shortly before he passed away earlier this year.


“Writing music for films is hard work but an all-together lovely occupation,” said McKuen. “Some of my most cherished moments have been spent in screening rooms timing scenes for cues and on Russian, British and Hollywood sound stages making music with many of the world’s best musicians.”

The statistics involving Rod McKuen’s career and work are staggering. He recorded over two hundred albums and is the recipient of 63 gold and platinum records worldwide. His three-dozen books of poetry have been published in eleven languages, sold 65 million copies and made him the most widely read poet of his time. The songs he wrote and composed have accounted for the sale of over 100 million records for such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Johnny Cash, Petula Clark, Perry Como, Chet Baker, Andy Williams, The Kingston Trio, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand.

Music from the PBS Series, POLDARK , Out June 9

Sony Classical is delighted to announce the release of Poldark – music from the hit BBC period drama TV show. With original score by Anne Dudley, the soundtrack album will be available on June 9. The TV series will begin airing nationally on PBS starting on June 21, and will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 7, 2015.

With weekly viewing figures approaching 9 million, Poldark is the hottest new drama series on British TV. Based on the novels by Winston Graham and adapted by Debbie Horsfield, Poldark is set in the late 18th century. Lead character, Ross Poldark – memorably played by Aidan Turner (The Hobbit) - returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall, having spent three years in the army to avoid charges of smuggling, leaving behind his sweetheart Elizabeth. Alas, he finds his world in ruins with his father dead, his house wrecked and his sweetheart engaged to his cousin. How will he move on from this destruction?

The Who's Pete Townshend Talks with Baker & Taylor About His New "Classic Quadrophenia" Release

It’s a rare event to pose questions to the great Pete Townshend - one of the world’s greatest living songwriters and a sea-change musical visionary. Pete is very enthused to release his classic rock opera, Quadrophenia, finally in a classical and operatic form, on June 9, 2015, and he graced Baker & Taylor with an illuminating, personal interview. Without further introduction, we present Pete’s feedback (of the written kind) on Pete Townshend’s Classic Quadrophenia.
B&T: What would you tell a customer in a music store or library that would encourage them to pick up Pete Townshend’s Classic Quadrophenia?

Pete: This is a modern opera, or cantata – the story is one that we have all lived through. It will connect because the story is so simple. It’s about a few very difficult days in the life of a young person. We’ve all been there. What is unusual in this case perhaps is that the hero’s difficulty becomes a conduit for an explosion of passion, sexual frustration, anger and awkward love. My music seems to be especially good at expressing all this, and The Who band members were great at performing it. Audiences respond according to their ability (or need) to reconnect with this part of their growing up. Or, they might simply look back sadly or fondly to the way they got through it all. In literature there are many examples of this kind of inconclusive story. Catcher in the Rye is maybe the most well-known. This orchestral version unlocks an entire range of new shades in this tale of teenage struggle.

Drummer Buddy Rich "Birdland" Album Out May 25

Lightyear Entertainment and Lobitos Creek Ranch, in association with Scabeba Entertainment and the Buddy Rich Estate, have announced the release of a new live album featuring Buddy Rich and his Killer Force Band at the peak of their performing years.

This rare, previously unreleased, and all original production was recorded with Buddy’s permission by bandmate Alan Gauvin, who has also now mixed and edited the project together. The album was mastered by Tom Swift, and will be released May 26 through Caroline Distribution, the independent distribution arm of Universal Music Group, on the Lightyear/Lobitos Creek label.

The Birdland album is seen in the Academy Award winning film Whiplash, in the hands of the young
star Miles Teller, who plays an extraordinary drummer who idolizes Buddy Rich.