VIA PRESS RELEASE | Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings announce the first-ever vinyl release of Randy Newman’s classic score to the 1998 fantasy-comedy Pleasantville.
This 2-LP Deluxe Edition will be available on Red, White, and Blue swirl vinyl in North America, while the international edition is pressed on Translucent Tan vinyl. Releasing September 13 and available for pre-order now, this Deluxe Edition expands Randy Newman’s score for the film to 34 tracks and 66 minutes, with unreleased tracks, extended cues and much more. The 2-LP gatefold package includes a brand-new illustration by acclaimed artist Sim Sim on the cover.
Pleasantville (1998) is a high-concept fantasy-comedy about high-school siblings (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) transported into an idyllic, black-and-white 1950s Leave It to Beaver—type TV show. In the hands of writer/director Gary Ross, the film is more than just a fish-out-of-water tale with dazzling VFX—it is a touching character study and potent Civil Rights allegory that received critical acclaim and is fondly remembered today.
Scoring Pleasantville was a master of Americana, humor and symphonic scoring, Randy Newman. Newman had cheeky fun with the show-within-the-film’s old-school traditions, but just as the story blossoms into a heartfelt tale of emotional awakening—with a beautiful performance by Joan Allen as a repressed mother—so does the gorgeous score.
“Randy is unique in the fact that he can write with a depth of emotion, and he’s also an accomplished satirist,” says Gary Ross in the liner notes by Tim Greiving. “He could write to the vernacular of what the movie was, but not be limited by it. That’s what the film is trying to do, and it really needs someone who can understand the breadth of those intentions… I’ve never been happier with any score, on any movie.”
Randy Newman is one of the most heralded and beloved singer-songwriters in pop music history. Known for his sardonic humor in unique hits like “Short People” and “I Love L.A.,” he has made a lasting mark as a film composer (continuing the tradition of his esteemed Newman family) with such seminal scores as Ragtime, The Natural, Avalon, Awakenings, and Seabiscuit, plus numerous blockbusters for Pixar, most notably the Toy Story films.
