The Bad News Bears Trilogy

Track Listing Legend:
*does not appear in the film

Quartet Records and Paramount Pictures present a mammoth 3-CD box set with the world premiere release of The Bad News Bears trilogy, just in time to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Three important composers were involved in the trilogy: veteran Jerry Fielding scored the original film, while younger composers Craig Safan and Paul Chihara scored the sequels. Surprisingly, despite the different styles of each composer—each of whom has a distinct musical personality—the result was a perfectly unified and structured musical trilogy. At the request of director Michael Ritchie, Fielding mainly adapted his score from the popular opera Carmen by Bizet, much as he had done two years earlier with Mahler's first symphony for The Gambler. Besides the Bizet arrangements, Fielding also incorporated a few original cues. For the sequels, Craig Safan did something similar with the "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky, and Paul Chihara adapted the popular "The Mikado" by Gilbert & Sullivan. The result is three cool, fun and surprising scores. The audio was carefully mastered by José Vinader from original stereo mixes and multi-tracks stored in the Paramount vaults, and the 28-page full-color booklet includes liner notes and scores analysis by John Takis, who also co-produced the box set.