For Record Store Day Black Friday 2024, a new limited edition red vinyl album was released featuring the late maestro, Angelo Badalamenti. Being a long-time collector of vinyl albums, I got up early on Friday, Nov. 29 to acquire a copy at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, Florida. Here’s a recap of another Record Store Day adventure in the Sunshine State.
RECORD STORE DAY BLACK FRIDAY 2024 – ANGELO BADALAMENTI ON VINYL
On October 9, 2024, Varèse Sarabande announced a new limited edition vinyl album featuring the music of Angelo Badalamenti would be release for Black Friday sales in independent record stores throughout the United States. Their advertisement included album artwork floating above a chevron-floor pattern reminiscent of the Red Room in Twin Peaks.
An animated advertisement also included brown letters with green outlines which looks similar to the original Twin Peaks logo from the 1990s. Clearly, the company was purposely giving a nod to fans of Angelo’s music from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s wonderful and strange show.
The Record Store Day webpage for this release listed the album as a “RSD Exclusive Release” with only 1,500 units made.
Angelo Badalamenti’s Music for Film and Television, a career-spanning compilation of iconic works from the composer, comes to vinyl for the first time, featuring themes from Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Wild At Heart, and many more David Lynch classics. The album is pressed on Translucent Red vinyl, and features brand-new artwork by illustrator Brianna Ashby.
TRACKLIST
SIDE A: 1. Blue Velvet (Main Title Theme), 2. A Very Long Engagement (Suite From A Very Long Engagement), 3. Wild At Heart (Dark Spanish Symphony), 4. The Comfort Of Strangers (The Other Side Of the Mirror), 5. Mulholland Drive (Main Title Theme)
SIDE B: 1. Twin Peaks (Laura Palmer’s Theme•Main Title Theme (Falling)), 2. The City Of Lost Children (Suite From The City Of Lost Children), 3. Who Will Take My Dreams Away (featuring Marianne Faithfull), 4. The Straight Story (Rose’s Theme)
The album was a re-release of a 2010 CD of the same name which contained 11 iconic tracks from Badalamenti’s catalog. A collaboration between Angelo and the Ghent International Film Festival, the music recorded for this compact disc was by the Brussels Philharmonic, The Orchestra of Flanders under the direction Dirk Brossé. This would be the same music found on the 2024 vinyl album.
This initial release contained Angelo’s themes to the long-running “Inside the Actor’s Studio” show hosted by James Lipton and “The Torch Theme” from the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain. Interestingly, these two tracks are missing from the Record Store Day 2024 vinyl release.
Brossé is currently Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He is also Professor of Composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent, Belgium. According to his bio on the chamber’s website, he’s had quite a career spanning decades.
“Dirk Brossé has guest-conducted many major symphony orchestras throughout the world, among them, the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Madrid, Birmingham, Ulster, Liverpool, Glasgow, Prague, Copenhagen, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Queensland, St Petersburg, Caracas, Osaka, Munich, Dublin, Krakow, Budapest, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.”
In 2009, John Williams invited him to serve as conductor for the “Star Wars in Concert World Tour.” Maestro Brossé has made more than 100 CD recordings including this album of Badalamenti’s music.
Surprisingly, Varèse Sarabande Records has the entire album (including those two missing tracks) available to stream via YouTube.
ACQUIRING THE RECORD AT PARK AVENUE CDS
When I learned that this album was coming for Record Store Day, I signed up for an opportunity to shop at my favorite Central Florida record shop, Park Avenue CDs, located at 2916 Corrine Dr in Orlando, Florida. You may recall that I attended Record Store Days in 2018 and in 2019 when Twin Peaks vinyl albums were released. This year, the entire experience was very organized with thanks to a shopping reservation system.
My shopping time began at 9:40 a.m. so I arrived about 9:15 a.m. to grab some photos. I parked at behind the building in the nearby school parking lot and walked to the front of the shop. Check in wasn’t allowed until about 10 minutes before the reserved shopping time. This made the line to get inside very manageable. During the 2019 event, I waited nearly two hours and 53-minutes to get inside.
In the parking lot, Chef Crystal offered breakfast bites for purchase by folks waiting to check in.
Considering I already had breakfast, I sought out the most important beverage of the day – damn, fine coffee. No Another Coffee Co. offered espresso, lattes, cappuccinos and more, all freshly ground and made on the spot.
Kevin and Ashley asked me about photography after seeing my Canon EOS R5. I soon discovered that Ashley is a fellow photographer who loves film. She is part of a new film lab opening on December 14, 2024 in the Milk District near downtown, Orlando. Not Another Film Lab is located at 2436 E Robinson St in Orlando, Florida. They will also have coffee in their shop so I’ll have to make a point to stop by. I shot film for the first 10 years of living in Florida in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Check them out on Instagram.
With coffee acquired, I joined the line to get in to Park Ave. CDs for the 9:40 shopping window.
While half the shop contains both new and used vinyl, they also carry books, toys, compact discs and DVDs. These independent record stores are some of my favorite places to visit as I always leave with more unexpected treasures.
When I checked in, I provided the Park Ave. CDs team my shopping list which only contained Angelo’s album. While they were processing the order, I made my way to the soundtrack section to see if they still carried any Twin Peaks music. They did!
There were two copies of the “TPS2” or “Twin Peaks Season Two” vinyl album released a few years ago for Record Store Day. One album even had a Record Store Day sticker on the front. Since I have five copies of this album, I didn’t need to purchase these. I did, however, find other gems such as Max Richter’s “For Sleep,” several used Christmas albums, the original soundtrack to Space: 1999 and the Japanese release of the Howl’s Moving Castle soundtrack (which was for my wife who approved the shopping trip).
Ten minutes later, I heard my name being called over the PA system – my order was ready! With only 1,500 albums made spread to an variety of record stores, I was concerned I wouldn’t get a copy. Thankfully the owls were watching down on me as I proudly posed with my latest acquisition. Soon after, check out was complete and I returned home to write this article.
ANGELO BADALAMENTI – MUSIC FOR FILM AND TELEVISION LIMITED EDITION VINYL
What a beauty! The cover, designed by artist Brianna Ashby (more on her in a moment), pictured beautiful artwork of Maestro Badalamenti surrounded by icons from the works he scored.
The artwork is stunning and makes me miss the late composer even more. How I wish I could have met him before his passing.
The back cover contains track listings, credits and special thanks which appear to be reprinted from the 2010 CD.
“Over the course of his exceptional and ongoing career, Angelo Badalamenti has composed some of the most iconic film scores of our time. Widely known for his longstanding collaboration with director David Lynch and other preeminent artists, this Brooklyn-based, Italian-American composer writes dark, hauntingly beautiful, transcendent music with unimaginable identity. Angelo Badalamenti has been celebrated worldwide for his profound talent in writing poignant musical themes, and this collection of “Music for Film and Television” incorporates diverse selections form his vast body of work.
Compromised of eleven world premiere recordings with the Brussels Philharmonic and featuring three newly released tracks, Mr. Badalamenti’s music is preserved here in recognition of his contributions to film music.
Varèse Sarabande is pleased to present, “Angelo Badalamenti: Music for Film and Television” – a collaboration between Angelo Badalamenti and the Ghent International Film Festival.”
The album was wrapped in plastic and contained this additional Record Store Day Black Friday sticker with details about this new pressing.
The red vinyl is a perfect choice for this special release – it’s a bold and striking color for the Maestro’s music.
Here’s a closer look at the Side One and Side Two labels from this release.
COVER ARTIST BRIANNA ASHBY
The incredibly talented Brianna Ashby provided the artwork for this album’s cover. According to her website, she is the art director of the digital film magazine Bright Wall/Dark Room, where “she helps to put a new lens on film one doodle at a time.” Ashby graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004 with a BFA in Illustration, and a concentration in advanced costume party studies.
Her illustrations of beloved films, actors, characters and directors are fantastic! They have a dream-like quality that perfectly captures their likeness.
Her now sold out illustration inspired by Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks: The Return is trop notch. I keep finding new little details with every glance.
Her work titled “The Passion of the Coop” is still available on her website as a 9×12 textured and autographed print ($40).
She was excited to share a look at her new work as seen in this Bluesky post from Nov. 13, 2024. In her post, she mentioned that 2,800 albums were made for worldwide distribution. So perhaps there is hope to folks across the pond that they can locate this wonderful new release from my favorite composer.
Thank you to the team at Park Avenue CDs, Varèse Sarabande Records and Brianna Ashby for making one of my favorite albums in 2024. Here’s to hoping more Angelo Badalamenti’s works will be released on vinyl (hint – please release The Straight Story soundtrack or all of the Twin Peaks Archive digital tracks on vinyl). I would be first in line if those were ever made.
