Billboard Charts, New Releases and Star Wars on Vinyl!

From SoundtrackNet: There have been some very interesting things brewing in the land of music in the past few months for fans of science fiction and fantasy. In December: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack charted the top of the billboard charts. It entered at #30 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the highest charting score from Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of Tolkien’s work. It was the top selling soundtrack in December.

Walt Disney Records released the score to the animated T.V. series Tron: Uprising on January 8th, 2013, composed by Joseph Trapanese. Included in the score will be tracks by artists 3OH!3, Opuio, David Hiller and Cole Plante. This soundtrack release will only be sold in digital format. Trapanese also collaborated on the score for Tron: Legacy along with Daft Punk and was recommended by the venerable electronic music duo as a composer for the score of Tron: Uprising. Bridging the both the scores for Tron from 1982 and Tron: Legacy from 2010, by continuing the use of the futuristic yet lush electronic sound of the previous scores Joseph Trapanese expands and adds his own sound to the music for the iconic world of The Grid.

Now for some particularly interesting news in the world of soundtracks and film scores: for the first time I Am Shark, an independent music label for soundtracks and film scores, will be releasing the original soundtrack to the Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, created by composer John Williams, on limited edition vinyl! There will be issued several versions, in 2xLP format with limited color versions coordinating with characters through out the movies.Each of the scores for the first three Star Wars films will receive this special treatment and they will surely be highly coveted items for any Star Wars music fan. Vinyl has made a strong comeback among some music aficionados in the last fifteen to twenty years and no doubt this will be a very special treasure for one’s musical collection. It is a pre-order item so get your order in now. The several limited color versions are as follows:

1. Hyperdrive (Black and White splatter pattern)

2. Darth Maul (Red and Gold stripe)

3. Qui-Gon Jin (Green and Brown marble pattern)

4. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Blue)

5. Black

I Am Shark will release another set of special *limited* bundle packages, 50 of them, with all of these album colors included in this package. Go to the website directly for ordering. Tentative ship date for this release according to I Am Shark’s website will be March 4, 2013.