VARÈSE SARABANDE AND CRAFT RECORDINGS MARK

50 YEARS OF ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST

WITH LIMITED EDITION VINYL PRESSINGS

 

Featuring Jack Nitzsche’s GRAMMY- and Academy Award®–nominated score,

newly remastered from the original tapes and arriving November 14

Click here to visit the online media kit

Click here to pre-order One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (50th Anniversary Edition)

 

Los Angeles, CA (September 30, 2025)—Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings celebrate 50 years of Miloš Forman’s groundbreaking film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with a special vinyl reissue of Jack Nitzsche’s Academy Award- and GRAMMY® Award–nominated score. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films in American cinema, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest swept the “Big Five” Academy Awards® at the 1976 ceremony—including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher)—cementing its place in history. For this anniversary pressing, Nitzsche’s haunting score has been newly remastered (AAA) from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.

 

Available for pre-order today, the release arrives in multiple collectible color variants. At Barnes & Noble, fans can purchase the new release on Translucent Forest Green vinyl; exclusive to the ; and traditional black vinyl will be available via wide release. Each edition comes packaged in a gatefold jacket.

 

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Jack Nitzsche was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer and record producer. He rose to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand man of producer Phil Spector and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others. He worked extensively in film scores including for Performance, The Exorcist and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In 1983, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing “Up Where We Belong” with Buffy Sainte-Marie.

 

Nitzsche’s work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was celebrated upon the film’s 1975 release, thanks in large part to the edginess the composer brought to the work, particularly with his use of a bowed saw during the opening and closing numbers. Nitzsche also utilizes some other…unexpected instruments, like wine glasses.

 

Upon release—and fast forwarding to the present day, where the score is rightfully noted as one of the most influential in modern film history—Nitzsche’s unorthodox approach helped shape the rules for what a film score could do.

 

As Steven McDonald noted in a review for AllMusic, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was also notable for giving director Miloš Forman a solid position in American cinema…and for giving composer Jack Nitzsche a place to show what he could do. As it is, the edgy nature of the film extends into the score, giving it a profoundly disturbing feel at times — even when it appears to be relatively normal.”

 

McDonald goes on to note how Nitzsche’s inimitable score helped give the film its narrative pacing and tone: “The music has a tendency to always be a little off-kilter, and from time to time it tilts completely over into a strange little world of its own (something very familiar to fans of Van Dyke Parks, with whom Nitzsche worked quite a bit).” The reviewer concluded that the score deserved a reevaluation, which it is certainly getting in 2025: “It’s a pity that this score has faded from sight over the time since its 1991 remastering; the music has certainly continued to stand up well over time.”

 

Miloš Forman’s film and Jack Nitzsche’s score have not only stood the test of time but have become even more celebrated in the 21st century. Long considered to be an overlooked and underrated gem in the world of soundtracks, Nitzsche’s score is finally getting a release in the format best suited for its eerie, provocative compositions.

 

 

Click here to pre-order One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (50th Anniversary Edition). Fans can also rediscover Nitzsche’s original album today, available to stream on all major digital platforms.

 

Tracklist:

 

Side A

1. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Opening Theme)
2. Medication Valse
3. Bus Ride To Paradise
4. Cruising
5. Trolling
6. Aloha Los Pescadores

 

Side B

1. Charmaine
2. Play The Game
3. Last Dance
4. Act Of Love
5. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Ending Theme)

 

 

About Varèse Sarabande:

Varèse Sarabande is one of the leading and most prolific producers of film and television soundtracks. The label was formed as a merger between Varèse International Records (named for composer Edgar Varèse) and Sarabande Records (named after a musical dance form). Initially a classical label, Varèse Sarabande has released thousands of soundtracks and new recordings of classic film scores conducted by celebrated composers with the world’s best-known orchestras since 1977. The label upped the ante for fans by creating the Varèse Sarabande CD Club—releasing exclusive limited-edition deluxe soundtracks featuring rare and long-requested titles. The CD Club ran initially from 1989–92 and was restarted in 2001, and Varèse continues to create Deluxe Editions of cherished scores that might otherwise never see a release.  Since joining Concord in 2018, Varèse Sarabande continues its mission to release new scores, high quality vinyl and Deluxe Edition soundtracks.

 

For more info, visit VareseSarabande.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

 

About Craft Recordings:

Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, R.E.M., Joan Sebastian, and Traveling Wilburys. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Evanescence, Alison Krauss, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday and Violent Femmes, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation—ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates which preserve and protect their respective names, likeness and music through day-to-day legacy management of these cultural trailblazers.

 

Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

 

 

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