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HANS ZIMMER’S GRAMMY®-NOMINATED DRIVING MISS DAISY SCORE

TO RECEIVE FIRST WIDE VINYL RELEASE

Varèse Sarabande will release the score in two collectible editions

Click here to visit the online media kit

Los Angeles, CA (September 4, 2024)— Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings are proud to announce the first-ever wide vinyl release for Hans Zimmer’s GRAMMY®-nominated score Driving Miss Daisy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The score, which helped the film win nine Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, was widely celebrated upon release and continues to be a defining work in the pantheon of modern film scores. Zimmer’s versatile, electronic score was pioneering for the time, relying solely on samples and synthesizers to create the film’s sonic palette. It remains a touchstone for composers everywhere.

Set for release on November 15^th and available for pre-order today, the vinyl release of Zimmer’s score will arrive on two special color pressings. The “Transparent Violet” vinyl will be available on VarèseSarabande.com and at retailers around North America, while the “Pink Daisy” variant will be available exclusively through Barnes & Noble.

Upon its initial release in 1989, Zimmer’s score immediately became an essential piece of modern film music and helped propel the acclaimed writer from burgeoning star to generation-defining icon. Part of its appeal was in the German composer’s unorthodox approach and willingness to reshape the rules traditionally associated with film composition. Through this innovative methodology, he helped change the way film scores could function both in service to and separate from the movies they accompany.

In a 2002 interview with Sound on Sound, Zimmer explained: “The guys at Emu once asked me what that great piano sound was that I was using, what those great samples were I used on Driving Miss Daisy and all that stuff. And I had to confess that it was a cheap Roland MKS-20, which I was using for years. And no, it didn’t sound anything like a piano, but it behaved like a piano.”

Zimmer’s decision to build worlds from synthesizers and full orchestras alike came, in part, out of necessity. In an interview with Awards Watch in 2018, the Frankfurt-born musician explained his approach to his work and where his influences derived from: “I suppose the part of it was we crazy Europeans like Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream et cetera; part of it was we didn’t draw our musical language from the blues. We actually drew it from what we heard as kids, which is classical music or folk music. I think the other part of it was we could never afford an orchestra, but there was this thing called the synthesizer.” That synthesizer ended up shaping the entire sound of the Driving Miss Daisy score, and, in many ways, helping to shape the next decades of film music.

From beginning to end, Zimmer’s Driving Miss Daisy score bursts with a propulsive energy that gives the film its tone and spirit. Now widely available on vinyl for the very first time, Hans Zimmer’s iconic, celebrated score finally gets the big release it has long deserved.

Click here to pre-order or stream/download Driving Miss Daisy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

Track Listing:

Side A

Louis Armstrong – Kiss Of Fire
Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby
Hans Zimmer – Driving
Hans Zimmer – Home

Side B

Hans Zimmer – Georgia
Hans Zimmer – End Titles
Hans Zimmer – Song To The Moon (Excerpt From The Opera Rusalka)

About Hans Zimmer:

Hans Zimmer has scored more than 500 projects across all mediums, which, combined, have grossed more than 28 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Zimmer has been honored with two Academy Awards®, three Golden Globes®, four Grammys®, an American Music Award, and a Tony® Award. His work highlights include Dune, No Time to Die, Gladiator, The Thin Red Line, As Good as It Gets, Rain Man, The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Thelma and Louise, The Last Samurai, 12 Years A Slave, Blade Runner 2049 (co-scored w/ Benjamin Wallfisch) and Dunkirk, as well as recent film scores including Top Gun: Maverick, Wonder Woman 1984 and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. Most recently, Zimmer won the Academy Award® for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures for Dune. In 2019, Zimmer scored the live-action remake of The Lion King, for which he received a Grammy® nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.

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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