Top Gun & Days of Thunder getting extended soundtrack releases

Do you feel the need – the need for speed? Well, just make sure that speed is set at 33 ½ RPM because the soundtracks for two Tom Cruise classics, Top Gun and Days of Thunder, are coming to vinyl. But these aren’t any ordinary releases, as both are going to be available in their extended forms. 

As per Variety, the Top Gun and Days of Thunder vinyl releases will drop on this Friday, October 18th. While these soundtracks were previously released on CD, these are on 140 gram vinyl. They are also remarkably different from the original albums, as the 1986 Top Gun soundtrack featured only one track from composer Harold Faltemeyer (“Mighty Wings”), with the real selling point being Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” and Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away”, which would win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Enjoy the Ride – the label behind these releases – promoted the titles with the following write-up: “After decades of being locked in the vault, the iconic full scores were finally released to the public last year on limited edition CD by our friends at La-La Land Records, and we are excited to bring it to our favorite format for the first time! Both albums feature the original score, plus bonus tracks and additional audio, and are housed in a 2xLP gatefold jacket designed by the ETR Team and Dan Goldwasser.” They also showed off the available variants, with some being limited to just 100 units:

Like Top Gun, the original Days of Thunder soundtrack release featured only one track from its composer, the great Hans Zimmer, but even that one (“The Last Note of Freedom”, performed by Whitesnake’s David Coverdale, with lyrics by Billy Idol) wasn’t from the score itself. Thankfully, Zimmer’s score can finally be heard on vinyl. As with Top Gun, the Days of Thunder release is capped at 1,000 overall pieces – now that’s a thunder you can’t outrun!

Will you be picking up these vinyl releases of Top Gun and Days of Thunder? Which do you think has the best score overall? Share your thoughts with us below.