Film Score Monthly, the haven for fans of great movie music, has just released both The Dirty Dozen and The Satan Bug soundtracks on CD.
Here are the descriptions from the official web site:
THE DIRTY DOZEN
De Vol's score to The Dirty Dozen
is deceptively simple. He writes an almost comedic war/action score
that makes the film's uncompromising depiction of violence and cruelty
all the more shocking by giving it a cheery, conventional demeanor. The
film as a whole is given a four-note theme that seems to speak the
title ("Dir-ty DOZ-en"), while De Vol quotes old chestnuts like "Don't
Sit Under the Apple Tree," "You're in the Army Now" and band marches
for thematic dimension and a sense of period -- as well as an evocation
of the characters' rather lowbrow sense of humor. The film's climactic
mission in France is treated seriously with hard-driving action and
suspense, some of the finest in De Vol's career.
De Vol provided two original songs for the film: a German ballad (as
radio source music) with lyrics and vocals by Sibylle Siegfried (the
director's wife), and an anachronistically 1960s pop song, "Bramble
Bush," with lyrics by Mack David, performed by Trini Lopez (one of the
dozen in the film). Each song is presented both in previously
unreleased film version and existing album rendition.
The Dirty Dozen
was previously released on LP and CD but this definitive FSM release
more than doubles the playing time and remixes and remasters the sound
quality from the original 35mm three-track stereo recordings for vastly
improved sonics. The CD features comprehensive new liner notes by
Daniel Champion.