Dead Ringers: Symphonic Suites From The Films Of David Cronenberg/Howard Shore

I've been on a Cronenberg kick lately. The Brood is one of my all time favorite flicks and probably my personal fave Cronenberg movie even though I love everything that I've seen of his. He's actually my favorite director of all time as well. I love his ideas and the blur between reality and hallucination.

His movies are almost always accompanied by Howard Shore. He always provides just the right sound without being overly in your face or too subtle.

Here is a rare compilation featuring a suite from The Brood. It's the only way I've been able to obtain ANY music from this film.

Also featured is the score to Scanners, which is probably the closest you'll get to a flamboyent Shore/Cronenberg score. Pretty rowdy electronic stuff going on here at times.

The Dead Ringers score is much more in line with The Brood and other Shore/Cronenberg scores. Very moody orchestral stuff.

TRACK LISTING:
Scanners
01. Main Title
02. Vale Captured
03. Ephemerol
04. The Ripe Program
05. The Injection
06. Dirge For The Assassins
07. Vale's Lonely Walk
08. The Dart
09. Scanner Duel
The Brood
10. The Shape Of Rage (A Suite For 21 Strings)
Dead Ringers
11. Main Title
12. Bondage
13. Twins
14. Growing Awareness
15. Dependence
16. Helpless
17. The Operating Room
18. In Delirium
19. Birthday Party
20. Suicide
21. Finale

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Rapidshare LOSES. Megaupload WINS.

Though a small number (this blog is still pretty new) 23 people preferred Megaupload and only 8 preferred Rapidshare.

Case in fact... when it comes to downloading quickly, ANY file sharing site is better than Rapidshare.

Over the past couple of months my disliking for Rapidshare only grew. Practically every file from Rapidshare I attempt to download now it tells me I have to become a Premium member to download that file! It doesn't even tell me to wait for ten minutes anymore. This is very frustrating.

I guess I should just fork out the cash for a Premium account (only because some bloggers won't start using something else) but in all honesty, a lot of these files I can find through some of my favorite file sharing programs. Thankfully some soundtrack blogs are providing links to a couple or multiple file sharing sites. At least this gives us an option.

This isn't to say Megaupload is the best of the best... far from it. Uploading stuff to the site has become something frustrating so I most likely will be using a different site. However, when it comes to downloading from Megaupload, I've never had a problem.

Until I decided to buy a Rapidshare Premium account (which ain't likely) I will most likely not frequent the blogs that use it anymore. It's just a time waster to me. A real shame too because a few of my favorite blogs use it.

Rapidshare is a piece of junk so dirty even the Junkyard won't embrace it.

I'm done with it.

Escape From New York Original and Expanded Releases/John Carpenter

Sorry for the delay people. It's been awhile and I said there would be lots in store for Halloween. I have some catching up to do. However, I've been terribly busy with my own music career and various other things.

When I bought the Escape From New York soundtrack years ago it was the expanded version and it quickly became one of my all time favorite scores to listen to. Then I watcedh the movie again and noticed a significant difference between the instrumentation of certain cues on the Expanded Release and the film. Especially the Main Titles.

After doing some research I found that the way out of print original release contained the versions as they appeared in the film. Thankfully for me I remembered a used CD store I had been in the week before had a copy of the original Varese Release.

Needless to say I snagged that baby.

The Expanded release is fantastic as it's remastered and features some great tracks not available on the original release but the original release features some stuff not available on the Expanded.

Pros and Cons to both. That's why yet again, it's nice to have both versions.

TRACK LISTING:

Original Varese Release:

01. Main Title
02. Up The Wall/Airforce No.1
03. Orientation No.2
04. Engulfed Cathedral - Composed by Claude Debussy
05. Back To The Pod/The Crazies Come Out
06. Arrival At The Library
07. Everyone's Coming To New York
08. The Dukes Arrives/The Barricade
09. Police State/Romero And The President
10. The President At The Train
11. The President Is Gone
12. Chase Accross The 69th Street Bridge
13. Over The Wall

Expanded Release:

01. Main Title
02. The Bank Robbery *
03. "Prison Introduction" - Dialogue
04. Over the Wall/Airforce One
05. He's Still Alive/Romero *
06. "'Snake' Plissken" - Dialogue
07. Orientation
08. "Tell Him" - Dialogue
09. Engulfed Cathedral
10. Across the Roof *
11. Descent Into New York *
12. Back to the Pod - Version 1 *
13. Everyone's Coming to New York
14. "Don't Go Down There!" - Dialogue
15. Back to the Pod - Version 2 / The Crazies Come Out
16. "I Heard You Were Dead!" - Dialogue
17. Arrival at the Library
18. "You Are the Duke of New York" - Dialogue
19. The Duke Arrives/Barricade
20. President at the Train
21. "Who Are You?" - Dialogue
22. Police Action
23. Romero and the President
24. The President is Gone
25. 69th Street Bridge
26. Over the Wall
27. "The Name is Plissken" - Dialogue
28. Snake Shake - End Credits *

* Previously Unreleased Track

links in comments...

The Fog 35 Track Bootleg & Official Expanded Release/John Carpenter

Here is another nice double whammy for the Halloween Season.

The bootleg provided here features every cue of music in the film... even all the radio broadcast music. All of the stuff that you missed on the Varese and Silva Screen Editions are HERE. This is good stuff!

The official release by Silva Screen was an expanded version of the Varese release. I have provided this as well. The mastering work is nice and these tracks are a lot more straightforward of course than the bootleg which had a lot of cutoffs here and there due to the editing of the film from which it was taken straight from. Of course at the same time a lot of music is missing even on this expanded release which you will find on the bootleg. Pros and Cons to both versions. That's why you NEED both.

With both you are set with one of John Carpenter's finest entries in film scoring. The Fog was Carpenter at his prime.

Track Listing For Bootleg:
01. Opening (04:17)
02. Source Cue (00:08)
03. The Journal Of Father Malone (01:56)
04. Source Cue (00:08)
05. Source Cue (02:48)
06. Source Cue (00:58)
07. Terror On The Trawler (04:11)
08. Source Cue - Night Visitor (04:20)
09. Andy's Discovery (01:03)
10. Drive To The Light House (01:09)
11. Source Cue (00:28)
12. Visiting Malone (01:12)
13. Aboard The Seagrass Part 1 (00:50)
14. Aboard The Seagrass Part 2 (01:04)
15. Aboard The Seagrass Part 3 (02:34)
16. Nick's Story (00:51)
17. Kab Promos (00:54)
18. Six Must Die (00:59)
19. Source Cue (00:39)
20. Not Quite Dead (00:56)
21. Nightfall (01:33)
22. Source Cue (01:08)
23. Source Cue (01:52)
24. The Fog Rolls In (01:59)
25. Source Cue - Don't Open The Door (03:07)
26. Disconnected (01:21)
27. Power Cut (02:37)
28. Number Five (02:45)
29. Andy In Jeopardy - Fog Moves (00:50)
30. Escape (05:38)
31. Nowhere To Run (01:17)
32. Cross Of Gold (03:07)
33. As Suddenly As It Appeared... (02:38)
34. The Last One (00:21)
35. End Credits (03:01)


Track Listing For Official Expanded Release:
01. Prologue Narrated By John Houseman (02:37)
02. Theme From The Fog (05:09)
03. Matthew Ghost Story (02:50)
04. Walk To The Lighthouse (02:41)
05. Rocks At Drake's Bay (02:26)
06. The Fog (03:16)
07. Antonio Bay (04:28)
08. Tommy Tells Of Ghost Ships (02:16)
09. Reel 9 (10:59)
10. Main Theme Reprise (01:49)
11. The Fog Rolls In (02:50)
12. Blake In The Sanctuary (07:46)
13. Finale (01:21)
14. Radio Interview With Jamie Lee Curtis About The Fog (06:11)

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Assault On Precinct 13 Bootleg & Official Release/John Carpenter

I have a special double take on the same film here.

First up is the 27 Track Bootleg. It contains every single cue in the film (at least from what I can tell). Down to the ice cream truck music. Seriously. It doesn't get more complete than that. The sound quality I feel is pretty damn good. Some cues drop off and come back in but this is probably due to the editing of the film what with having to lower the music over dialog etc. This version is around 33 minutes long.

Years later I come across an official French release for the film that contains 16 tracks and is around 25 minutes long. Sound quality is better of course and contains all of the memorable stuff.

Even the complete bootleg is only complete by 8 minutes and in all honesty it can get pretty repetitive if you aren't an asshole completist like me.

Track Listing For The Bootleg:

01. Main Title (02:56) 
02. Blood Oath (01:55) 
03. Boarding the Bus (00:51) 
04. Street Thunder (01:23) 
05. Precinct 9 Division 13 (01:01) 
06. Targets (02:07) 
07. Ice Cream Man on Edge (01:34) 
08. Wrong Flavor (01:01) 
09. Discovery (01:04) 
10. Emergency Stopover (00:57) 
11. Lawson's Revenge (01:02) 
12. Sanctuary (01:02) 
13. The Siege (00:27) 
14. Calm (00:54) 
15. Marked for Something (01:50) 
16. Second Wave Part 1 (00:23) 
17. Second Wave Part 2 (00:27) 
18. Second Wave Part 3 (00:29) 
19. The Windows (01:59) 
20. Julie (01:50) 
21. Potatoes (00:27) 
22. Alone (00:32) 
23. Wells' Fight (01:42) 
24. To the Basement (01:04) 
25. Last Stand (00:27) 
26. Walking Out (01:00)
27. End Credits (01:58)

Track Listing Official Release:

01. Assault On Precinct 13 (Main Title)
02. Napoleon Wilson
03. Street Thunder
04. Precinct 9 - Division 13
05. Targets/Ice Cream Man On Edge
06. Wrong Flavour
07. Emergy Stop
08. Lawson's Revenge
09. Sanctuary?
10. Second Wave
11. The Windows!
12. Julie
13. Well's Flight
14. To The Basement
15. Walking Out
16. Assault On Precinct 13

links in comments...

Phantasm IV: Oblivion/Christopher L. Stone

Just watched this flick today for the first time and I think it may be my favorite sequel. It has a little bit more of the flavor the original had. A lot of scenes where you don't know whether it's a dream or not (maybe the entire series is one big bad dream).

A very ambiguous ending by the way, if you haven't seen it, but this just added to the reasons why I liked it. Oh yeah, and the sphere boobs scene. Classic.

I don't think there is anything available as far as Phantasm III goes. From what I have found out, III just used the score from II and there were a couple of scenes with original material.

The score for IV was an original score written by Christopher L. Stone. It has it's moments. Nothing like Fred Myrow's classic original and almost on par with all the sequels scores. It's something you'll like if you're a fan. And it doesn't make for bad spooky background music at all.

This is a 16 track promo with no track names.

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Phantasm II 31 Track Bootleg/Fred Myrow

I haven't listened to every single track yet but it sounds like a very decent quality bootleg from what I have heard. The music for the second film works well, though perhaps the first score was special for it's more funk-ti-fied take on some things. It was a lot more spooky than this score.

But this is nice to have if you're a fan of the film. I really like the new version of the main theme. Unless you're a completeist like me, you'll probably be satisfied with the bonus tracks on the original Phantasm soundtrack. But I for one am never satisfied. ;-)

No Track Names.

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Phantasm/Fred Myrow/Malcolm SeaGrave

BOOOYYY!

This is a piece of horror movie history. Not only one of my favorite horror films but one of my all time favorite pieces of cinema. It was more than just a good midnight movie. It was original, weird, surreal, and fantastic. Not one second goes by that isn't drenched in mood and atmosphere.

I have only recently seen some of the sequels, and while I enjoy them for being faithful honest to God enjoyable companion pieces, not a one compares to what this original has going for it. It's just something that can't be recaptured. You can tell the filmmakers were experimenting with some new weird ideas here and it shows in the delivery.

The music, again, was a product of it's time. It's brilliant and works fantastic in the film and as a (very) spooky stand alone listen.

This version I present to you is the larger 23 track edition put out by Silva Screen. It contains some music from Phantasm II.

Track Listing:
01. Intro and Main Title (From Phantasm)
02. Welcome to Morningside / Hand in the Box (From Phantasm)
03. Hearse Inferno (From Phantasm)
04. Phantasmagoria / Silver Sphere Disco (From Phantasm)
05. Tender Interlude (From Phantasm)
06. Cemetary Spectres (From Phantasm)
07. Spacegate to Infinity / Jody at Morningside / On the Move (From Phantasm)
08. Phantasm Atmosphere (From Phantasm)
09. The Tall Man on Main Street (From Phantasm)
10. Funeral Organ / Dwarf in Hearse (From Phantasm)
11. Under the Car (From Phantasm)
12. Mike on the Road (From Phantasm)
13. Hearse Chase (From Phantasm)
14. A Dwarf Named Buford (From Phantasm)
15. Overturned Ice-cream Truck (From Phantasm)
16. Mineshaft Chase (From Phantasm)
17. "Just a Dream?" (From Phantasm)
18. End of the Game (Or Is It?) (From Phantasm)
19. Prologue / The Big Dwarf Fight (From Phantasm II)
20. Blow Out / Aftermath / Creeping Around (From Phantasm II)
21. A Thoughful Moment / Confrontation (From Phantasm II)
22. Foul Ball / Final Battle / Finale / Blow Out (From Phantasm II)
23. Phantasm II - End Theme (From Phantasm II)

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Haunted Honeymoon 33 Track Bootleg/John Morris

Here is a nice score to have for the coming Halloween season. It's John Morris' score to the Gene Wilder directed "Haunted Honeymoon". Personally, I always felt it was an underrated comedy. The score is fantastic and memorable. This seems to have most every cue except for the part where Gilda Radner and Dom Deluise sing and there is a scary instrumental segment. The actual song is featured in the end credits which is on this bootleg but it would be nice to have the version that plays in the middle of the film.

Other than that, I couldn't ask for more. Except for maybe an official release which I'm pretty sure we won't see for a long long time.

Fun Fact: Gene Wilder and I share the same birthday of June 11th.

Tracks have no names just numbers.

Enjoy.

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IN REMEMBRANCE OF HENRY GIBSON/Charlotte's Web/The Sherman Brothers

I found out tonight when I got home that one of my childhood favorite actors had died. Henry Gibson. The co-star of many of my childhood favorite's like The 'Burbs and The Blues Brothers. He was always a co-star but always had an impact on the films he was featured in. He was always such a seemingly eccentric person. Unique in every way. Somehow this stood out for me as a kid and I became an everlasting fan. It's really hard for me to believe he is dead.



I bring you a very hard to find soundtrack here. It is the soundtrack for 'Charlotte's Web' in which Henry Gibson voiced Wilbur the Pig. This was only available on vinyl. A great soundtrack especially for anyone who grew up with the film like I did. I encourage you to listen to the track 'Deep In The Dark' and reminisce.

Check out some of Henry Gibson's flicks while you're at it.

When you are a child sometimes you can have bizarre heroes in your life and it's sad when you grow older and watch your childhood heroes die.

Track Listing:
1. Main Title (2:02)
2. There Must Be Something More (2:10)
3. I Can Talk (2:13)
4. Chin Up (2:08)
5. Mother Earth And Father Time(2:26)
6. We've Got Lots In Common (2:19)
7. A Veritable Smorgasbord (3:52)
8. Deep In The Dark (3:15)
9. Chin Up March (1:42)
10. Zuckerman's Famous Pig (1:58)
11. Charlotte's Farewell (1:16)
12. End Title (2:10)

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