Soundtrack News + TV Soundtrack Reviews

Before I get to the soundtrack material, just a head’s up my teaser trailer for my video store doc BSV 1172 is now up & running on YouTube and Vimeo, with related blogs. Feel free to check out the video first in Chapter 3, and a making-of blog with vintage gear pictures in Chapter 4. The doc is more an exploration of a space in front of and behind the counter of one of Toronto’s biggest indie video stores, Bay Street Video, and features a unique fusion of vintage analogue and digital footage and effects.

Now then.

Fans of Jay Chattaway’s Maniac Cop 2 [M] score will be happy to know the roughly 35 min. score will be released on CD December 3 by Blue Underground. I think this is the video label’s first foray into soundtrack albums, and their debut release is limited to 1000 copies. I reviewed the old First Look DVD two years ago, and felt the movie, which co-stars Bruce Campbell, wasn’t just an underrated action classic with incredible stunt work (seriously: the car chases and man-on-fire sequences are superb), but features a solid score from Chattaway. I’ll pick up the Blu-ray ‘round Xmas and have a review in time for the seasonal holidays.

And speaking of Bruce, my review for Twilight Time’s new BR of Mindwarp (1992) will appear alongside The Other (1972) in an upcoming issue of Rue Morgue magazine. Co-starring with Phantasm’s Angust Scrimm, Mindwarp has Bruce Campbell as a manly hero, although because we’ve seen him get smacked around, tormented, and scream madly in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead triptych, whatever performance gravitas kind of evaporates, and it often feels like we’re watching Ash survive that post-apocalyptic world that closed the European cut of Army of Darkness (1993).

As for The Other, when the expanded review runs on KQEK.com, I’ll get into the film’s editing style, which is really unique for maintaining both unease and momentum in a rather slow-moving film. Like Mindwarp, The Other also features an isolated stereo score track.

Lastly, Perseverance Records announced Tangerine Dream’s Thief (1978) is being reissued from crisp masters, and will mark the first time those pesky cues – TD’s “Beach Scene” and Craig Safan’s “Confrontation” – exclusive to the European and U.S. releases respectively will appear on one disc. Great news, and a nice tie-in to Criterion’s upcoming Blu-ray edition of Michael Mann’s sleek crime classic.

I used to see the album cover in the LP bins at Records on Wheels when I was in high school, and gambled on the score having never seen the film, but being smitten by that gorgeous cover art that’s been reproduced by Perseverance. That platter – a nice British import, which was typical of the store – became an oft-played favourite, and it’s still a benchmark in electronic film music. (In fact I’m pretty sure as soon as I uploaded this post, I’ll reach for the album. The epic, nearly 11 min. “Diamond Diary,” the amorphous “Igneous” and the pulsing “Dr. Destructo” are amazing cues. Probably the best film tracks ever written by the band.)

Moving on, I’ve uploaded a quartet of 2-disc soundtrack albums released by La-La Land Record, of which two are from short-lived TV series: Bear McCreary’s music from the TV series Caprica [M], J. Peter Robinson’s Charmed [M], Mark Snow & Louis Febre’s Smallville [M], and Brian Tyler’s Terra Nova [M].

Coming next: review of Twilight Time’s Drums Along the Mohawk, and Tinto Brass’ Private and Snack Bar Budapest.

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Category: FILM MUSIC