Sip and Spin
“Music isn’t just for listening, it’s a lifestyle. Every record, every record store, and every piece of gear tells a story. Sip… Spin… Repeat..”
Hey all! Mike D. here and welcome to my Recordholics Anonymous blog! I planned to start off with a little introduction to myself, but timing is EVERYTHING! Introductions can wait!
The spooky-ooky season has come and gone, but let’s crack open a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest and let’s keep the creepiness going with something from my collection; the original motion picture soundtrack for “Halloween (2018)”. As a movie, it has received some mixed reviews, but as a soundtrack, there is no denying this is John Carpenter GOLD. The original soundtrack from the 1978 has been on my search list for as long as I have been collecting records. Sure, I can find it on discogs or ebay and sure I can buy a reissue, but I want… nay… NEED an OG pressing from a record store! Until then, I figured Carpenter’s reinsertion into the Halloween movie franchise would have to suffice and boy was I right.
When this soundtrack hit the stores, there were a ton of exclusive colors from various dealers (all of which contained the same gatefold from what I understand). I went with the Bull Moose Music Pumpkin Orange Vinyl Exclusive because… well it’s Halloween and pumpkin orange vinyl just makes sense to me.
Ok enough chit-chat… let’s take another swig of Octoberfest and drop the needle!
From the start, you are immediately pulled in by the first 2 tracks which are none other than the Halloween and Laurie’s Theme, staples from the 1978 soundtrack. They are a bit modernized but stay true to the 1978 classic. After that, you are fully immersed in the dark synth/piano and electronic percussion work of John, his son Cody Carpenter, and his godson Daniel Davies, all of which can be heard in Carpenter’s original works, but unlike his original albums, the movie has to dictate the direction of the music.
“We wanted to honor the original Halloween soundtrack in terms of the sounds we used,” Davies explained. “We used a lot of the Dave Smith OB-6, bowed guitar, Roland Juno, Korg, Roli, Moog, Roland System 1, Roland System 8, different guitar pedals, mellotron, and piano.”
“Being limited by the length of time in scoring the sequence, we focused on the director’s tempo, timing, and vision,” Davies said. “He would tell us what he had in mind, how long the cue should be, what emotion he wanted, and we would take it from there. It’s only the three of us, there is no elaborate system. We wrote, performed, and orchestrated everything.”
John Carpenter not only created the iconic Michael Myers and pioneered the “slasher” sub-genre, but was a trailblazer for horror soundtracks for the decades that followed. 35 years later and nearly 20 years since his last soundtrack composition, it was great to have him back and look forward to him composing the final 2 (ha… yeah right) Halloween movies!
Be on the lookout for John Carpenters’ “Lost Themes III” coming soon.
Source: johncarpenter.com
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel Davies – Halloween (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Label: Sacred Bones Records – SBR-213
Series: Dinked Edition – No.2
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Orange [Pumpkin Orange – Bull Moose Music Exclusive]
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