Picked this up last week in Sydney to add to by collection of John Carpenter movie soundtracks (which is now quite large!)
Released as part of last year’s (2021) Record Store Day. This is a limited edition 2 LP on marbled orange vinyl. I think this might be the first release on vinyl actually.
The cover is interesting, and is a departure from the original cover (styled after the main movie poster and home video releases – the three children’s faces). Shows a large eye with the children walking up the street.
The gatefold contains a decent amount of notes on the music and movie. Quite nice!
The music itself has some interesting ‘non-Carpenter’ parts. Particularly a few early tracks such as The Fair and The Funeral that have some nice acoustic guitar in them. These reminded me of the soundtrack to the game Firewatch. Much of this was probably influenced with his collaboration with Dave Davies (yes, of The Kinks!) on this soundtrack.
Aside from these tracks, there is a lot you will recognize of John Carpenter’s work. The album gets more haunting and dark as it progresses, with plenting of synths, dark tones and mounting orchestral work at the end.
Also included is the out-of-place ‘Midwich Shuffle’. This reminds me of stuff on They Live and Big Trouble in Little China, and just doesn’t belong here. In fact it wasn’t even in the movie, being produced for the original CD OST.
Not too bad a soundtrack really – quite unique for John Carpenter, and the vinyl does sound lovely, aside from a few pops and clicks here and there.
