I got an e-mail from Alan Howarth the other day and I had asked him in a previous e-mail about new soundtrack versions to H 2,4,5,6. He said there would be newer albums to those films soon, “just keep checking back on my web-site”. http://www.alanhowarth.com/pgcart.pga?=&limitstart=0&limitmax=8
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wanted the producers cut music to H6.
Incase you didn’t know Howarth has been re-releasing quite a few of the soundtracks to John Carpenters movies in their entirety. Meaning you get ever piece of music from the movie. So far you can get the entire scores to: Escape from New York, Halloween 3, Prince of Darkness, They Live, and just recently released Big Trouble in Little China. Most of these are done in double CD formats. Howarth also have been putting a few treats on some of the albums like sound effects, alternate takes, or dialogue (my personal favorite is the eerie sounding radio transmission from Prince of Darkness).
Good stuff for John Carptner and Alan Howarth fans. Their collaboration (for me) defined 80’s horror music.
Awesome! I’ve been debating getting the Prince of Darkness soundtrack, but since you mentioned that Radio Broadcast (which REALLY creeped me out) I HAVE to pick it up now. I got my Big Trouble CD in last week, and it’s the balls! Great double CD with fantastic packaging.
Oh yeah that Radio Transmission is very freaky. Also on the album you get the Bug guy dialogue: That’s pretty f—ed up sounding too.
I’ve been listening to Big Trouble… all week in my car. It’s got some really nice pieces on it. I think I read somewhere that Carpenter considered that album to be his Star Wars album. LOL
Yeah the sound quality is A-1 on Big Trouble as well. Good remastering. I can see how Carpenter feels it’s his “Star Wars” - it’s very ambitious sounding, and some of the stuff doesn’t come off as sounding too “synthy”. And of course, the “Theme Song” with all the guys singing…Classic!
wow wow wow. . . this is a dream come true!!! i love music in general. . but HALLOWEEN 4 is one of the best albums PERIOD!!! come on. . who thefuck didnt love “The Shape returns!!” i use it to write ALL THE TIME!!
Yeah I hear you on that one…I’ love to listen to scary music, especially film scores, when I’m writing or drawing…That’s one of the most often played tracks on my iPod now. 4’s music is right up there with the best of the Halloween’s…
This is awesome news to hear! I have been wanting the extended version of Halloween 2 for the longest time and now it looks like we may finally be getting it soon. Ever since they started doing those extended CD’s, I was hoping it would trickle down to the other movies as well.
Well one of the biggest problems with the past releases was you could only fit 45 mins of music on a Tape or LP. Now with CD’s you can put almost double that on one disc.
Also another thing you might not know is when an album says limited to 3,500 copies, that mean’s the composer doesn’t have to pay a union for a re-release of an album as along as they don’t produce over 3,500 copies of an album. There is some kind of musician and union labor law about re-releasing albums. I know John and Alan used synthesizers to do the music but I’m pretty sure they still had to pay union workers to get the album put out, recorded, mixed, edited, etc.
True but cds have been around since 1980 I believe, so only Halloween and maybe Halloween II would have suffered from the analog vs digital format. That doesn’t explain the “edited” versions that were released any better than the reason why we STILL have none of the tv footage, producer’s cuts nor unseen footage in its proper form.
Yeah that is true. But CD’s in the 80’s where very high and so were the players. As a kid I could only afford tapes. I mean giving the choice of buying one CD or using that money to buy two tapes, I went with the tapes. It wasn’t until the 90’s that most people could afford them and the price dropped. Nonetheless the CD release of H 5 & 6 was pretty solid about filling up the total time on a CD. Also today you got to take in account how a lot of albums are getting re-mastered. That costs more to do but I think it’s worth it.
I don’t mind double dipping if it’s been 10 years since I bought the original but when it comes back out a year later or so with the “new special edition, collectors, extended, grand directors cut version” I get a little pissed off, especially with DVDs.
Yes, this is very true! Alan & I had one of our many/lengthy conversations, about this very topic. I pointed to the Halloween III: Extended Edition CD on his table & I asked him if he ever planned on doing anything like that for Halloween II. He said “Yes” & needless to say, I moved my chair a little closer. LOL I told him that it’s so funny because, there’s music that’s in the movie, but not on the soundtrack & vice versa. I told him certain scenes & he just sat there with his mouth agape! He said tat the Halloween II one might take longer than the other ones. I also asked him what the deal was with the first US release of the Halloween soundtrack & why it sounded different from the original music we heard in the film. He said that Varese Sarabande approached John Carpenter about the soundtrack. So, as Alan put it, John gave me the original master tapes & told me to do whatever I wanted with them. He told me to spruce/doctor them up for modern sound systems, etc. That’s why there was so much base & synthesizer. I told him that I threw away two perfectly good stereo systems because, I thought they were broken. LOL
Dude that is awesome. I would love to me Mr. Howarth. He seems like a really nice guy with a hippy vibe about him. Glad you got some inside info on some of the Halloween music. I always liked the first release of H1 from Varese Sarabande. The re-release of H1 music was ok but I could have did without the dialogue thrown in there. I’m the type of person who wants to just listen to the music.
I’m hoping in the other Halloween scores that he will be re-releasing, that he will throw in some sound effects and stinger on separate tracks.
Also today on the net I came across a rare find. As far as I know this album was never released commercially, but John Carpenter did the video game music to a game called Return of the Sentinel. Here is the link if your interested http://rs572.rapidshare.com/files/197399016/sentinela_returna_JCr12.zip
Yes, Mr. Howarth is an awesome man, for sure! I had many/very in depth conversations with him regarding the Halloween films. He told me that he didn’t mind telling me that he got a little emotional & choked up when he did the live set at the 30 Years of Terror Convention. I know what you are saying about the first release of H1 from Varese Sarabande, but I liked the re-release better, for that was what Carpenter originally wrote & performed.
I, too hope that he adds those sound effects & stingers on the new special editions. On the H2 one, off the top of my head, I hope there’s the following tracks…
1.) Halloween II Theme from the Ben Tramer death/kill scene
2.) The Town Square Halloween II Theme right after Boom-Box Boy/Lance bumps into The Shape/Dick
3.) The Halloween Theme when Laurie sees him in the hospital parking lot & she is banging on the doors for help.
On the H4 one, I can only think of one off the top of my head & that’s the music that’s heard when Jamie Lloyd is in front of the mirror holding up the clown costume, the reflection of Young Michael Myers is in the mirror & then, Jamie backs up into Michael & he pushes her into the glass. It starts off with cords being played & then goes into a rendition of the Halloween theme.
For the Halloween 6 one, I hope that there’s the Halloween theme that played over the end credits of the producer’s cut.
Also, on the H2 soundtrack, there is an excerpt on there that wasn’t in the movie at all. However, it was in H1. It’s the music when Dr. Loomis & Nurse Marion Chambers go to Smith’s Grove to pick up Michael. It’s the Halloween theme with the stingers with Nick Castle jumping on the car & putting his hand through the open drivers side window. But, this is on the H2 soundtrack & is done in H2 style. It doesn’t appear anywhere in the film though. After reading the H2 novel, I think I figured out where It might have gone. The music might have been written for this scene, but the scene was never filmed. In the H2 movie Tie-in novel, the WWAR Producer has a bigger part in the novel. She is the one in H2 that said “I want to concentrate on the house. You need the parents permission to get a statement. If you can find the parents, get a statement anyway.” Well, there was a scene in the book where she was driving back to the newsroom, them her car broke down. She was looking around in the trunk for something, and The Shape jumps out & does her in.
Technically, the Track “He Knows Where She Is” is the boombox boy bump-in scene, without the initial stinger, and an extended bit before the bass comes in. But I too would love to hear it the way it was in the film.
My favourite scene in ALL of the Halloween movies. I’d love to just hear that part over and over again!!!
ROUGHLY by memory here are all the “tracks” that i would LOVE the seen included that either were never included in a theatrical OST or the version released was a little off. . ( i notice the subtlest shite)
HALLOWEEN II:
i cant think of a track that is not on the OST if i can recall i believe they said they reused so much of the music that they had little to put on the score. . hence why they included the shape escapes H2 style. .
HALLOWEEN III:
THE FUCKING KKILL COMERCIAL1!!! i was so upset when this wasnt in the new H3 score. . oh well
HALLOWEEN 4
mechanic kill
Vincent drug store Jamie costume
Jamie attacks step mother
(any and all other music including unused scored pieces)
HALLOWEEN 5
the nightmare/jamie attacks step mother
goofy cops (why not. . fuck)
Spitz fake shape
i sware there are others to this and 4. . but again this is off top of HEAD.
HALLOWEEN 6
HOLY FUCK THIS WILL HAVE TO BE A MOTHER LOAD
PCUT:
(JAMIE ESCAPES V.1)
EXTENDED EMPTY STOMACH + Doyle investigates (an extended lauries theme that I LOVED!!)
PRODUCERS CUT FINALE - PCUT THEME
THEATRICAL:
ALL OF THE WEIRD “weeeee woooooo” jingles etc
metal shape stalks is definatelly A MUST!!!
much of this score is NOT on the OST
you know i would love it if howarth included some new unique takes on some of these themes. . much like his performance at the convention!
He said tat the Halloween II one might take longer than the other ones. I also asked him what the deal was with the first US release of the Halloween soundtrack & why it sounded different from the original music we heard in the film. He said that Varese Sarabande approached John Carpenter about the soundtrack. So, as Alan put it, John gave me the original master tapes & told me to do whatever I wanted with them. He told me to spruce/doctor them up for modern sound systems, etc. That’s why there was so much base & synthesizer. I told him that I threw away two perfectly good stereo systems because, I thought they were broken. LOL