Veröffentlichung BSX: NEAR DARK (Tangerine Dream) & SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT (Richard Stone)

[Alexander Grodzinski]

BUYSOUNDTRAX Records presents the soundtrack for NEAR DARK, featuring music composed and performed by Tangerine Dream for the 1987 cult horror film directed by Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK, THE HURT LOCKER, ZERO DARK THIRTY), written by Eric Red (THE HITCHER) and starring Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein, Jenny Wright, Adrian Pasdar,  Joshua Miller and Tim Thomerson.

 NEAR DARK tells the story of small town boy Caleb (Pasdar) who meets Mae (Wright) on the street outside an ice cream parlor one night. Immediately smitten, Caleb is happy to oblige her request for a ride home for the price of a kiss. Instead of a kiss, Caleb receives a bite as he finds out the hard way that Mae is a vampire. Unable to start his truck, he starts to walk back home but as the sun begins to rise, he gets sicker and sicker. Just as he is about to arrive home, an RV appears behind him and he is pulled inside. His father, Loy (Thomerson), sees what has happened and immediately assumes that his son has been kidnapped. The truth is far more terrifying.

Inside the RV, Caleb awakens to find Mae and her surrogate family of vampires. Jesse Hooker (Henriksen) is the leader of the clan, along with his mate, Diamondback (Goldstein), Severin (Paxton) and the youngest, Homer (Miller). Instead of taking Caleb’s life, Mae has turned him into a vampire, which puts the entire family in danger of being discovered. Jesse gives Caleb a choice: If he can carry his own weight and, more importantly, kill on his own, he will be allowed to live. Mae tries to teach Caleb to kill for blood but he continues to resist and Mae is forced to kill for them both, allowing Caleb to feed off of her. As time passes, Caleb and his new family get farther and farther away from his old life, travelling from one small town to the next, in an ever-escalating pattern of violence. Unknown to Caleb, Loy and his sister are following the trail of bodies which will inevitably lead to a confrontation where Caleb will be forced to make a choice or Jesse will make it for him.

NEAR DARK was the first solo directorial feature for director Kathyrn Bigelow. Co-written with Bigelow’s friend, Eric Red, NEAR DARK mixed elements of the vampire movie with that of the Western and biker genres. The film also had the benefit of being extremely well cast. Henriksen, Paxton, and Goldstein had all just been in James Cameron’s ALIENS the previous year and brought that chemistry with them into NEAR DARK. Surprisingly released the same weekend as THE LOST BOYS, which easily eclipsed NEAR DARK at the box office, Bigelow’s NEAR DARK has gone on to achieve the higher critical recognition.  Both films tried to redefine the vampire legend by shedding the Gothic trappings that characterized vampire movies for decades and succeeded in different ways.

The producers of the film had succeeded in making a unique vampire film and were intent on hiring someone to produce music for the film that also would not sound like a typical vampire film. They turned to the German electronic band Tangerine Dream. At the time of NEAR DARK, Tangerine Dream’s line up consisted of Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke, and Paul Haslinger, who collaborated equally on composing and performing all of their music. Coming out of ambient electronic rock, Tangerine Dream’s music is characterized by progressive atmospheres, although in later film projects such as LEGEND, they would begin to experiment more with melodic structures.   Their music for NEAR DARK is primarily based on ambiance and tempo, with an emphasis on minimalistic riffing and slowly developed rhythm pads which are built up with progressive layers of electronic and acoustic instrumentation.

Previously released on compact disc in 1987 and out of print for many years, BUYSOUNDTRAX Records brings NEAR DARK back to compact disc with remastered sound by Digital Outland. The booklet includes new liner notes by author Randall Larson on the production of the film and the creation of the score.

Near Dark is a Limited Edition of 2000 Units.

 

1. Caleb's Blues (3:21)

2. Pick Up At High Noon (5:00)

3. Rain In The Third House (2:59)

4. Bus Station

(includes Des Mae's Theme) (8:43)

5. Goodtimes (2:36)

6. She's My Sister (Resurrection I) (7:21)

7. Mae Comes Back (2:03)

8. Father And Son (Resurrection II) (2:58)

9. Severen Dies (2:49)

10. Fight At Dawn (4:40)

11. Mae's Transformation (4:22)

 

BSXCD-8924

Original Motion

Picture Soundtrack

Near Dark

Music by

Tangerine Dream

 

$15.95

 

Ships the week of 4/8/13

BUYSOUNDTRAX Records presents the soundtrack for SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT, featuring music composed by Richard Stone (PUMPKINHEAD, TINY TOON ADVENTURES, ANIMANIACS, PINKY AND THE BRAIN)and conducted by Allan Wilson for the 1989 cult horror film directed by Anthony Hickox (WAXWORK, HELLRAISER III, FULL ECLIPSE), written by John Burgess and starring David Carradine, Morgan Brittany, Jim Metzler, Bruce Campbell, Deborah Foreman, Maxwell Caulfield, John Ireland, Dana Ashbrook, M. Emmett Walsh and George ‘Buck’ Flower.

SUNDOWN tells the story of the people of a small American town in the middle of nowhere called Purgatory. The townsfolk of Purgatory are a mean and ornery lot for one very good reason… they’re vampires! Lounging around by day, wearing extreme sunblock, they wait for the sun to go down and then feast with gusto. The town’s leader, Count Jozek Mordulak (Carradine), has eliminated the need to hunt for fresh blood by having a machine installed that synthesizes an alternative to human blood, thus eliminating the need to hunt for victims. When the machine begins to malfunction, Mordulak sends for David Harrison (Meltzer) to service the machine before the townsfolk get out of control. Harrison answers the call for help and arrives in Purgatory with his wife and two daughters. Unknown to David and his family, a Fundamentalist vampire named Jefferson (Ireland) has been planning a coup to overthrow Mordulak and return to the old ways of hunting humans for their sustenance. Meanwhile, a direct descendant of the legendary vampire hunter, Abraham Van Helsing (Campbell), has also arrived in Purgatory with a half-cooked plan to slay all the vampires, a plan that quickly backfires. David and Van Helsing soon find themselves right in the middle of the escalating civil war between Mordulak and Jefferson.

To score SUNDOWN, director Antony Hickox was looking for a composer who could provide a rousing orchestral score comparable to the work of Elmer Bernstein or Ennio Morricone from many classic Westerns. However he lacked the monetary resources to hire either of those two legendary composers. The trend in horror films at the time favored electronic scores over orchestral scores for this very reason but Hickox was determined to get the right score for his film. Choosing raw talent over name recognition, Hickox hired Richard Stone, a gregarious up-and-coming composer who was eager to demonstrate his eclectic orchestral style and flair for aggressive storytelling. Stone had already established himself as a music editor for several prestigious composers including Georges Delerue and Maurice Jarre. His earliest feature film composing credits included SUMMER HEAT, NORTH SHORE and PUMPKINHEAD, which he scored for renowned make-up wizard and first-time director Stan Winston. Backed by an elite team of orchestrators including Conrad Pope, Philip Giffin and Mark Watters, Stone's music for SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT reflects a spirit and passion for cinema seldom expressed in low-budget filmmaking and usually discouraged. The final result is a large scale orchestral score sure to appeal to fans of great filmmusic.

Previously released on compact disc in 1990 and out of print for many years, BUYSOUNDTRAX Records brings SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT back to compact disc, featuring music composed by Richard Stone and conducted by Allan Wilson, performed by the Graunke Symphony Orchestra, with remastered sound by Digital Outland. The booklet includes new liner notes by writer Brian Satterwhite on the film’s production and the creation of this exciting large scale orchestral score.

 

SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT is a limited edition release of 1000 units.

 

1. Overture And Shane's Ride (03:56)

2. The Gathering (03:06)

3. Van Helsing Drops In (02:56)

4. Night Flight (02:01)

5. Seduction (02:25)

6. Count Mardulak (02:39)

7. Shane In Pursuit (02:41)

8. Come To Bed (01:23)

9. Mort's Duel In The Sun (01:59)

10. Attack And Retreat (04:16)

11. The Siege (01:52)

12. Mort's Drive Through Purgatory (00:43)

13. Sandy Handcuffed (04:58)

14. Anna Und Otto (01:30)

15. Mardulak's Speech (02:03)

16. Hell In Purgatory (03:30)

17. Showdown (02:36)

18. Redemption Of The Damned

(Finale) (05:43)

 

BSXCD-8923

Original Motion

Picture Soundtrack

Sundown:

The Vampire In Retreat

Music by

Richard Stone

Performed by the

Graunke Symphony Orchestra

Conducted by Allan Wilson

 

$15.95

 

Ships the week of 4/8/13

 

[Dino]

Beides gute Scores, die ich in den jeweils alten CD-Ausgaben besitze.

Cover-mäßig sehn diese Neuauflagen jedoch eher öd aus, vor allem "Sundown"... herrje!

[Souchak]

 Cover-mäßig sehn diese Neuauflagen jedoch eher öd aus, vor allem "Sundown"... herrje!

 

Ja, das hat schon LLL-Qualität...

[scorefun]

Wie jetzt? Keine BSX-exklusive Neueinspielung bei NEAR DARK

 

Aber brauchen tue ich das nicht - und Sundown habe ich bereits