Smilin' J,
I love having a great sounding CD of the score, but what about that horrible, 35 minutes of bad sounding "straight from the rear channel" stuff with all the sound effects?
I still stand by my review, which I posted back in February of this disc:
Sometimes you wait for something too long and when you finally get it, there’s a strange sense of melancholy: you aren’t as impressed with having it as you were wanting it.
For me, this is unfortunately the case with Numenorean Music’s new, limited edition release of the score for “Day of the Dead.”
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to finally have a CD version of John Harrison’s well-crafted and memorable score. I’ve always been a fan of this one, and somewhere I’ve got the original LP release (from a short-lived outfit called “Saturn Records” if I’m not mistaken), and having a great sounding disc of that album is something I couldn’t be happier about.
For those of you who don’t recall, Harrison’s (mostly) electronic score is a surprisingly upbeat, fast-paced, rock-influenced affair, with some interesting Caribbean flavor added to represent both the Florida locale and the character of “Flyboy” John. It’s actually a pretty solid achievement in film scoring. The score is scene, character and location specific: everyone and every place has their theme. (Listen to “Breakdown” or “The Dead Suite” --both highlights -- and you’ll find yourself able to easily pick out whose scene is playing out.)
Dramatically, a production of this small scale couldn’t have hoped for a stronger underscore. And it succeeds at overcoming its low-budget restraints quite nicely. Sure it’s out-dated synth-stuff, but why else would you buy a “Day of the Dead” CD? Listened to Goblin’s “Dawn of the Dead” score lately?
So, what’s wrong with it, you ask? It’s a case of being spoiled. Of late, there have been a large number of “expanded” score CD’s released of many classic film scores. If this disc had contained nothing more than the original LP tracks, I would have been satisfied. There’s never been one (officially), and the album WAS great. However, as George Romero himself points out, in the discs excellent liner notes, the film itself is scored nearly wall-to-wall. There was always a great deal of unreleased music heard in the film. Some truly great cues as well as differing mixes of material that never wound up on the album.
What Numenorean Music has given us is something quite disappointing. The tracks from the original LP are intact, albeit in a completely different order than they were represented there. This portion of the CD is followed by an absolutely embarrassing section, clocking in at nearly 35 minutes, containing previously unreleased tracks and all of the sound effects for the scenes in which the music appears.
To clarify: the music is playing and all the while, sound effects from the film are audible. No dialogue (thankfully), but every single sound effect, from footsteps and the groaning of zombies, to alarm claxons and zapping electricity.
The only explanations given for this anomaly are favorable. Harrison himself says that “these tracks were ‘rescued’ from deep within forgotten vaults, and Numenorean has done an outstanding job of restoring them, including sound effects and zombie moans direct from the film soundtrack. Despite the occasional inexplicable music edit executed long ago by some unknown troll, they’re a hell of a lot of fun.”
The “inexplicable” music edits he mentions are garish, amateur-hour recording fiascos. I can’t begin to explain to you why someone thought listening to the isolated rear channel of the “Day of the Dead” DVD would be fun, but that’s what it’s like. The 21 minute final cue, “Dead End” contains so many drop outs and stuttering music edits that I was checking my CD player for malfunctions. (CYNICAL NOTE: The packaging amusingly lists the film as rated ‘R’ with the MPAA’s official logo. While I know the movie never received that rating, do you think the MUSIC was edited to get an R? You’ll start to think so when you hear this part of the disc.) And, to add insult to injury, much of this music is repetitive: it appears in earlier tracks from the LP recording.
So...It’s a limited edition. It’s got the fantastic LP arrangements of the films’ solid original score. If these are good enough reasons for you, check it out. (Try <a href="
http://www.numenoreanmusic.com.)" target="_blank">www.numenoreanmusic.com.)</a> On the downside, it’s got those awful songs from the LP (one of which I don’t think even made it into the finished film) and someone’s desperate attempt to include “previously unreleased material” by seemingly taping the rear channel off the DVD. I wish I was exaggerating.
