Published on Jul 26, 2000
It seems like the big fad these days in music marketing is the
repackaging of motion picture soundtracks with previously
unreleased material and information about the movies themselves. If
you’re someone like Roger Ebert, or you’re simply a movie buff,
such releases have to be sweet nectar to you.
Then, there’s people like me. I maybe go out to a movie three
times a year – and two of those outings are along the lines of
Disney films or
Rugrats. I maybe rent 20 films a year from Blockbuster or
Hollywood – the last movie I sat down to watch in its entirety was
Man On The Moon.
So I can’t quite explain why I was somewhat excited about
receiving the re-issued soundtrack to
Escape From New York, a 1981 film that I’ve only seen bits
and pieces of thanks to countless showings by my uncle every
Memorial Day in the mid-’80s. This soundtrack is quite different
from the ones you might be used to; instead of richly orchestrated
songs that carry the plot forward, this one is sparse and dark, the
synthesizers emphasizing an aura of doom around the action. If it
weren’t for the dialog snippets thrown in from time to time, you
might not know what was happening in the movie. In short, it’s
pretty damned entertaining.
Ah, the dialog – believe it or not, I’m thrilled that it’s
included on this disc. Hearing the sound bites featuring people
like Kurt Russell or Issac Hayes helps to add a real texture to the
final product – and it sounds incredibly natural to have them
included. I don’t know why it works so well; on many other
soundtracks, I’d probably be complaining about them being included.
But in the context of John Carpenter’s music, they fit like hand in
glove.
Carpenter – who also wrote and directed the film – composed and
performed nearly all the music on
Escape From New York, and the use of the synthesizer
throughout pieces such as “The Bank Robbery,” “Over The Wall,”
“Snake Shake – End Credits” and “The Duke Arrives / Barricade”
really helps to set the dark mood of the movie scene itself. In
cases such as “Snake Shake”, it’s really hard to believe that some
of these tracks have sat unreleased all these years.
There is, however, one major bone I have to pick with Carpenter
– namely, the song “Everyone’s Coming To New York”. Done in a
Broadway-musical style (with sparse instrumentation), this is a
song that’s going to bore into your brain like a termite through
pressboard – and, frankly, I want it out… now. It’s so camp, it’s
downright annoying – and hearing it in your head for three hours
after you’ve finished the disc itself doesn’t help matters.
The only other drawback I can see to a disc such as
Escape From New York is its sound is not always the most
approachable. You really have to be willing to open yourself up to
an entirely different musical frame of mind – of course, being in a
bad mood helps matters along. If you’re able to transcend into the
level of the music, though, you’re bound to have a good ol’
time.
Escape From New York is the kind of disc that will make
people who haven’t seen this movie in years rush out to rent a
copy. Me? All I know is that my interest in this film has greatly
increased – and I’ll see you in Hollywood Video, fighting for the
last rental copy of this one.