(2020) John Carpenter & Dave Davies - Village of the Damned [Deluxe Edition]


Review:
Village of the Damned is now expanded in a 2-disc presentation featuring extended cues, film versions of the score and the original 1995 soundtrack. Composed by John Carpenter and Kinks guitarist Dave Davies this score is a dark and suspenseful electronic score mixed with live instruments. Carpenter described their score as one of the most full, romantic scores he’d ever done. “My job as a composer is to support the drama, unify sequences, and heighten suspense.” Soundtracks can be very difficult to assess when they aren’t various-artists compilations, especially when one considers that the music is written specifically to create a mood for a visual scene. In that sense, it seems that the music should be assessed in relation to the film; however, the film’s visuals do not accompany the CD. This music on this CD was designed to accompany a horror film, and so this particular soundtrack is full of atmospheric sounds created, for the most part, on synthesizers. The real treat for the listener is when Dave Davies is allowed to spotlight his brilliant guitar playing. Davies is a very talented guitarist, and this is especially demonstrated on tracks such as “The Funeral” and “The Fair,” both heartbreakingly beautiful with incredible melodies. John Carpenter is a surprisingly good keyboardist and creates some very interesting sounds and melodies. The album is instrumental, with the exception of a “reading” from Mark Hamill which is not only pointless, but out of place on this CD. The songs tend to blend into each other, with few differences.





Tracklist:

Disc 1: Film score
01.Angel of Death/Midwich Sleeps/Daybreak
02.The Fair (Extended Version)
03.Gas Station/Asleep
04.Awaken/The Funeral
05.Welcome Home, Ben (Extended Version)
06.Big Meeting/The Decision
07.The Same Dream
08.Baptism (Extended Version
09.Baby Mara
10.Children’s Theme/Dilemma
11.The Parents Arrive
12.Children’s Carol (Instrumental)
13.Loss/Carol of the Damned
14.Carlton
15.Ben’s Death/Ultimatum
16.Burning Desire (Extended Version)
17.Last Kiss/The Bomb
18.The Brick Wall (Extended Version)
19.March of the Children (End Credits)

Disc 2: Original soundtrack
01.March of the Children
02.Children’s Carol
03.Angel of Death
04.Daybreak
05.The Fair
06.The Children’s Theme
07.Ben’s Death
08.The Funeral
09.Midwich Shuffle
10.Baptism
11.Burning Desire
12.Welcome Home, Ben
13.The Brick Wall
14.Awaken (Film Version)
15.Baby Mara (Film Version)
16.Carlton (Film Version)
17.March of the Children (Alternate Mix)


Media Report:
Genre: original soundtrack
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits