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BAND, RICHARD  H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator (2014 Edition)  LP   (Waxwork)   27.00
H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator (2014 Edition) IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR ORDER

��� Finally have this cult classic score in stock, recently repressed by the folks at Waxwork after initially going out of print. The label's vinyl reissue of Richard Band's Re-animator score was one of the very first releases for the label, and naturally got them quite a bit of attention from horror circles; you'd have a tough time trying to find a film more emblematic of the excesses of 1980s horror, and Re-animator remains one of the most beloved movies from the era. Directed by the brilliant Stuart Gordon, this 1985 film was the first in a series of gory, gloopy adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft stories from the director, updating the weird tale of the original serial with massive doses of 80's gore and mayhem. Not to mention a big helping of pitch-black humor, too; alongside Evil Dead II and Return Of The Living Dead, this is a stone cold horror-comedy classic, capable of eliciting belly laughs one moment, and sheer revulsion in the next, such as the oh-so-infamous sequence of cadaverous cunnilingus in the film's climax that still packs one hell of a revolting punch.

��� And Richard Band's score for Re-animator is pretty iconic on its own. Instead of going for a synth-driven sound like many of his contemporaries, Band used the Rome Philharmonic Orchestra to perform his quirky score for the film, a score that directly referenced Bernard Herrmann's classic Psycho theme and extrapolated upon it for Re-animator's own theme. He actually caught a bit of heat over his "borrowing" of certain aspects of Herrmann's score, something that is discussed in the liner notes to Waxwork's reissue; listening to the two pieces of music back to back does point out some definite differences, with Band working the strings around wonky dissonant violins and a pounding disco-like backbeat. But from there Band crafts his own distinct mix of eerie orchestral sounds, strings that slowly weave an atmosphere of morbid whimsicality and building dread, somnambulant electronic drones and blasts of growling synthesizer that weaving in and out of the mix, drifting amid the low groan of cellos and the often thunderous percussion, while that main title theme recurs throughout Band's score, with the occasional shot of almost Carl Stalling/Danny Elfman-esque absurdism briefly appearing amid the darker, more disturbing sequences, perfectly evoking the film's balance of humor and horror.

��� He'd go on to produce a large body of music after this, but Re-animator still stands as one of Band's best scores, something that was more in the spirit of his beloved Herrmann and composers like James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith than the electronic scores that 80's horror is usually associated with. And this vinyl reissue is the best presentation this music has ever had, re-mastered from the original tapes and pressed on gorgeous green and white 180 gram vinyl, packaged in a killer-looking jacket designed by Gary Pullin, with a printed inner sleeve that features liner notes from Band and director Gordon that shed light on the Herrmann comparisons and the creation of the score, as well as some neat, rarely-seen photos of the recording session.