{"id":6494,"date":"2013-04-30T12:35:57","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T16:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6494"},"modified":"2013-04-30T12:35:57","modified_gmt":"2013-04-30T16:35:57","slug":"cd-dawn-of-the-dead-the-unreleased-incidental-music-pre-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6494","title":{"rendered":"CD: Dawn of the Dead – The Unreleased Incidental Music (pre-1978)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>D<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: Trunk Records (U.K.)\/ Released: May 19, 2004<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 14 tracks \/ (38:44)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: Colour booklet \/ Limited to 1000 copies<\/p>\n

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Composers: erbert Chappell, Paul Lemel, Eric Towren, Pretty Things, Simon Park, Jack Trombey, Derek Scott, Reg Tilsley, Barry Stiller, Pierre Arvay, Simon Park.<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

For Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> (1978), the sequel to Night of the Living Dead<\/a><\/strong> (1968), George Romero went back to a stock music library \u2013 opting this time for the DeWolfe<\/a> catalogue instead of the Capitol Hi-Q \u2013 and reportedly selected 60+ number cues that would fit alongside the original score composed by the prog-rock band Goblin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most of Goblin\u2019s score was used in the European edit of Dawn<\/strong> (released as Zombi: Dawn of the Dead<\/strong>), whereas the U.S. soundtrack mix tended to favour the stock cues. At times the shift between vintage orchestral spooky music and the disco\/pop-tinged Goblin cues was a bit jarring, but the eclectic music m\u00e9lange actually heightened Romero\u2019s depiction of the absurd, and jabs at consumerism.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely most of the stock cues would\u2019ve been forgotten and laid dormant in the DeWolfe archives had they not been used with such dramatic and satiric precision in Dawn<\/strong>. Fans have been clamoring for years to hear and own as much of the stock cues as possible, and Trunk\u2019s CD<\/a> offers up 14 tracks of uncut material used in the film.<\/p>\n

The CD begins with the score\u2019s most beloved cue, Herbert Chappell\u2019s 1965 composition \u201cThe Gonk\u201d (mono) the carnivalesque ditty with farting trumpets set to a cartoon march, and bawdy trombones accentuating the ridiculousness of zombies wandering the environs of a giant mall simply because the only memory left in their rotted brain matter is the experience of shopping. One suspects the first time the cue was played back over the end credits sequence, Romero & Co. must have fallen out of their chairs laughing, and that one sequence was replayed for days because it brought such giddy joy to the editorial team during a tight production schedule.<\/p>\n

Other surreal material is found in the suite entitled \u201cMall Montage Scene\u201d (mono) with a march by Peter Tilsley (\u201cWe are the Champions\u201d), the flapper ragtime \u201cRagtime Razzamatazz\u201d by Herbert Chappel, Barry Stoller\u2019s synthetic short \u201cTango Tango,\u201d and Derek Scott\u2019s \u201cFugarock,\u201d with synth organ playing a classical fugue while a drum kit adds a modern rock beat.<\/p>\n

Paul Lemel\u2019s \u201cCosmogony\u201d (mono) is the first cue heard in the film, playing over the main credits. Lemel\u2019s cut is made up of eerie tones and dissonant strings, and the somewhat spacey mood is enhanced by metallic rippling and reverb. Eric Towren\u2019s \u201cSinestre\u201d (mono) is appropriately a sinister blend of clashes and pensive strings, and it was designed to evoke a sense of skulking in the dark, seeing the big monster, discovering a gory clue, and hurrying to a realm of greater safety.<\/p>\n

Lemel\u2019s other cue is \u201cDramaturgy\u201d (also mono), which again infers a not too distant danger through pinched tones, percussion, and weird droning effects and gliding, vibrato-heavy strings.<\/p>\n

The CD includes the lone vocal tune \u201c\u2019Cause I\u2019m a Man\u201d (mono) by Pretty Things, a mid- to late sixties ditty that\u2019s part country\/British pop, with a busy tambourine, warm electric bass, and bawdy trumpets.<\/p>\n

Simon Park\u2019s synth cue \u201cFigment\u201d (stereo) is better-known today for being present in Edgar Wright’s 2004 Britcom shocker Shaun of the Dead<\/strong> (right at the film\u2019s beginning), and still holds an edge with its liquid synth chords that ripple and fragment while light percussion hits add a bit of drama to what\u2019s ostensibly a two-note drone. Park\u2019s other cue is \u201cSun High\u201d (stereo) a soft little gem that also contains the same synth drone, but is dominated by prog-rock keyboards and a heartbeat pulse that\u2019s later pulled away for a closing set of solo keyboard improvisations.<\/p>\n

Electronica also dominates Derek Scott\u2019s \u201cScary 1 and 2,\u201d a pair of mono cues where part 1 has coarse drones, and part 2 is built around a repeated figure performed by a bass clarinet emulation, and variable use of peripheral drum and wooden hits.<\/p>\n

Pierre Arvay\u2019s \u201cDesert De Glace\u201d (stereo) combines synthesized percussion, guitar plucks and chimes to evoke chilly water droplets in a dark, expansive cavern. There\u2019s some ornamentation with brushes and sticks caressing and lightly hitting cymbals, but \u201cDesert\u201d is a quiet cue meant to cover moments of contemplation, with no dramatic resolution at the end.<\/p>\n

Jack Trombey\u2019s \u201cMask of Death\u201d (stereo) feels like a cue written for a British thriller from the seventies, using orchestra, marimba and jazzy trumpet figures for the prelude, and a Shaft<\/strong>-rhythm and harpsichord to create a tense yet weirdly regal cue suited for a valiant chase scene. The composer\u2019s other cues include \u201cBarrage\u201d (mono), somewhat Rozsa-esque, with mini fugues and thickening instrumentation for a finale that ends with a big stab; and \u201cDark Earth,\u201d based around a repeated bass clarinet figure, echoey taps, timpani strikes, and sustained notes on keyboard.<\/p>\n

The nature of stock cues is a construction that\u2019s slightly vague \u2013 giving filmmakers plenty of room to use a cue within any genre \u2013 and brevity, so few of the CD\u2019s tracks are longer than 2 mins. On the one side, it\u2019s great to hear the missing cues that were also used in films like Shaun of the Dead<\/strong>, but the less familiar pieces certainly make one curious of the other vintage material produced for the DeWolfe library and remain unavailable, and generally unused.<\/p>\n

Trunk issued the 14 tracks on CD as well as LP, and the album was limited to 500 copies. The cover art of a snarling zombie with its eyeball falling out a socket was reportedly taken from an early Belgian promo design for Dawn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2010 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>\u2014\u00a0DVD Review<\/a> \u2014\u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a><\/p>\n

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Select Merchants:<\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \u2014\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \u2014\u00a0Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" \u2014\u00a0BSX<\/a> \u2014\u00a0Intrada<\/a> \u2014 iTunes \u2014\u00a0SAE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0D<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ D . Rating: Very Good Label: Trunk Records (U.K.)\/ Released: May 19, 2004 Tracks & Album Length: 14 tracks \/ (38:44) . Special Notes: Colour booklet \/ Limited to 1000 copies . Composers: erbert Chappell, Paul Lemel, Eric Towren, Pretty Things, Simon Park, Jack Trombey, Derek Scott, Reg Tilsley, Barry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[480,1993,1985,1636,1623],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1GK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6494"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6540,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6494\/revisions\/6540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}