Well, the Lord doth surely hate a coward, and a lazy man, so onward to
COMPARISON CORNER #6:
by Skødjö
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HALLOWEEN
Music Composed & Performed by John Carpenter
A comparison between the three vinyl pressings of the score (Varese, Mondo and DWRC) with an A/B of the title track using all LP versions against the film version (from bluray).
Let's do this!
1. Varese Sarabande (1983, STV 81176)
33rpm
VS.jpg (588.14 KiB) Viewed 7508 times
Not put out on wax until five years after the movie's original release (following the Columbia Japan 'Spacesizer' version from 1979, which I sadly do not have a copy of - but see note at the bottom*) we all know that Alan Howarth was given free reign by Carpenter to mix the soundtrack for the vinyl release, in any way he felt appropriate. So straight off, comparing the opening track of Side A,
'Halloween Theme - Main Title'
you can hear the boxy four-four 'thump' which AH added to the title theme whenever it occurs throughout the soundtrack. Also noticeable is the beefing up of the big dark string chords, which are quite a bit louder in the mix (and perhaps there are added notes) than the film mix, and the added reverb on the piano. All in all, it's clearly the same recording but has been given an 'aggressive' mix and some added orchestration. (The album sequencing then jumps forward a good bit in the movie, to '
Laurie's Theme', where again we can hear a different mix to the film soundtrack, with the piano being mixed so it's a little bit less 'honky tonk' sounding for instance...)
So mix aside, how does the album sound as a listen? Well it's a banger, isn't it? Although it's not the most comprehensive release of the film's music, it has all the main themes there, often 'suited' together into substantially longer cues than they appear individually in the film, so that they really get a chance to develop as songs and get some power going. If this version does anything right, it's that it realises that we can (and want to) hear these brilliant, minimal suspense themes played out for a good while, to really envelope us in that icy cold atmosphere of Michael stalking us around every corner. I guess it's like the greatest hits mega-mix version of the score in a way, making a banging 11-track album out of cues which are much shorter and broken up throughout the film's overall duration. And (like a stuck record...), it has to be said yet again - a VS pressing from '83 that's in good condition will blow your socks off with it's mastering and production QC. Every collection should have a copy of this record. (It should be noted also that the German Celine Records pressing from the same year is the same source as the VS pressing, if not from the same masters, and held me over very nicely until I was able to get a NM- VS back into my collection.)
2. Mondo (2013, MOND-013)
2x 45rpm
Black vinyl
mondo.jpg (465.18 KiB) Viewed 7508 times
Amazingly, it took 30 years before Halloween was reissued on vinyl, with a few different CD versions being released in the meantime - including the 20th Anniversary expanded edition which Mondo used for this release. It was the most complete version to date, with every music cue (no matter how long or short) from the film included, though often with large chunks of dialogue and fx present. Let's face it - you get a LOT of the movie with this particular version of the score! It worked for some, less well for others, but everyone seemed to agree that this was one of Mondo's very best pressings.
Comparing the opening theme (here titled 'Halloween Theme') we are returned to the film version of the cue, without the 'thump', without the additional reverb, and without the added orchestral beefing. In fact, comparing with the bluray this version is
very close to the film cue. You have to think that this 'interim' version of the complete movie score (and the reaction to the inclusion of fx/dialogue) gave DW the idea to follow through and find a source which would allow them to have the best of all worlds for hardcore Halloween score fans...
3. Death Waltz Recording Co. (2018, DW135)
33rpm
Translucent Orange vinyl
DWRC.jpg (432.45 KiB) Viewed 7508 times
Which is
kinda what they did? For the 40th anniversary, advertised as 'pulled directly from the original mono film reels', DW released a single LP version of the score which features all of the music from the previous expanded release, but eliminating dialogue and fx (for the most part - more on that). To do this I'm guessing they had to have used a 35mm Mag-print of the film - that is, a theatrical release print with separate magnetic soundtracks, where the score, sound fx and dialogue are carried on individual tracks. Back in the 70s this was a pretty common format for release prints, and is a great resource for anyone trying to pull score from a film where masters are lost/unavailable. Its not like having access to multi-track master tapes, but it does allow for separation of score cues from other sounds on the audio track. So this announcement caused some excitement (for me certainly!) and I looked forward to hearing the score just as it sounded in the movie but without an excess of other sound fx and dialogue.
The title track (again named 'Halloween Theme' here) is interesting indeed. You would imagine comparing with the bluray that it would be the closest of all - but it's actually noticeably different. The piano sounds the same, without the added reverb, as we'd expect - but as the first big synth-string section swells, it sounds quite different. The higher notes present in the movie credits are missing almost entirely, and the synths stay well in the mids/lower range. It's still powerful of course, but strange how it's so different from the film itself, given the source? This could well be down to the 'new' mix on the bluray though, which is the most logical possibility. So then - this is actually really quite exciting: What we're hearing is what the score sounded like, in the film... 40 years ago upon it's original (mono) release! Not what the film sounds like
now! Once I had locked into this thought pattern, the real value of this particular version unlocked for me and became quite a thrilling, goosebumpy ride. This is the time-warp version of Halloween, throwing us right back into the less sonically-sophisticated time when it was created, and giving us a pure(r) experience of the music.
Having said that, things get pretty weird - by Track 4 ('
Myers House') the volume level during the track varies wildly, and it's very distracting. It's hard to guess why little attempt was made to volume balance the track (the music isn't changing drastically throughout, you'd think it would be a relatively simple thing to do with today's tools) but perhaps there was a technical reason why this wouldn't/didn't work out - maybe it simply introduced too much noise when the crunchy mono sound element was boosted? In any case, you're left thinking that basically there's no way this is a mistake, and we're hearing some kind of 'compromise' between fluidity of the listening experience and general quality control of the mastering. (The 'issue' continues through the rest of Side A, with volume level varying quickly up and down during tracks - and with headphones especially, you can also make out little bits of muffled/partially removed dialogue etc.) Some of the editing, especially at the end of tracks, is also a little clumsy to be honest.
Overall, my pressing on orange wax is pretty noisy, with surface noise and a good amount of pops n clicks throughout.
There may well be a quieter/preferable colour of this pressing, I can't say.
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So to sum up - getting the VS original in your life is a no-braino. It's an entirely unique mix/presentation of the score, and gives you big meaty versions of the main themes that you can dance along to. And it sounds bloody fantastic.
The Mondo is a very interesting expansion, and goes back to the original film mix for the most part, but it's all about how you feel regarding big chunks of 'movie' all over your soundtrack listening experience. It's cut at 45rpm across four sides, so is arguably the best quality pressing of the lot? But it's also potentially just a 'remastered CD master onto vinyl' and a stop-gap before DWRC's 40th anniversary release...
However, that may well be true, but the DW version has issues all of it's own as a listening experience. The volume fluctuations are very distracting (and frankly still a bit baffling), but the project itself is a truly great idea and huge kudos for going the 35mm film print route, to give us possibly the 'purest' version of the score so far. It's not particularly hi-fi, but then again, I bet the film sound was primitive, powerful and pretty harsh-as-fuck back in theatres in '78. And I guarantee it only added to the terrifying experience that people were having with the flick.
Personally I'm happy with the VS and DW versions on my shelf, and each gives me a unique listening/feels experience when I spin them. Which I do. On the regular.
*Note on the Columbia Japan 'Spacesizer 360' Release, 1979
So this first release of the Halloween music is in fact a complete re-recording by Japanese electronic maestro Osamu Shoji, in a special 360 stereo spatial process. It's a very interesting curio, with some nice versions (mostly much 'lighter' than Carpenter's original cues) but The Horror Master is not present on this version at all. There's also various bits of dialogue from the film throughout.
It's here in full if you're curious, but I'm afraid it tends to go for over the odds these days and I always find a reason to pass on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtoZeCHM4fM