COMPARISON CORNER #11:
by Skødjö
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THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE
(aka LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE)
Music Composed by Giuliano Sorgini
A comparison between the two vinyl editions of the score (
TAM and
DEATH WALTZ RECS) with an A/B of the title track using both LP versions against the film version (from the 2009 Blue Underground bluray), and some scattered notes on the different track listings.
1. TAM (1974, YX-8032)
33rpm
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Tracklist:
A1 Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (Main Theme) 3:27
A2 George Meets Edna 3:53
A3 Drowned Guthrie 6:11
A4 Manchester M2 6LD 2:24
A5 Cry Of The Living Dead 3:02
B1 The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue 6:53
B2 The Torment Of The Dead 2:18
B3 Edna's Theme 3:32
B4 South Gate Hospital 6:10
B5 George's Theme 2:02
First thing's first - and something you really need to know before throwing down decent coin for this Japanese release - is that this version is comprised of at least 50-60% dialogue and sound fx! Sometimes on it's own, and sometimes mixed with the score cues. Very few of the score cues appear unmolested here, so what we're really looking at is a sort of 'image' album which tells the story of the film mixed with some of the score. Yikes! Not quite what I was expecting when I finally caved and bought this version.
The main theme sounds good and punchy here, with ringing bongo hits and thumping kick/bass. It sounds great, and comparing directly with the Bluray I'm pretty sure it's the same performance as the movie track which IMDB states was originally in '4 track stereo' but sounds fairly flat to me - since I'm watching on my computer/hifi setup, and based on the DVD Beaver review, there is some rear channel separation which I guess I'm not experiencing.
The LP version certainly sounds fuller and more dynamic, though it also has a rather clumsy edit at around the 2min plus mark, which extends the theme for another minute or so (just looping in a piece of the track from previously - so effectively, there are two 'bongo breaks' rather than one!.) The next three tracks are either dialogue or dialogue with fx, until we get a shorter reprise of the theme, and then finally a solo music score cue of eerie theremin-type sounds for 'Cry of the Living Dead'.
Side 2 begins with a really long chunk of movie dialogue (sigh) before we get two score cues, then another large chunk of dialogue mixed with music and sfx, and finishing with a final cue that is a spare, spacy bongo n' strings version of the main theme.
Total running time is just shy of 40mins.
All in all, I'm a bit disappointed on first couple of listens as I wasn't expecting the dialogue tbh. It's particularly heavy on reverby screams and maniacal laughter/growling, which makes it a very anti social listen for the most part!
2. DEATH WALTZ RECORDING CO (2017, DW-005R)
33rpm
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Tracklist:
A1 John Dalton Street 2:21
A2 Urreal 2:29
A3 Trance 1:44
A4 Strait Jacket 2:22
A5 The Risen Dead 3:12
A6 Aggression 1:17
A7 The Death Of The Dead 2:32
B1 The Torment Of The Dead 2:19
B2 Mysterious Country 1:31
B3 Southgate Hospital 1:40
B4 The Living Dead 2:22
B5 Drawned Guthrie 2:15
B6 Edna 1:17
B7 George 2:01
B8 Manchester M2 6LD 2:22
This comparison is using the DW 2nd pressing of their reissue from 2017, with expanded gatefold full face artwork by Luke Insect. Mine is the black vinyl pressing. I've searched long and hard online for any info regarding the source of both DW pressings, and can find nothing to say whether this was from master tapes or even whether it is remastered - but the license info mentions Beat Records, and this is effectively a reissue of the material from Beat's very sought after/pricey original 1974 Italian release. How this compares with the Beat, I cannot say as there isn't even a digital rip of the Beat that I can find on Youtubes to do a little basic comparison.
One other thing to mention before getting into the audio - once again, DW manage to blow the proofreading stage of their releases! A2 and B5 are both mis-pelled on this reissue (although they were correct on their first pressing). Gotta say guys - how hard can it be? I mean, there aren't even sleeve notes on this one to check, there's about thirty words total on the whole release! Daft.
So in A/Bing the version of the title track here (known as 'John Dalton Street' ) with the TAM version, a number of things are clear: this version is very slightly faster/almost a semi tone higher? You really have to compare side by side to spot it, but it's there.
The DW is also slightly less bright and punchy, the TAM has more kick overall and the brass/bongo hits are more present.
But the main difference is that the DW has the stereo image reversed! The panned horns and bongos are hard right in the TAM mix, and over to the left in the DW. It's hard to say whether it's the same mix with stereo image reversed, or a different mix entirely - I'd love to hear a Beat original to see how that compares with both!
This mix is also slightly quieter overall, and the pressing I have is a little noisy - most present in quiet atmospheric tracks like A2. Not terrible, but it feels like I really need to give it a thorough clean.
There is no dialogue/fx on this version, aside from a little maniacal laughter on track 3. And without doing a full side by side tracklist comparison, it's fairly obvious that there is more of the score represented in this version - both cues that appear on both but without dialogue here, or cues that are unique to this edition.
Overall the DW sounds good, and you get more of those spare, eerie suspense cues (and a couple different treatments of the main theme) for your buck.
Total running time is just under 32mins
In summation - I'm almost sorry to report that these releases are different enough that they both warrant a place on the shelf! Unless you're totally against dialogue on your horror scores (like, if you hated the first Mondo Halloween release for instance, or the reworked versions of Midnight or Children Shouldn't Play...) then you may well convince yourself that you need them both. If it's just the score you're after, then unless you can spring for the BEAT original (which I haven't heard so can't speak for) then the DW seems very much the way to go, both for amount of music represented and price/availability.
I wish I had the time to tell you exactly what's missing/added musically on both of the above LPs, but my instinct as stated above is that the Beat/DW has more music, with no dialogue and fx, and the TAM has
some score though with
lots of dialogue and fx, a few isolated cues, but is likely also missing some of the cues from the Beat/DW in any form.
For me, I think that the TAM set will grow on me, and could well become a very handy part of my Halloween playlist - what with all that screaming and growling !
*UPDATE*
So I've had a chance to compare the DW reissue of the BEAT LP with the BEAT CD release from 1995, and it seems that the stereo image is the same. This means that the BEAT stereo mix (which DW used for their reissues) is distinctly different from the TAM one.
Also: though it doesn't really change anything aboutmy above observations, I was a bit concerned about my deck speed, and having done a bit of testing today I can hear that my TT (belt drive Lenco) is running slightly slow. I need to look into what could be causing this (beyond worn belt, though I only changed in a new one a few months ago...) Fingers crossed it's not something 'serious' :(