Jerry Goldsmith - Warlock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989) Expanded Remastered Limited Edition 2015

×

Jerry Goldsmith - Warlock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989) Expanded Remastered Limited Edition 2015

Close

This is a score that I've been waiting to be re-released for quite some time. Intrada released an LP version of this soundtrack in 1989, a CD version in 1993, and it is finally getting a reissue in 2015. Previously you could only find it from sellers wanting outrageous amounts of money. Thank you Intrada for bringing it back!

It's been quite some time since I've seen the movie, several years actually, and now I've got to go dust off the old VHS tapes and watch it again! Listening to Jerry Goldsmith's score certainly brings back the memories of seeing this film for the first time. A good description of this score can be found in the included 16 page CD insert. Jeff Bond says, "Goldsmith's score is both a product of his developing fascination with electronics throughout the 1980s and a throwback to earlier eras of his career." Goldsmith has certainly composed a lot of material over the years and you can truly see his progression as an artist through this large body of work. The electronic effects in this score never become distracting or overused. They tend to provide a "magical" effect to the story. Goldsmith uses synthesizers to create a medieval sound that fits this "old world in new world" spell and magic movie perfectly. I've always been a fan of Goldsmith's percussion work as well. Here again, he demonstrates his ability to provide wonderful atmosphere with xylophone, sticks, and other percussive instrumentation. The "throwback to earlier eras" comment holds true as well. Goldsmith uses the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra in Australia to provide plenty of strings and brass for action sequences and tense moments in the story. My favorite tracks from the score are "Salt Water Attack" and "The Salt Water Flats". These are lengthy tracks that brings all of the themes together and they are great demonstrations of Goldsmith's ability to combine effective electronics with a traditional orchestra.

The CD is released through Intrada records and I have always appreciated their efforts in bringing film scores to fans and collectors. They always do a great job at packaging these releases with plenty of extras and putting into our hands a great collectable. The CD contains 18 tracks and runs for a total of 1 hour and 12 minutes. You get a 16 page CD insert with a great historical account of the movie, the scoring, and Intrada's efforts to restore this score to it's original form. The insert contains pictures from the film and the back cover can be substituted for an alternate front cover. The insert contains some great trivia. Intrada released an LP version of the score in 1989 but the movie wasn't released until 1991. Apparently it was being shifted around different studios and was tinkered with. It was also Intrada's last LP release before they started becoming popular again.

Jerry Goldsmith's score for "Warlock" is an entertaining piece to listen too. Fans of Goldsmith will want this one in their collections because it has been rather hard to find over the years. Get it now before it disappears again! I recommend.

Danny, Amazon Top Reviewer

Warlock is a 1989 horror film written by David Twohy who previously had written the sequel to Critters and directed by Steve Miner who previously directed Friday The 13th Part II and III and also the comedy horror flick House. Warlock starred Julian Sands as the evil warlock, Richard E. Grant as the noble hero Giles Redferne and Lori Singer as love interest and partner Kassandra. The story begins in Salem in the 1600s where the warlock is being held prisoner after being captured by the witch hunter Giles Redferne. However the warlock escapes through time using black magic to present Los Angeles. Redferne has some tricks on his own and manage to follow the warlock to the future. Through a medium, the warlock speaks to Satan who gives him the task of finding the Grand Grimoire, a book that reveals the secret name of God and thus will give Satan the power over all creation. Warlock didn’t have a big budget, but producer Arnold Kopelson managed to get Jerry Goldsmith aboard who had to look overseas to get a score done within the budget. He landed on the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra in Australia. Intrada Records recently released an expanded version of their original treatment of Warlock with much improved sound. The original score also lacked a lot of the electronic overlays heard in the film which has now been restored. This review is part of Big J’s Sunday.

Jerry Goldsmith is known for some great horror scores and is also not afraid to use synths in his music, in fact, he was putting it front and center as he did with Warlock. ‘The Sentence’ starts with the Warlock theme on a very crude sounding synth. It then continues with the Giles Redferne theme that sounds great, particularly for strings a bit later. The Redferne and warlock themes combine well with each other. In the beginning of ‘Ill Wind’ you hear what is known as the footsteps theme. You can hear it in practically every cue which follows the warlock’s “footsteps”. In ‘Ill Wind’ we also hear the first Goldsmith action sequence, a very short one at 26 seconds in. The best part for me is from 1:25 with a strong and exciting action sequence over the warlock theme. By the way, I have to congratulate Mike Matessino in particular. The sound is stunning and a big upgrade from the original Intrada release. The Ring is very interesting. It’s mainly a percussion based cue with the warlock theme sewed in the fabric. It’s a tense and exciting cue and I love the sound of Jerry’s synths. ‘Old Age’ tells the story of a curse that the warlock has bestowed upon Kassandra. She is ageing 20 years every day so she and Redfern better hurry to get the warlock before its too late. It’s mostly a tense cue where the warlock theme is frequently featured, but it does have some percussion beats and string buildups to make it very exciting.

Poor Redfern. He is not getting a lot attention in the score. It’s mostly the warlock who gets all the music, but in ‘Growing Pains’ the Redfern theme appears and luckily it appears more in the second half of the score, particularly towards the end. Still, even in ‘Growing Pains’, the Redfern theme barely gets a mention compared the warlock theme. There hasn’t been much action in this score to be fair, a few glimpses her and there and if it’s something Jerry Goldsmith is great at it’s action. In ‘The Weather Vane’ there’s a lengthy action sequence, the longest one so far and as usual it’s pretty great. ‘Nails’ doesn’t offer much new material, but at 2:38 comes a fantastic bass synth born in the 80s. The latter parts is action-filled and fun. Classic Jerry. Redfern gets more playtime in ‘Salt Water Attack’ and it’s also one of the most fun cues on the score featuring some tense Goldsmith thriller/action music particularly the part from 4:10 is a lot of fun. Another example of how great he could be when it comes to exciting action music. The final cue ‘The Salt Flats’ is the most lyrical of all the cues featuring a wonderful rendition of the Redfern theme. Not only that but it has some of the most heroic moments of the score. The end is here and it’s a great one. Even old warlock gets his music in here, but it seems sad, like a beaten warlock and although I don’t remember the ending of the movie I suspect that’s pretty much what happened.

I think this is a wonderful score full of textures and moods and not necessarily a score you go for if you want lyrical Jerry or action-mode Jerry, there are plenty of scores for that. This is one of his “other” scores and I am enjoying the pure sound of Jerry which Intrada did a wonderful job with. It does sound fantastic, but I suspect that if you are not a fan of this style or Jerry Goldsmith in general, you will probably not enjoy this as much. If you have the original Silva or Intrada CD, the sonic upgrade is worth the price alone and then there’s a lot of extra material that you didn’t get in the original release. I would still keep both though, because this is the film score and not the original album representation yet this is the one I will pick up and play the most, mainly due to the amazing sound.

Jørn Tillnes, SoundtrackGeek.com

×

Jerry Goldsmith - Warlock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989) Expanded Remastered Limited Edition 2015

Close

×

Jerry Goldsmith - Warlock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989) Expanded Remastered Limited Edition 2015

Close

×

Jerry Goldsmith - Warlock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989) Expanded Remastered Limited Edition 2015

Close

×

Jerry Goldsmith - Warlock: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989) Expanded Remastered Limited Edition 2015

Close