November 18, 2013

  • Harrisson's "Day of the Dead" Returns

    Day of the Dead

    JOHN HARRISON

    La-La Land Records 1277
    Disc One: 23 Tracks – 63:45
    Disc Two: 6 Tracks – 39:41

    Limited edition of 3000 copies.

    Long before the present zombie media frenzy, George Romero was instilling genre tropes for film zombies from his classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) through a host of subsequent zombie films that continued ten years later with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).  The former moved from the countryside to the urban setting of a mall where a group of people had to try and fight off this zombie menace.  The latter is a bit more apocalyptic in that the world is now populated by zombies and they begin to invade a military bunker of military and scientific personnel.  Once the setup is complete the gorefest begins with some of the grossest sequences scene on film up to that period.  The score was by John Harrison, his second, who helmed the music for Creepshow and would go on to provide music for Tales from the Darkside.  Harrison’s background was in directing the then new genre of rock videos and also served as an assistant director for Romero.  The independent soundtrack label La-La Land Records is releasing this new limited edition of the score along with the original album which should be a boon for fans of 1980s horror film music.

    For Day of the Dead, Harrison used a variety of electronic keyboards and drum systems to create the backdrop for the score.  Additional percussion and guitar material helps provide some additional musical sound.  The score itself is smack in the middle of many electronic backdrops.  The difference here is that unlike the more electronic-sounding design element scores heard in John Carpenter films, Harrison’s score tends to provide a bit warmer musical sounds with interesting lyrical ideas.  The Fender Rhodes sounds also essentially date the score and lend it its occasional pop-like musical vibe in between the horror music gestures.  In some respects, the music tends to take an often lighter approach to scoring to perhaps lessen the gruesomeness on screen and comment on the more cartoonish aspects of the story overall.  The instruments used here tend to be run through their paces exploring a variety of the sound samples available.  Synth strings tend to have an often warped-like flutter to help create a good unsettling effect.  Percussion, electronic and acoustic, is not looped or sequenced much the way one might hear today; though small cells of material may be repeated in short succession tending to feel more dramatic.  The music sometimes feels rather improvisatory exploring different sounds for intended screen effects.  And yet, can also have melodic material with engaging harmonic support.  A good example of these approaches can be heard in the dual track “John Warns Sarah/People Got Different Ideas.”  These flashes of interesting music stand alongside many fairly classic 1980s musical gestures for scores like this.

    La-La Land presents the full film score on the first disc in good sound.  The music works surprisingly well here on its own belying its connection to a horror film for most of its playing time.  The second disc presents the original soundtrack album.  This includes a 19-minute suite  (side 1!) and some additional score material of smaller suites of material arranged by the composer.  There are also some flashbacks to 1980s pop music in the remaining material which  includes a performance of “The Dead Walk” by Modern Man, a Pittsburgh group; and two additional songs featuring some of Harrison’s music performed by Sputzy Sparacino and Delilah of Modern Man.  The release contains a great accompanying booklet outlining each track plot information and a fine essay on the film and score.  Certainly, Day of the Dead will be of interest to fans of 1980s electronic and synth-based scores and it provides an interesting contrast exhibiting how versatile this medium could, and would, become for low-budget films and beyond.