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The Fog, Escape From New York score premium vinyl releases loaded with geeky extras
Two classic John Carpenter soundtracks, The Fog and Escape From New York, are getting the deluxe Waxwork Records treatment this fall for their 40th anniversaries — and you can start pre-ordering each super premium 2-LP set starting today. Both releases hit shelves next month and offer a treasure of added bonus features, prestige packaging, expert remastering, and quality, 180-gram colored vinyl pressings.
The Fog was Carpenter's eerie follow-up to Halloween and first sailed into theaters back on Feb. 1, 1980. Co-written, directed, and scored by the Master of Horror, this cult gem stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh, and Hal Holbrook in a haunting tale of ghostly shipwrecked mariners appearing from the weird glowing fog of a seaside California town.
The legendary director considers The Fog to be one of his finest musical works, injected with dark ambient drones, unnerving piano notes, and heavy usage of early synthesizers such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Prophet 10.
John Carpenter’s The Fog 40th Anniversary Original Motion Picture Score comes packed with the expanded and complete synth-driven score by Carpenter in either 180 Gram “Ghost Eyes” Colored Vinyl (Coke Bottle Clear and Double Red Circles) or 180 Gram “The Fog” Colored Vinyl (White and Blue-Green Swirl), old-style tip-on gatefold jackets, a 12”x12” twelve-page booklet including rare, unreleased behind-the-scenes set photography, and fresh full album artwork by Jérémy Pailler. Shipping is expected to roll out Sept. 29, in time for Halloween!
"We are honored to release John Carpenter's The Fog in celebration of its 40th Anniversary this year," Waxwork CEO Kevin Bergeron tells SYFY WIRE. "We remastered the expanded score which includes all of the music composed for the film by Carpenter. Like the movie, the score is minimal and cold and evokes an emptiness that we think he captures using old school synths like a Minimoog Model D and a first generation Prophet 5. We brought on French illustrator Jérémy Pailler to create album artwork. We're blown away with what he made using watercolors and hundreds of man-hours. The Fog is the dark bridge between Carpenter's classic 1970's heavyweight Halloween and his 1980's action packed, horror, in your face, authority questioning, bad-assery. It's one of our favorite gothic ghost stories ever, and we're psyched to release the score today!"
Approaching its big birthday next year, Escape From New York struck multiplexes back on July 10, 1981, and centered around renegade war hero and criminal Snake Plissken, who's given a clemency deal to rescue the president of the United States from a maximum-security prison on Manhattan Island in the near-future world of 1997. It starred Kurt Russell, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Lee Van Cleef, and Harry Dean Stanton.
This driving genre score was written by John Carpenter and co-produced by Carpenter and Alan Howarth. Howarth employed state-of-the-art equipment including ARP and Prophet-5 synthesizers, a Linn LM-1 drum machine, then added acoustic piano and Fender guitars to compose the hypnotic soundscape, while Carpenter created additional melodies via the synthesizer keyboards.
John Carpenter’s Escape From New York Expanded Original Motion Picture Score delivers the complete score album by Carpenter and Howarth in either 180 Gram “Descent Into New York” Fire Orange w/ Blue and White Splatter Colored Vinyl or 180 Gram “Statue of Liberty” Blue/Green/Black Marbled Colored Vinyl, old-style tip-on gatefold jackets, a 12”x12” twelve page booklet loaded with unpublished behind-the-scenes images, and all-new original artwork from Marc Aspinall. This stacked vinyl set is slated to ship Sept. 29.
"If releasing The Fog wasn't enough, we are so excited to offer a deluxe, remastered Escape From New York original film score by John Carpenter," Bergeron adds. "I love this score. I love this movie. It's the best dystopian-future story ever. Often imitated and wildly influential. Massive bands like Nine Inch Nails use the score to Escape From New York as their pre-show intro music as you wait for them to perform. We pulled all the stops, acquired the expanded album featuring all of the music composed for the movie. We're super proud of this new release and hope you enjoy it!"
Now check out more images for both of these classic Carpenter soundtrack vinyl sets in the full gallery below. For additional info on pre-ordering, check out New Orleans-based Waxwork Records' official site. As noted above, both sets ship on September 29.
