Movie Mania: Double soundtracks

 

I've been trying to stay with posts every weekday through the current month, but today, I was facing a bottleneck where I honestly didn't know what to do. I decided it was time to do another soundtrack post, and I happened to have not one but two albums, one of which just arrived in the last few days. I'll start with the one I've had for a little while, the Robot Jox soundtrack.

To fill in a few details not covered in my review, the Robot Jox score was composed by Frederic Talgorn, also credited for Delta Force 2 and Heavy Metal 2000. (You can't win them all...) He is also listed as conductor for the soundtrack, presented here as a 1993 issue. It's a zippy, martial, slightly tongue-in-cheek score, very much in keeping with the spirit of the movie. It goes by quickly at just under 40 minutes. Oddly, it still has a total of 15 tracks, which has so far kept me from ripping it to digital files for no otherwise compelling reason. I bought it about the time I reviewed the movie for a little under $20, which was certainly a better deal than I got for the Krull soundtrack. I just now realized it's currently available from itunes for $10. I still regret nothing. The CD comes with a little book that must have carried over from the original release, forlornly promoting the movie. Here's a pic of the awesomeness.

The new arrival is of course the soundtrack of Zombie (aka Zombi 2). The score, by Fabio Fabrizzi, is one thing I actually like about the movie, enough that I watched it again recently in part from thinking of the music. It's a groovy, elemental, synthesizer-heavy score that screams '70s while doing it well. If you've seen Fulci's zombies move (see also The Beyond), the beat fits their almost wobbly motion perfectly. It also genuinely feels Caribbean, giving the movie itself a lot more credibility than it would otherwise deserve. Here's pics of the back, CD and insert.

The backstory here is that I went looking through several versions of the soundtrack, most of them selling for very high prices even as these things go. I found this one for a ludicrous low bid, and held off a challenge without hitting $10. As you may be able to make out, it's more like a medley than a soundtrack, with what amounts to 4 tracks and 3 alternate versions of the main title. Per Discogs, this was a release in 1996, making the advertised "remix" original to the album. I tried listening during work, when I basically need music just so I hear a sound besides myself talking. An odd thing is that the soundtrack includes dialogue and sound effects from the movie, something I've previously only seen with Flash Gordon. Even by work-music standards, this was subpar, to the point that I finally shut it off during the remix. There is by all means good music here, but I would rather try to mix it in with other things (maybe material from the movie theme anthologies) than listen to it in this format.

With that, I'm wrapping this up, while this still qualifies as s quick post. That's all for now, more to come!