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elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Night of the Living Dead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1968)

Night of the Living Dead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1968)
I was originally planning on posting this closer to Halloween, but I just couldn't wait. I wish I could remember who originally uploaded this, but it escapes me at the present time. However I included the information that came with the album in order to give some credit where it is due. If you are a fan of horror soundtracks, or just soundtracks in general, then this is essential for your collection. The atmosphere of this soundtrack is one of impending doom, as would be expected. Moments of peace and tranquility are sprinkled throughout this LP, only to be interrupted by the powerful brass section which cues the imminent arrival of zombie hordes eager for human flesh. There are also a few moments that remind me of a very bad acid trip, such as the beginning of 'Helen's Death'. My favorite thing about this soundtrack is the cuts of dialouge taken from the movie, such as the unforgettable "They're coming to get you Barbera", and the various radio broadcasts. I'll leave you with the aforementioned information that was included with this release:

"Shot on a shoe-string budget in Pittsburgh, PA, this production didn't have the luxury of hiring a composer to create a soundtrack. Instead they used library music. Library music generally consists of various soundtrack cues created by production houses to be used in movies, TV shows, commercials, whatever and pressed to vinyl. By purchasing the record itself, you are paying for the right to use any of the cues or background music in your production. Using pre-produced library music was a cost-effective way to add production value. These limited run library music LPs have become sought-after collectibles. There are several full-album music blogs online that offer rips of library music vinyl. They're well worth pursuing as the music is often quite eclectic, particularly as you enter the late-60s and early-70s.

The filmmakers for Night of the Living Dead went with cues from Capital Hi-Q 1950's Production Music Library. In 1982, Varèse Sarabande compiled the various cues used, added some dialogue bits and released it as an LP soundtrack. This has never seen an official CD release. I grabbed this excellent vinyl rip off Usenet years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of who did the rip (or they didn't say), but I did place the following info in the "Encoder" tag: Vinyl Rip - Sound Forge 5 w/Vinyl Restoration - Lame 3.88. The original poster went a little overboard encoding these single-channel mono MP3 files at 192kbps, but I appreciate the desire to keep the quality as high as possible."


Year of Release: 1968 (Original) | 1982 (Re-Release)
Label: Varèse Sarabande
Genre: Soundtrack, Classical
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Driveway to the Cemetary (Main Title)
2. At the Gravesite / Flight / Refuge
3. Farmhouse / First Approach
4. Ghoulash (JR's Demise)
5. Boarding Up
6. First Radio Report / Torch on the Porch
7. Boarding Up 2 / Discovery: Gun 'n Ammo
8. Cleaning House
9. First Advance
10. Discovery of TV / Preparing to Escape / Tom and Judy
11. Attempted Escape
12. Truck on Fire / Ben Attacks Harry / Leg of Leg
13. Beat 'Em or Burn 'Em / Final Advance
14. Helen's Death / Dawn / Posse in the Fields / Ben Awakes
15. OK Vince / Funeral Pyre (End Title)

Download: Night of the Living Dead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Download Size: 53MB

11 comments:

Ally said...

Absolutely love the movie but I never gave much thought to the OST. I will check it out.

Anonymous said...

Great post, thanks a lot. One of my favourite movies. Have a good night alive!
Downbeat / Chill Out artist Ganga

Anonymous said...

classic , gory , tasty horror stuff for both ears !!!!

Sailormom said...

Cool! I posted this on my blog along with the soundtracks for Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Feel free to and them if you want.
http://sailormoms.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Library music or not, this is good stuff. Thanks a bunch.

Anonymous said...

A big thanks to you for posting this! I have downloaded it though and it is asking me for a password? I am using archive manager under Ubuntu Linux. Did you set some sort of password and I missed it?

thanks,
Matt

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Don't stop posting such themes. I like to read blogs like this. By the way add more pics :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you! Love the blog

/root said...

thx a fuckin' bunch!