Richard Band - The Pit & the Pendulum: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1991 - 320kbps)

The Pit & the Pendulum (1991) is another Stuart Gordon / Richard Band team-up, only this time with the source material being by H.P. Lovecraft's predecessor, Edgar Allan Poe. This film I have not seen yet, but they got Lance Henriksen as the star, and that has my attention. After giving the score a few listens, I will surely be seeking out this film that many fans have called Full Moon Pictures' finest. Maybe I can find it to download somewhere. From what I have read about it, it has great atmosphere, sets, costumes and performances. Supposedly, there is far less gore than the usual Gordon fare, but that won't stop me from watching it.

From listening to the score, I have gleaned that this film, in typical Gordon fashion, must have traces of humor in it. There are parts where Band's music really brings a smile to my face, but don't let that convince you that this is all about laughs. No, sirs and madams, there is plenty of dread and horror to be found in this Gothic and dramatic music. Band also makes excellent use of a choir on a few tracks. Enjoy!

Year of Release: 1991
Label: Moonstone Records
Catalog #: MD 9903
Genres: Soundtrack/Score, Horror
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320kbps
If anyone has a true lossless rip of this long out of print CD, please feel free share it here.

Track list:
1. The Crypt and Main Titles (4:00)
2. The Chase and Onslaught (2:21)
3. The Arrest of Maria (1:18)
4. The Purging of Torquemada (1:06)
5. Antonio Sneaks into the Castle (2:38)
6. Esmeralda's Meadow of Peace (1:34)
7. Antonio Battles the Guards (4:05)
8. The Pope's Envoy (2:13)
9. The Rape of Maria (6:02)
10. Esmeralda Comforts Maria (1:43)
11. The Night Auto da Fe / Esmeralda's Revenge (2:37)
12. Maria's Burial (0:41)
13. The Pit and the Pendulum (8:48)
14. Justice for the Grand Inquisitor... Death (3:36)
15. Maria's Resurrection and Finale (5:51)

Download: Richard Band - The Pit & the Pendulum: Original Soundtrack
Download Size: 114MB

There is a link for an unrelated BONUS album in the comments of this post.

Richard Band's Lovecraft: Limited Edition Soundtrack Compilation (2007 - 320kbps)

In 2007, Richard Band was given the Howie Award for lifetime achievement in music composition at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. He brought with him a compilation of his compositions for Lovecraft inspired films, limited to 60 copies. I had the good fortune of befriending someone who attended that festival and scored a copy. At first, I wasn't going to post this because of the repetition here, since most of these pieces appear on albums that have been posted on this blog in the recent past. I changed my mind for a few reasons. First of all, it is a great compilation despite the fact that it is missing cues from From Beyond which is arguably Band's best horror score. Secondly, it features the music from the "Dreams in the Witch House" episode of Masters of Horror, directed by Stuart Gordon in 2005. To my knowledge this music isn't available anywhere else. This was a return to horror and Lovecraft for Band, after a seven year break during which he worked mostly on TV and family oriented stuff. The results are excellent with Band utilizing a small group of chanters, to classic bone-chilling effect. Finally, there are two excellent tracks from Bride of Re-Animator. Enjoy!

Year of Release: 2007
Composer promo limited to 60 copies.
Genres: Soundtrack/Score, Compilation, Horror, H.P. Lovecraft
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320kbps
FLAC upgrade available upon request.

Tracklist:
1. ReAnimator: Prologue & Main Title (4:12)
2. ReAnimator: Meg Looks For The Cat (2:09)
3. ReAnimator: Body And Soul (1:28)
4. Dreams In The Witch House: Main Title (2:19)
5. Dreams In The Witch House: Dreams Come True? (1:17)
6. Dreams In The Witch House: Witch Action (5:17)
7. Dreams In The Witch House: Final Confrontation (2:57)
8. Castle Freak: Main Title (2:25)
9. Castle Freak: The Toy Room (1:31)
10. Castle Freak: Giorgio Unleashed (8:16)
11. The Resurrected: Main Title (4:00)
12. The Resurrected: Claire's Story (1:51)
13. The Resurrected: The Abomination-Finale (7:40)
14. Bride Of ReAnimator: Bride Prologue & Main Title (3:44)
15. Bride Of ReAnimator: Building The Bride (4:46)
16. Dreams In The Witch House: Did He Really Kill The Child? (1:51)

Download: Richard Band's Lovecraft (Soundtrack Compilation)
Download Size: 125MB

There is a link for an unrelated BONUS album in the comments for this post.

Richard Band - Castle Freak Original Soundtrack (1995 - 192kbps)

While the duo of composer Richard Band and director Stuart Gordon have already appeared several times on the Countdown, I couldn't resist sharing one of their lesser known collaborations. As with the previous soundtracks I shared, this film also seeks to pay homage to the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to watch this film yet, and while I prefer not to share soundtracks to films that I haven't watched, I chose to put this up regardless because I know there are several fans of Band, Gordon and Lovecraft who frequent this blog. Castle Freak was released in 1995, and is roughly based on H.P. Lovecraft's short-story "The Outsider", which was written in 1921 and first published in "Weird Tales" magazine in 1927. If you're interested in downloading the e-book or listening to the audiobook of "The Outsider" you can find both here on this blog by doing a quick search (top right).

Band's score for Castle Freak features some of his most powerful pieces, as well as some of the most delicate he has ever produced. The first half of the soundtrack is a showcase of power, and helps to further characterize the 12th century castle and the freak that lives within. Since I haven't watched the film, I can't even begin to speculate about the nature of the scenes which feature the more delicate cues, which is one reason I prefer not to review soundtracks to films that I haven't had a chance to watch. While this may not be Band's best effort, it is certainly worthy of the Halloween Countdown, and one does not need to be a fan of his work to enjoy this. This soundtrack was released by Intrada in 1995, and is currently out of print and unavailable for purchase on the Intrada website.

Year of Release: 1995
Label: Intrada
Genres: Soundtrack/Score, Horror
Bitrate: 192kbps

Tracklist:
1. Prologue
2. The Toy Room
3. The Castle
4. Giorgio Unleashed
5. The Family Tomb
6. John's Despair
7. Giorgio Snaps
8. Il Castello Di Giove
9. Giorgio Abducts Becky
10. The Final Battle

Download: Richard Band - Castle Freak Original Soundtrack
Download Size: 60MB

Richard Band - H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator: The Definitive Edition (2003 - FLAC)

While doing research for my last post, I discovered that La-La Land also released this limited edition version of Re-Animator. Needless to say it quickly sold out, and remains out of print and no longer available for purchase from La-La. As usual, I have very little time on my hands, so I'm going to include a few excerpts from Wikipedia to provide everyone with more info.

This soundtrack is a Limited Edition CD re-release of the soundtrack to H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator, originally released on vinyl in 1985 by the Varèse Sarabande label. Only 3,000 hand-numbered CDs were released, which seems to be the standard number for Limited Edition releases by La-La. In addition to Band's original score, this version also contains a previously unreleased "reprise" of the Re-Animator theme, along with a bonus audio interview with Richard Band himself. All the tracks have been digitally remastered from the original master tapes, and released in stereo for the first time.

"Re-Animator is a 1985 science fiction horror film based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "Herbert West–Reanimator." Directed by Stuart Gordon, it was the first film in the Re-Animator series. The movie has become a cult film, driven by fans of Jeffrey Combs (who stars as Herbert West), extreme gore, and the successful combination of horror and comedy. The idea to make Re-Animator came from a discussion Stuart Gordon had with friends one night about vampire movies. He felt that there were too many Dracula movies and expressed a desire to see a Frankenstein movie. Someone asked if he had read Herbert West: Re-Animator by H.P. Lovecraft. Gordon had read most of the author's works but that story had been out of print. He went to the Chicago Public Library and read their copy.

Originally, Gordon was going to adapt Lovecraft's story for the stage but then writers Dennis Paoli and William Norris and Gordon decided to do it as a half-hour television pilot. The story was set around the turn of the century and they realized that it would be too expensive to recreate. They updated it to the present day in Chicago with the intention of using actors from the Organic Theater company. They were told that the half hour format was not salable and so they made it an hour, writing 13 episodes. Special effects technician Bob Greenberg, who had worked on John Carpenter's Dark Star, repeatedly told Gordon that the only market for horror was in feature films and introduced him to producer Brian Yuzna. Gordon showed Yuzna the script for the pilot and the 12 additional episodes. The producer liked what he read and convinced Gordon to shoot the film in Hollywood because of all the special effects involved. Yuzna made a distribution deal with Charles Band's Empire Pictures in return for post-production services

Re-Animator was released on October 18, 1985, in 129 theaters and grossed USD $543,728 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $2 million in North America, well above its $900,000 budget. It was well-received by critics, earning mostly positive reviews, and today has a 92% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "I walked out somewhat surprised and reinvigorated (if not re-animated) by a movie that had the audience emitting taxi whistles and wild goat cries". Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #32 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films", and also ranked it #14 on their "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83" list. - Wikipedia"

I am relunctant to post albums that aren't at least 192kbps in quality, and unfortunately this album falls well below that at 128. I picked this up on a torrent site years ago and have yet to find a suitable quality replacement. My search only yielded a long trail of broken download links. I decided to go ahead and post it due to the fact that it is a very rare album, and with only 3,000 physical copies of this in existence, this may be the only way many people will be able to listen to it. I'm also hoping that someone will come forward and share a download link for a higher quality version of this. If any of you have this in 320 or higher, and are willing to share, please post the download link in the comments section of this post.

P.S. If any of you have a waffles.fm or What.cd invite, could you please shoot me an e-mail (address is in my profile). It would prevent the problem above from occurring again. I had accounts on both, but I was without internet access for several months, so they deleted my accounts due to inactivity.

Year of Release: 1985 (Original) | 2003 (Re-Release)
Label: La-La Land Records
Genres: Soundtrack/Score, Science-Fiction, Horror
Bitrate: FLAC | Lossless

Track List:
1. Prologue/Main Title
2. Meg Looks For The Cat
3. Dan Falls Into Cellar
4. The Turning Point/First Reanimation/First Reanimator
5. Halsey Back To Life
6. Halsey Grabs The Boys
7. Welcome Back To Life
8. Meg and Hill In Office
9. West Tries Parts
10. Searching Hill's Office
11. Body and Soul
12. Love Theme
13. Corpses Just Want To Have Fun
14. Meg Is Gone...Well, Maybe Not/End Credits
15. Interview With Richard Band
16. Re-Animator Theme Reprise

Download: Richard Band - H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator: The Definitive Edition
Password: banzai
Download Size: 241MB

Note: My download link for this mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately "Strange Ranger" was kind enough to provide a download link for the soundtrack in FLAC, so I have replaced my link with his for the time being. I'll try to remember to reupload this when I get home for those who prefer to have it in mp3 format.

Richard Band - H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond (Limited Edition Soundtrack) (1990 - 320kbps)

Only recently have I come to realize the extent to which La-La Land Records has dedicated itself to releasing the soundtracks and scores to numerous cult classic science-fiction and horror films. I recently posted their compilation of scores for films produced by George Pal, which was released on La-La Land. This afternoon I spent nearly an hour writing a review for the Dominic Frontiere's Limited Edition score for The Outer Limits, only to find out that it was still available to purchase on their website. I was almost certain that it would be out of print, especially considering that only 3,000 copies were pressed and it was released two years ago. You can imagine my surprise whenever I realized that my next selection in line was also released by La-La Land. I chose to share Richard Band's score to H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond both because I already knew it was out of print, and because there is steady stream of devoted Lovecraft fans regularly visiting this blog.

Since I already wasted my entire afternoon writing a review that I can't use, and I need to start studying for my final college achievement tests, I'm forced to keep this post even more brief than some of my more recent posts. As with my other posts I'll briefly discuss the most important details regarding this release, and copy & paste the information about the film from the Wikipedia article.

The score is composed by Richard Band, a prolific composer of b-movie science-fiction and horror films, having composed scores for over 70 different films. However, this soundtrack stands above all the rest as the crowning achievement of his career, and would bring him numerous awards. Most notably, he took home the Best Music Award at the 1986 Barcelona Film Festival, beating out the scores for Aliens, Star Trek IV and Blue Velvet. It also won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges Spain. Band is also known for frequently working with Director Stuart Gordon, a huge Lovecraft fan who has directed several film adaptions of his stories, including Re-Animator, From Beyond, Castle Freak (from The Outsider), Dagon, and most recently, a television series adaption of "The Dreams In The Witch-House for HBO's Masters of Horror series.

This score was released as a Limited Edition soundtrack by La-La Land Records in 1990, marking the first time that the soundtrack was officially released on CD. As with most of their Limited Edition releases, only 3,000 copies of this album were pressed, and this release has long been out of print. La-La Land has a reputation for producing some beautifully remastered material, and this release is no exception. Not only has it been fully restored and digitally remastered from the original master tapes from Richard Band's persona archive, but it has also been expanded to include previously unreleased material. I'm out of time for now, so I'm going to go ahead and post the Wikipedia article for "From Beyond". I hope you all enjoy this rare science-fiction/horror soundtrack.

"From Beyond is a 1986 American science fiction/ body horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, loosely based on the short story of the same title by H. P. Lovecraft, and was written by Dennis Paoli, Gordon and Brian Yuzna. The film stars Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree and Ted Sorel.

From Beyond centers around a pair of scientists attempting to stimulate the pineal gland with a device called The Resonator. An unforeseen result of their experiments is the ability to perceive creatures from another dimension that proceed to drag the head scientist into their world, who returns as a grotesque shape-changing monster and preys upon the others at the laboratory.

MGM has released a restored unrated cut of the film with extras. From Beyond has previously only been released in its edited R-rated form. The MPAA had required cuts to S&M footage and gore to allow it to be R-rated. This missing footage was reinserted into the film and the restored, longer version was aired on the Monsters HD Channel (copies of this release have been distributed on the Internet). The DVD was released on September 11, 2007 - Wikipedia"


Year of Release: 1986 (Original) | 1990 (Re-Release)
Label: La-La Land Records
Genres: Soundtrack/Score, Science-Fiction, Horror
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
1. From Beyond - Original Main Title
2. The Resonator and Main Title
2. We Saw Creatures
4. Back to the Pretorious House
5. Crawford's Anxiety
6. Pretorius' Madness
7. She's So Pretty
8. The Lampre From Beyond
9. The Mutations
10. Escape From The Mental Hospital & Beyond The Pretorius House
11. The Final Battle In The Beyond
12. Catherine Survives...But
13. End Title

Download: Richard Band - H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond
Download Size: 105MB