The Abyss

The Abyss (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed and Conducted by Alan Silvestri

Next release in Renovatio Records' music cycle for films that take place in underwater settings is Alan Silvestri's superb score for James Cameron's 1989 movie The Abyss. Following the successes of The Terminator and Aliens, Cameron's sci-fi film follows an underwater platform crew that is charged by the US government to find the whereabouts of a missing nuclear submarine. The crew, led by an estranged couple played by Mary Elisabeth Mastrantonio and Ed Harris, not only has to deal with an unstable and paranoid Navy SEAL Lieutenant (played brilliantly by Michael Biehn) but also with bizarre phenomena involving bright lights moving at great speeds and a water-formed tentacle that curiously inspects the rig. The team eventually discovers that the strange happenings are being produced by bio-luminescent beings living at the bottom of a nearby abyss. The film was a success both critically and financially, with much credit given to the groundbreaking visual effects (namely the incredible water tentacle scene) and Silvestri's score.

When scoring The Abyss, the soon-to-become A-list film composer already had a few hits in his résumé with the Back to the Future series and Predator. With The Abyss, Silvestri delivered one of his finest works in the 80's. The score can be split into three distinctive sections. One third is dominated by pulsing electronic rhythms and synthesizer effects along with minimal orchestral/choir writing to create an ominous atmosphere for the sea depths (tracks "Manta Ship", "The Pseuodopod" and "Lindsey Drowns" being the best examples in this album release). Another part involves a collection of bursting orchestral action cues with Silvestri's distinctive style, best found in the tracks "The Crane" and "Sub Battle". And finally, the highly-acclaimed third part, in which orchestra and choir come to the forefront, with the track "Bud On The Ledge" beginning a finale that many enthusiasts consider to be one of the most remarkable music sequences of the composer's entire career.

The score for The Abyss was released on CD and LP by Varèse Sarabande at the time the film was released, containing the most important moments of Silvestri’s work. However, the album's listening experience was disrupted by a few out-of-place musical inclusions and a poor editing when combining cues together, which left collectors fully enjoying and thus praising only the last three choral and orchestral tracks. In 2014, the same label released an expanded 2-CD version of the complete score, with 45 minutes of new music, along with a dozen of demo cues, alternates and bonus tracks. This was a solid full presentation of the score, but the majority of the music can be categorized as ‘more of the same’, making it quite difficult to enjoy the edition from beginning to end. Now Renovatio Records has rearranged the composer's score into an album that offers a balanced listening experience to keep the listener engaged from start to finish. Take a new leap into The Abyss and let yourself be caught once more into the deep complexities of one of Silvestri's most fondly remembered scores!

Track Listing:

1. Opening Titles (0:37)

2. Search The Montana (3:42)

3. The Crane (3:26)

4. Manta Ship (6:22)

5. The Pseudopod (5:34)

6. Coffey (3:50)

7. Sub Battle (5:14)

8. Leap Into The Abyss (4:42)

9. Lindsey Drowns (4:13)

10. Resurrection (1:50)

11. The Only Way (4:52)

12. Bud On The Ledge (3:14)

13. Back On The Air (1:37)

14. Finale (6:28)

Total Running Time: 55:41

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Sphere

Sphere (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by Elliot Goldenthal

Here at Renovatio Records, we are pleased to announce that we are starting a music cycle! The theme for this cycle is scores for films that take place in underwater settings. When putting together our list, we found ourselves rediscovering some forgotten gems. One of these gems is undoubtedly Elliot Goldenthal's under-estimated score for the 1998 sci-fi thriller Sphere, directed by Barry Levinson and starring an ensemble cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Liev Schreiber, Queen Latifah and Peter Coyote. The film, based on a novel by author Michael Crichton, involves a group of intellectuals summoned by the U.S. government after discovering a supposedly alien spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean. When investigating the remains of the ship they make contact with a mysterious golden sphere that puts their perception of reality in question. Despite its intriguing and original plot, the film did not meet critical nor financial expectations and was soon left in oblivion. Something similar could be said about Goldenthal's score, which was released by Varèse Sarabande in the form of a very short album. This was caused by the fact that Goldenthal recorded half of the score in New York and the other half in Los Angeles. Therefore, due to re-use fees, the composer and the label had to choose one of the two sets of recordings for the album. They eventually decided that the music from the New York recordings was more interesting, but this meant that a great amount of highlights were left out of the release. This was of course not received very well by film music aficionados, who went on to flag the score as unoriginal, predictable and as an overall difficult listening experience due to some forced track edits and merges.

For this Renovatio Records release, we were able to find all the music Goldenthal composed for the music and we put it together in an album presentation that will certainly give film music fans the opportunity to appreciate the composer's unique and usual techniques used in the film. In Sphere, you'll find a very busy brass section, with shrieking horns and frenetic trumpets, as well as the composer's regular use of dissonant strings, piano solos, harmonic passages, electronic sound designs and adagios and crescendos reminiscent of Alien 3. A leitmotif can also be identified for the sphere itself in the form of an ascending six-note theme that dominates the score right from the "Main Titles" onward. The awesome gift that the otherworldly object provides to the main characters, allowing them to manifest their dreams, is also treated with a magical orchestral theme led by strings that explodes in some key scenes, as when the team of scientists approaches the spacecraft, stressing with great narrative effect the sphere's desire to be found. This cue was not present in the original album and you can find it here for the first time in the track "Habitat Arrival". Also worth noticing is a gentle and eerie piano motif that ominously suggests the dangers of giving the human mind the power to make our dreams become real (hear "Formidable Monster" and "Manifest Fire"). Goldenthal also managed to develop tremendous action pieces with a forceful orchestra that will put your speakers to the test. This score deserves a second chance and we can guarantee that you won't be disappointed again!

Track Listing:
1. Main Titles (2:51)
2. Andante (2:31)
3. Helicopter to Ship (2:39)
4. Habitat Arrival (2:30)
5. Life Underwater (1:25)
6. Visit to a Wreckage (4:20)
7. The Cockpit (2:11)
8. Discovery of the Sphere (3:18)
9. Harry Enters the Sphere (4:38)
10. Jellyfish (2:56)
11. The First Exchange (3:37)
12. Formidable Monster (4:08)
13. Battle Stations (3:58)
14. Manifest Fire (3:43)
15. Beth (4:04)
16. My Name is Harry (3:18)
17. Manifest³ (3:43)
18. To the Surface (2:11)
19. The Gift (1:43)

Total Running Time: 58:51

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Krampus

Krampus (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music by Douglas Pipes

To accompany the Christmas holidays, Renovatio Records wants to recommend listening to Douglas Pipes' magnificent score for Michael Dougherty's film Krampus, starring Toni Collette, Adam Scott and David Koechner. Sure, it's a horror movie but it's also a lot of fun! The title refers to a Germanic folklore demon, the anti-Santa Claus, who punishes children during the Christmas season who have misbehaved. In the movie, a boy accidentally summons this demon after having a bad Christmas, which sets in motion the extraordinary events that he and his family are forced to face.

After having worked together on Trick 'r Treat, Dougherty resorted again to Pipes for the music. After the wind-like howlings and bells in "A Cold Wind", the composer starts with a false sense of security with dulcimers and chimes in the light-hearted "The Engel Family". But right after, the score takes a 180-degree turn and goes all the way back to orchestral and choral horror. You'll hear nods to Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal and even Alan Silvestri in Pipes' use of brass and strings for his superb action and suspense cues. Besides establishing and playing with his own leitmotivs for the titular creature, the young boy and her grandmother, Pipes interpolates Christmas carols into his score, in many occasions to a surprisingly chilling effect (the best example perhaps being the intentionally off-key rendition of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in "Creatures Are Stirring"), while also including several instances of "Krampus Karol Of The Bells", a piece written Peter J. Wilhousky and arranged by Pipes. The composer even has time to take his own main theme to a lyrical and tragic mood with a piano and cello duet in the lovely "Omi's Story".

The score was originally released in 2015 by La-La Land Records in the form of a very long album including most if not all of the music composed by Pipes, though somewhat interrupted by the incorporation of full Christmas carols that generally affect the listening experience, failing to achieve the listener's mood Pipes is constantly trying to go to with his music. Renovatio Records has put together this new release of Krampus, containing the best parts of the score arranged and intertwined in a way that the score becomes gradually more intense as it moves forward, reaching some of the best highlights in the horror-comedy film music genre. This is the perfect choice for those who want to musically surprise some guests during the Christmas Eve! Happy holidays!

Track Listing:
1. A Cold Wind (0:44)
2. The Engel Family (2:52)
3. Max's Wish (2:39)
4. Bells, Bones and Chains (4:00)
5. Into The Storm/The Snow Beast (5:36)
6. Unholy Night (3:37)
7. Omi's Story (3:30)
8. Creatures Are Stirring (4:11)
9. Elfen (1:43)
10. The Shadow of St. Nicholas (2:05)
11. Sacrifice (3:49)
12. Cloven (4:51)
13. The Bell (1:05)
14. Gruss Von Krampus (End Credits) (2:11)
15. Krampus Karol Of The Bells (1:10)

Total Running Time: 44:03

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