Die Hard (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed and Conducted by Michael Kamen
It's Christmas time and here at Renovatio Records we thought about tackling a title for the occasion. Thus, we present you Michael Kamen's original soundtrack for the 1988 thriller Die Hard, starred a yet-to-be-star Bruce Willis and directed by John McTiernan (Predator). In this action film, Willis plays New York cop John McClane who travels to Los Angeles with hopes of reconciling with his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) during a Christmas party at the office skyscraper Nakatomi Plaza. The party is interrupted by a German terrorist group led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) that takes all party-goers hostage and plans to rob the building's vault. McClane, however, escapes undetected and becomes involved in a cat-and-mouse game with the terrorists, picking them off one by one to rescue the hostages. While originally expected to be a flop, the film quickly became a total hit after its release, become an iconic motion picture described by many as the movie that invented action films clichés.
Musically, Kamen received this assignment after working with the producer Joel Silver in the Lethal Weapon franchise. The composer provided an intriguing score for Die Hard incorporating musical melodies, namely from Beethoven's Ode to joy and the songs "Winter Wonderland" and "Singing in the Rain", to great effect into the majority of his cues. Furthermore, he included several motifs, the most-memorable perhaps being a 6-note strings theme for McClane, introduced in this album's track "And If He Alters It?", which remained a trademark throughout the subsequent franchise entries. With this movie, Kamen was also given a chance to prove how a master he was at composing action music, evidenced in this album by the tracks "Assault On The Tower" and "Freeing The Hostages", two frenetic orchestral cues with bombastic percussion and brass sequences that will rumble your house when listened.
The score received album treatment long before the movie's premiere. Before the 2002 release by Varèse Sarabande and the La-La Land Records three expanded editions, there were only bootleg versions of the score available with very low audio quality. Renovatio Records has now produced a new rearrangement of the score, presenting you the highlights of Kamen's work for a consistent listening experience crowned by a full rendition of Beethoven's 9th Symphony to end the album. Raise those glasses of champagne and enjoy!!
Track Listing:
1. Terrorists Arrive (3:17)
2. McClane's Escape (2:35)
3. Wiring The Roof (1:49)
4. And If He Alters It? (2:26)
5. Going After McClane (3:44)
6. Welcome To The Party (2:04)
7. Assault On The Tower (7:06)
8. McClane Meets Gruber (2:53)
9. I Had An Accident (2:22)
10. Opening The Vault (2:00)
11. Freeing The Hostages (5:29)
12. Final Showdown (4:15)
13. We've Got Each Other (1:56)
14. Beethoven's 9th (End Credits) (4:00)
Total Running Time: 45:56
Cover Artwork
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