4 out of 5

Label: Waxwork Records

Produced by: Thomas Dimuzio (vinyl remaster)

This is one of those instances where the extras – though appreciated – don’t add to an already perfect release.  Or, I suppose, to assess it differently, while I could listen to the original tracks from this release over and over – which take up the A and B and one half of the C side – I doubt I’ll do much listening to the alternative takes on the D side beyond what I did for reviewing.  So I can shrug and say “but it’s amazing besides that!” – and seriously, the remaster is gorgeous, the packing fantastic, the color swirls for the variant I own a great choice, and Goblin’s score for this flick was so uniquely unnervingly weird – but I feel like I have to acknowledge that, essentially, 25% of this wax is going to listening waste.  Which, man, sounds awful.

Anyway.

Romero: known, initially, for repurposing stock scores.  Goblin: known for psychedelic, proggy miasmas for Argento’s flicks.  When Argento came on board as cowriter for Dawn, the international verison of the flick gained his in-house band for music, and damn, is the soundtrack world a better place for it.

An indescribable blend of thumping beats, darkly humorous chants, and surreal jazz, Goblin’s work swoons with the same kind of out-of-time genius the flick embraced; it sounds like the kind of stuff any outre Chicago jam-band would love to concoct but would be forced, and it doesn’t sound like anything you’d predict Goblin to make.  The tour we get through the film’s dramatic, playful, and thrilling moments are synced wonderfully to the full-length cuts, with elements of the initial theme haunting the whole thing.  The extra tracks I’ve dismissed – alternate takes – aren’t without merit, as they’re based on solid foundations, I just absolutely prefer the original versions, and, again, feel like the score is very complete in its un-alternate-taked version.

Kudos to Waxwork for using the Italian song titles, and, of course, for the amazing presentation.