Featuring Original Music By John Debney
Lakeshore Records will release the HOUDINI – Original Television Soundtrack Volumes 1 and 2 digitally on August 26th and on CD September 30, 2014. The album features original music by John Debney (Sin City, The Passion Of The Christ).
“I would best describe the HOUDINI score as Industrial Rock meets Gypsy rooted mystery,” said Debney. “Uli Edel gave Houdini such a stylish and über-contemporary look. His attention to detail was impeccable and high spirit of creativity was infectious!”
Academy Award-nominated John Debney seemed destined for a career in Hollywood. The son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), Debney grew up in nearby Glendale, where he began guitar lessons at age six and played in rock bands in college. After college, he entered into the business with the help of television composing legend Mike Post (The Rockford Files, Law And Order). Debney furthered his hands-on training by working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. He began scoring television projects as diverse as Star Trek: The Next Generation, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Sea Quest DSV, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In 1993 he secured his first studio feature film, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler.
Although Debney had built an industry reputation as a talented film composer, with films as The Princess Diaries 1&2 , Raising Helen, Spy Kids 1&2, Elf, and Bruce Almighty, it was in 2004 that the rest of the world discovered him. Blending symphonic orchestra, a wide range of world instruments and the beauty of the human voice, Debney’s landmark score for The Passion Of The Christ would earn him an Academy Award nomination, a Gold record and a Dove award.
John Debney continues to receive accolades for his outstanding work. Last year, he received a Prime Time Emmy nomination for his work on the miniseries Hatfields And Mccoys. In 2005, he became the youngest recipient of ASCAP’s prestigious Henry Mancini Lifetime Achievement Award. Debney has again broken new ground composing for the videogames Lair (2007) and The Sims Medieval (2011). His Lair music was nominated for a BAFTA and he was awarded Best Videogame Score by The International Film Music Critics Association. John Debney’s recent accomplishments include scoring the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs. His recent projects include Draft Day and Walk Of Shame, both feature soundtracks on Lakeshore Records.
The two-night scripted miniseries HOUDINI follows the epic tales of Harry Houdini as he emerges as America’s first bonafide world-renowned superstar. From humble beginnings at circus sideshows to sold-out concert halls, Eastern European immigrant Erich Weiss rose to become a household name across the globe–Houdini. Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) stars as The Great Harry Houdini as he finds fame, engages in espionage, battles spiritualists and encounters the greatest names of the era, from U.S. presidents to Arthur Conan Doyle and Rasputin. A thrilling ride throughout Harry’s psyche, HOUDINI delves deep behind the curtain into his life through his stunts, his visions and his mastery of illusion. Joining Brody is Kristen Connolly (House of Cards, The Cabin the Woods) as Bess Houdini, the love of Harry’s life and right hand when it came to some of his most amazing feats, and Evan Jones (A Million Ways to Die in the xWest, The Book of Eli, Gangster Squad) as Jim Collins, Harry’s assistant and confidant.
“All if the score is in the main electronic, with the addition of a solo gypsy violin and cello. Lots of Zither and other stringed instruments were also used,” explained Debney. “Early discussions on tone centered around the idea of giving Houdini a very edgy and contemporary sound while always grounding the music with period splashes of style.”
History presents HOUDINI – a special two-night event airing Monday, September 1 and Tuesday, September 2 at 9/8C. The HOUDINI – Original Television Soundtrack Volumes 1& 2 will be available digitally on August 26th and on CD September 30, 2014.
HOUDINI is a Lionsgate/A+E Studios co-production. The creative team includes Gerald W. Abrams (Nuremberg, Family of Spies) and Andras Hamori (Sunshine) as executive producers, Academy Award® nominated writer Nicholas Meyer (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution), Academy Award® nominated director Uli Edel (The Baader Meinhof Complex, Last Exit to Brooklyn), Academy Award® winning production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein (Amadeus), and cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub, whose work ranges from American blockbusters (Independence Day) to award-winning art house movies (Black Book).
Visit Amazon to pre-order the Volume 1 album and click here to pre-order the Volume 2 soundtrack.
TRACKLIST
Volume One
1. Houdini Flash Forward
2. Cuffs
3. Impressive Shtick
4. Traveling Shows
5. Money for Nothin’ / Halloween Dinner
6. Father Gets Fired
7. Proposal / Wedding Night
8. Hitting the Road
9. Betting the Sheriff
10. Jail Cell
11. Chicago Jail Break
12. Chinese Water Torture Unveil
13. Is Harry Drowning?
14. Espionage
15. Harry’s New Passport / Floatin’ Virgin
16. Bullet Catch Lie
17. Bullet Catch for the Kaiser
18. Pull the Trigger / Bullet Catch Revealed / Meeting Riley
19. Golden Coins
20. Ringing Kremlin Bells
21. Moscow Report for Melville
22. Schlieffen Plan Assignment
23. Race Against the Clock
24. My Brain is the Key / Harry Returns
25. Bess Parties with the Kaiser
26. Lady Butler
27. Carriage to the World / Falling Back to Earth
28. Times Have Changed
29. There Is No Escape
Volume Two
1. Houdini Night 2 Main Title / Houdini Recap
2. Tub Full of Ice
3. Straight Jacket Stunt
4. Doing the Impossible
5. Harry Strays
6. I’m Sorry
7. Make Jenny Disappear
8. Secrets
9. Brick Wall Performance
10. Doyle’s Backstage Visit
11. Mom’s Death / Mother’s Funeral
12. Who Murdered Elsie Mathews?
13. I’d Give Everything
14. WWI Montage
15. San Francisco Debunked Séance / Houdini Challenges Spiritualism
16. Canon Ball Introduction / Canon Ball Survival
17. Fortune Teller
18. Doyle’s Séance for Harry
19. Lady Doyle is a Fraud
20. Houdini Is Doomed
21. Seductive Margery
22. Harry Breaks Ankle
23. Blow to the Stomach / Harry Collapses
24. You’ve Thrilled Millions
25. Bess Goodbye / No Escape
26. Master of Illusion
27. Houdini Suite
