WARLOCK – Composed and Conducted by JERRY GOLDSMITH

Fully restored, complete Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack from Steve Miner satanic horror film with Julian Sands, Lori Singer, Richard E. Grant gets world premiere release on CD! When Goldsmith first prepared his 1989 album for Intrada, he omitted numerous cues, dropped several electronic ideas and deleted sweetener tracks. Resulting original stereo mixes were all that existed for some 25 years. Now, at long last, newly located 2″ masters allow restoration of the entire score with all electronics and sweeteners intact plus many previously unreleased cues! Warlock holds a very important place in the composer’s repertoire: Coming literally at the end of the eighties, Goldsmith bids farewell to his legendary busy action vernacular while simultaneously looking forward to his streamlined nineties work. Meld of two styles is terrific! Lean main theme in minor key trades with aggressive action spotlighting propulsive low brass figures, swirling woodwinds, slicing strings. Epic highlights: lengthy final showdown (“Salt Water Attack”) with dynamic action writing, heartfelt parting sequence (“The Salt Flats”) with rich variant of main theme, moving chordal passages. Vibrant new mixes made by Bruce Botnick & Mike Matessino, entire production supervised by Nick Redman, informative liner notes by Jeff Bond. Flipper artwork designed by Joe Sikoryak lets you choose your booklet cover preference. Score recorded in Australia during August 1988. Jerry Goldsmith conducts Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra

Jerry Goldsmith’s score to the 1989 New World film WARLOCK combines his developing fascination with electronics with trademarks from earlier eras in his career.  Goldsmith wrote for a sizable but judiciously utilized group of 70–80 players of the Victorian Philharmonic Orchestra in Australia.  Both his complex, agitated string writing and rattling percussion recall earlier scores like The Mephisto Waltz and Planet of the Apes.  The film’s main title presents the score’s three key elements.  A dry, primitive-sounding utterance of Goldsmith’s theme for the warlock opens the score, played by synthesizer, but with a sound not unlike the medieval instrument the serpent.  His hymn-like theme for the character Redferne, also initially voiced by synthesizer, follows the warlock theme; and finally a repeating, percussive motif that will permeate the rest of the score is introduced, played by xylophone and other percussion—a signal for the presence and evil intentions of the warlock.

Goldsmith was not enthusiastic about the mixes made in Australia.  At the time when Intrada prepared the original release back in 1989, rather than remix everything, Goldsmith requested Intrada assemble and master the LP and CD from the ½” four-track units but remove some of the electronic effects and woodwind colors assigned to the center channel where the problems were most prevalent. That left something of a vacuum in the final two-track stereo master. As a result, a then-generous 54 minutes of music with inherent compromises became the souvenir of Goldsmith’s impressive work.

For this release, the original 2” 24-track session rolls were unearthed, containing all of the information that did not make it into the four-track units and allowing for a brand new mix from scratch, resulting in the first proper two-track stereo mixes with all of those previously missing tracks. The final results are an altogether different audio experience, putting on display all of those additional orchestral colors and myriad electronic effects. And yet there’s more —  now there is also a wealth of previously unreleased music to go with the stunning sonics—72 minutes in all!

 WARLOCK will also be available on 180-gram vinyl later this summer.