Stargate

STARGATE (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music by David Arnold

Renovatio Records presents Stargate, composed by the great David Arnold. This film (released in 1994) was the second motion picture Arnold scored and the first major blockbuster, and led to the collaboration of Arnold with producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich for two more large scale films, Independence Day and Godzilla. Stargate is a science fiction that merges Egpytian mythological settings and a modern interstellar travel concept. Starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, the film became an instant hit and a cult classic that inspired future productions and TV series, despite initial critics opinions. When Arnold received the project, he was working at a video store in London. Composing in a secluded hotel room, doing rewrites and improving the music, Arnold provided a score that returned to the classical roots of Hollywood music.

Performed by the Sinfonia of London, the score for Stargate is full of themes, motifs and memorable moments, with strong brass passages, choruses for the fantasy element and a complex orchestration (courtesy of Nicholas Dodd, Arnold's regular collaborator) that involves local instrumentation and vocal work for the Egyptian mood. Besides being a standout score in Arnold's career, the music foreshadowed things to come from the composer. His main theme for this film is so remarkable that it has become a signature of the entire franchise and his action music (prominent in the final half) will surely rock you floor!

The soundtrack was released in 1994 by Milan Records and received a Deluxe treatment by Varèse Sarabande in 2006, with new unreleased material. The problem with both lengthy releases is that the tracks are so short that makes the listening experience rather unbalanced, changing its style and mood from one minute to the next. Renovatio Records has managed to compile a soundtrack that it's fairly organized and that provides the best moments of the score, providing a fluent listening experience that manages to tell a musical story on its own. We hope you enjoy it!

Please note that this release is also the first of the three planned releases for the scores produced by the Emmerich/Devlin/Arnold collaboration. So stick around for more Arnold in the future!

Track listing:

1. Stargate Overture (3:01)

2. Giza, 1928 (2:11)

3. Orion (1:31)

4. The Coverstones (0:59)

5. The Stargate Opens (3:58)

6. Entering The Stargate (4:45)

7. The Other Side (1:45)

8. The Mining Pit (1:34)

9. Caravan To Nagada (2:16)

10. Daniel And Shauri (1:54)

11. Symbol Discovery (1:14)

12. The Pyramid (4:09)

13. Ra - The Sun God (3:22)

14. Procession & Slave Rebellion (2:41)

15. Against The Gods (1:54)

16. Battle At The Pyramid (5:02)

17. Countdown (3:24)

18. Kasuf Returns (3:06)

19. Going Home (3:13)

20. Stargate Theme (1:13)

Total running time: 53:12

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The Thing

THE THING (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music Composed by Marco Beltrami

Renovatio Records brings you yet another Marco Beltrami score: The Thing (2011). The film, directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen Jr. and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adelawe Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Eric Christian Olsen, serves as a prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 take and details the events that led to the destruction of the Norwegian camp (gruesome deaths, in between) that is later to be visited by Kurt Russell in the original. Filmmakers have put a lot of effort in making the prequel look just like Carpenter's film, with a touch of modernity added in; practical creature effects have been largely replaced by CGI shots in this one. Regarding the music, the original counted with Ennio Morricone's minimalist and synthetic yet effective score. For the prequel, filmmakers went into the opposite direction and hired Marco Beltrami to compose a large scale symphonic score with a melodic approach. The result is a brilliant horror score with significant thematic passages that will make the listener remember the work of Jerry Goldsmith.

Being a regular horror film composer, Beltrami is clearly in his comfort zone here and he manages to introduce interesting concepts into the genre. Such ideas involve a few electronic pulsing rhythms and an original motif for the creature itself that involves an orchestral wail that moves up and down, like if it were a actual living breathing "thing"! The score was officially released in 2011 by Varèse Sarabande, providing a lengthy album that contained several long suspense material, which made the listening experience rather unimpressive. Renovatio Records brings you this new release, with previously unreleased material and a fair balance between horror elements and thematic content. The Thing definitely stands out in Beltrami's career and is a score that horror film music collectors cannot miss!

Track listing:

1. Overture (1:29)

2. Journey To Antarctica (2:58)

3. Eye of the Survivor (2:57)

4. First Night (2:02)

5. Breakout (1:38)

6. First Attack (2:51)

7. Fillings (3:35)

8. Juliette (4:07)

9. Burning Corpses (2:21)

10. Not All Of Us Are Human (5:00)

11. Following Sander (3:41)

12. In The Ship (2:41)

13. Can't Stand The Heat (2:32)

14. Safe (2:35)

15. Final Immolation (2:34)

16. Who Goes There?* (3:41)

*Bonus track not featured in film

Total running time: 46:42

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