Midnight Express Soundtrack Review

  Today I thought I would review one of my absolute favorite Academy Award winning score soundtracks, Midnight Express. The movie adaptation of Billy Hayes book, Midnight Express was scored by Giorgio Moroder, who is a synthesizer pioneer who helped power the disco era and the Hi-Enrg era of music. He scored Midnight Express and won an Oscar for it, which he deserved it.
   Now onto the soundtrack review. The score tracks that appear on this soundtrack are out of chronological order, meaning that they don't go from scene to scene as most score soundtracks usually do. The first track on the CD is Chase. Now Chase is probably the track that stands out the most and is the one that most people are familiar with. Chase is the song that plays in the film when Billy Hayes is trying to outrun the Turkish authorities in Istanbul. Now Chase goes on for 8:29. It is the longest song on the soundtrack. In addition, this version is rearranged so the version in the movie sounds a lot different and is way darker. While I'm on the subject here, the whole soundtrack is rearranged versions of the

score used in the movie. While it's not a bad thing, it sure does make the score a lot less depressing and twisted.
  The second track, Love's Theme is from the scene where there is prison sex. I don't need to go any further with that. Love's Theme is the second longest piece of score on the CD running at 5:38. The next track is my second favorite track, Theme From Midnight Express Instrumental. This track plays throughout the film in scenes such as the one where Billy Hayes is being taken to be interrogated after he was caught at the airport smuggling Hashish. The instrumental version runs at 4:43. Now there is an alternate version of this track with vocals from Chris Bennett which is the last track on the soundtrack and runs a few seconds longer than the instrumental. The Version with Chris Bennett was not featured in the film at all.
  Next up is Istanbul Blues. This song was not composed or written by Giorgio Moroder, but by David Castle and Oliver Stone. This track is played during a montage in the film. It's a cool track that fits the movie.  The following track is The Wheel which is played in the mental ward scene when the prisoners are all walking around in what is called the Wheel of Istanbul. 
  The sixth track is Istanbul Opening which is the opening score track in the film which was much darker and tense than the rearranged version of the soundtrack CD. Not much explanation is needed here. Track seven is Cacophoney which I believe is played during the scene where the Warden tries to rape Billy Hays and in the mental ward. It's a very confusing track but it's good. It paved the way for techno musicians.
  Finally there is the Vocal version of the the third track which I stated above. Overall I love this soundtrack. It's one of those that is an essential to an Academy Award winning soundtrack collection and it is one of those that is different from the rest. That is why I believe it won the Oscar for best score in 1978.

Batman Mask Of The Phantasm Expanded Soundtrack Review.

   For all of the fans of Batman The Animated Series out there, you've probably have seen Batman Mask Of The Phantasm. If so, you know about the great score composed by the late Shirley Walker, who also composed the music for Batman The Animated Series. Originally the Batman Mask Of The Phantasm soundtrack was released on CD and cassette through Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros. Records on December 14th 1993. I will compare the Reprise Records release to the La La Land Records release.

Original Release

  The original release contained 10 score tracks and the end credits theme performed by Tia Carrere. The original release runs 27 minutes shorter than the expanded release from La La Land Records. The 10 score tracks on the original release are in order as they appear on the CD are, 1 Main Title, 2 The Promise, 3 Ski Masked Vigilante, 4, Phantasm's Graveyard Murder, 5 First Love, 6 The Big Chase, 7 A Plea For Help, 8 The Birth Of Batman, 9 Phantasm and Joker Fight, 9 Batman's Destiny. The 11th Track is I Never Even Told You performed by Tia Carrere. I bought the original release used for $4.99, and I felt that Shirley Walker got the middle finger given to her on this release. The original release is more of a score sampler than a score soundtrack to me. 

The Expanded Edition

   The La La Land Records Expanded Archival Collection is a much better release.  For one reason it is the complete score. Reason number two is that is remastered, so there is more oomph to it and it makes it more audible. The expanded edition is a limited edition pressing of 3,000 copies. Now the expanded edition has 20 tracks instead of the 11 on the original. The expanded edition's track list is as the following with comparisons to the original release. Track 1 Main Title (Expanded) to 5:01 from the original at 1:35. Track 2 The Promise (Expanded) to 1:25 from its original length of 0:46. 3 Ski Mask Vigilante (Expanded) to 4:28 from its original length of 3:06. Track 4 Fancy Footwork, which is a previously unreleased track. Track 5 Phantasm's Graveyard Murder which is expanded but not labeled on the La La Land release from its original length of 3:43 expanded to 3:52. Track 6 Bad News/ Set Trap/ May They Rest In Peace is a previously unreleased track. Track 7 First Love which is expanded to 1:59 from it's original length of 1:35. Track 8 City Street Drive/ Sal Valestra/ Good Samaritan is a previously unreleased track. Track 9 Birth of Batman (Expanded) to 6:01 from the original at 4:17. Track 10 The Joker's Big Entrance is a previously unreleased track. Track 11 is The Big Chase which is expanded to 5:40 which is 0:08 longer than it's original release. Track 12 Nowhere to Run which is a previously unreleased track. Track 13 A Plea for Help is an odd track, it isn't expanded, it's actually 0:54 seconds shorter than it's original release, so shortening the length is makes no sense since this is an expanded release. Track 14 A Tall Man/ Arturo and his Pal/ Makes You Want To Laugh/ What's So Funny? is a previously unreleased track. Track 15 Andrea Remembers/ True Identity is also a previously unreleased track. Track 16 Phantasm and Joker Fight is expanded but not labeled. Phantasm and Joker Fight is expanded to 6:01 from 4:05. Track 17 is Batman's Destiny which is shortened to 1:46 from 3:50 also like track 13 this makes no sense on why it was shortened. Track 18 I Never Even Told You performed by Tia Carrere which is expanded 0:03 seconds from 4:20 on the original release this song is played during the end credits. Track 19 Theme from Batman Mask of The Phantasm which is a labeled bonus track. This track is not to be confused with the end credits song. This track is played after Batman's Destiny in the movie. Track 20 Welcome to the Future is a previously unreleased track. This is the song that is sung by the robots at the entrance to The Gotham City World's Fair also known as the song that the Joker hates. The Expanded edition runs at 62:05 compared to the original at 33:26.
   My opinion of the expanded soundtrack on a scale of 1 to 10 is a 10. This is the true soundtrack that should have been released like this back in 1993. This is the full soundtrack of the film. Shirley Walker would be proud of this release. The expanded soundtrack has a 20 page booklet describing the history of Shirley Walker's career as a score composer and gives a track by track description of the scenes scores. The Original release doesn't have that at all.
  Pros and Cons.
Expanded Pros.     Expanded Cons.
   Complete score.      Limited Edition of 3000 copies.
   Remastered.            Not sold in stores.
   True to the film.       Can't buy on iTunes.

                                  Tracks 13 and 17 are shorter than the original release.