All four of Danny Elfman’s scores from 1990 extended the gothic orchestral feel of his [b}Batman music to varying extents. Nightbreed would have done it in 1989 if not for the studio delaying its release so they could tinker with Clive Barker’s monster horror film (much to the director’s chagrin). On that film, Elfman added some world music instrumentation and choir to his Herrmann-adjacent style, delivering a work tied together less by evocative melodies and more by a tapestry of succinct motifs he can extensively develop over the life of the film. It has darn near everything people loved about his early style: the low winds, the grand ensemble outbursts, the occasional sense of mischief amidst the darkness, and how the music seemed to give soul and pathos to the unloved weirdos of the world (or in this film’s case other worlds).

A bit over half of the score made the original album program, which contained all the highlights of what Elfman wrote. The incremental material on Intrada’s new CD release is largely welcome though, with some new theme variations and an extended Carnival track helping to offset a decent helping of simmering suspense and nondescript grimness. The main attraction should be the significant expansion of the climactic action material, unleashing plenty of entertaining ruckus that occasionally previews the haunting grandeur of Edward Scissorhands. This includes the one major highlight not on the original album, Berserker’s Party, which finds Shirley Walker previewing some of her Batman: The Animated Series mannerisms. I doubt the expanded release will change many folks’ rating of the score, but it’s still nice to have this occasionally rather impressive work out there in full.

Daniel Schweiger’s notes are informative, though he got the original and adjusted release dates wrong. And the back of the booklet makes it unclear which track Walker wrote, though Schweiger was kind enough to clarify that point for me on the FSM board.

****

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Prior 2024 album posts
- Live and Let Die - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=131612
- Octopussy - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=131627
- Hellboy II - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=131961
- HTTYD: The Hidden World - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=132742
- Top Gun - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=132758
- Rock-a-Doodle - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=132825
- Something Wicked This Way Comes - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134359
- Night Passage - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134397
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134671
- Backdraft - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134759