My latest review:
Evil Nine: They Live! – Zombie techno bitches!

Now, as I was saying…

Gothic Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Part 1
Part 2
The Devil Is An Englishman
Okay, I don’t know where to begin with this one. Gothic is a completely forgotten 1987 horror film by Ken Russell, who is best known for directing the film version of Tommy and the 1980 mindfuck Altered States. If Ken Russell doesn’t do LSD then the chemicals used to manufacture it are taken from his body. Other “highlights” of Russell’s career include; The Devils, a film described to me as the most blasphemous movie ever made; The Lair Of The White Worm, in which the bisexual lawyer from L.A. Law attacks Hugh Grant; and the exquisitely-titled Whore, which was written as a response to Pretty Woman.

Gothic starred Gabriel Byrne and Julian Sands (The Warlock) and is based on the true story of Mary Shelly’s vacation on Lake Geneva which led to her writing Frankenstein. The word “based” is a stretch though, since I highly doubt that Mary Shelly and her friends spent that winter partaking in drug-fueled orgies and hallucinating about nipples with eyeballs and such (although I could be wrong).

This score was composed by Thomas Dolby. Before this his only work composing music for a film was for Howard The Duck, and that wasn’t even the score, it was the music that Lea Thompson’s band plays. Which leads to the question; how the hell did he get this gig? In case you were wondering, Gothic was the last movie Dolby ever scored.

Anyways, Gothic has kind of slipped into the black hole of anonymity since its 1987 release. It’s available on DVD if you really want to see it, but I haven’t met anyone who has. This score is even more obscure, and has been out of print for years now. It was released on both vinyl and CD, and the latter of the two can go for as much as 70 bucks on eBay (Dolby fans are fucking nuts). I grabbed this from Jerry’s for a tenth of that insane price. It’s pretty good, and combines orchestral arrangements with electronic instruments in a few interesting ways.

The original CD had the score split up into two parts, and I’m keeping with that format since there are about 40 “tracks” listed on the vinyl version. The only change I’m making from that album is that I separated the very end, which is a “pop” song called “The Devil Is An Englishman,” featuring someone named Timothy Spall on vocals. The soundtrack also credits someone going by the name “Screamin’ Lord Byron,” but that is NOT David Bowie, who went by that name in the video for “Blue Jean,” instead it’s lines that Gabriel Byrne yelled in the movie (he played Lord Byron in the movie and he tends to scream lots).

And I think I just wrote more on the soundtrack to this movie than anyone ever has in the history of anything.

The Leather Nun
Primemover
F.F.A.
Pink House (Extended Version)
Speed Of Life (Extended Version)
Lucky Strike (SMC Al Star Blosband) (Not a typo, it’s “Al Star”)

Exciting excursions into the leather nunnery continue with these choice tracks. The first two tracks are from the 12” single to “Primeover” while the last three are from the single to “Pink House,” a song that bears no relation whatsoever to “Pink Houses,” which is a shame because that would have been totally awesome.

Note: “F.F.A” stands for “Fist Fuckers Associated” I’m assuming their offices are not located in the same office complex as “Peace And Love Incorporated.”

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