Listening to the music after such a long interval was a great experience. While I would give the CD a slight edge in sound quality over the LP in the quieter moments, when the score gets large and muscular, the CD tends to sound brittle, while the LP has the requisite power to handle the massive orchestral forces. Something I noticed with the Beatles LPs I've been listening to as well is that the some mixing choices make more sense with the inherent sonics of the LP medium. This was especially noticable in "Blue Jay Way" on Magical Mystery Tour, but one can also hear this occur in Dracula during the cue "Night Journeys," in which a solo vocal is heard over the orchestra. This always sounded a bit strange on the CD, but it fits perfectly on the LP. A good remaster like the one done for Close Encounters of the Third Kind would take care of any sound issues.

While I like how John Williams makes his album re-recordings (Jaws, E.T., etc), I generally don't like how he rearranges his original film score tracks for their album presentations. Dracula has always an the exception to this, and now that I've heard the album as it was originally concieved, I have to say that "Night Journeys," which closes side one, really does a great job of making you want to get right up and turn that platter over. Side two opens with a bang as well with "The Love Scene." This is a really well-arranged record, and it made me really interested in renting the film now to hear more of the music as it appeared in the movie.

And what music it is. Similar in tone if not style to Henry Mancini's Lifeforce, Williams' score is deliciously Straussian, a dark, Romantic grand opera. This was one of a string of film scores that Williams recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in a period during which he was creating classic after classic, and if Dracula has been eclipsed by Williams' other efforts of the time it is due to the notoriety of those works, not any lack of quality here. As heard on the album, the score is much less thematic than most of Williams' output of the era, concentrating instead on textures and mood. There is a strong central theme for Dracula himself that serves as the basis for the score.

I finally got around to seeing the movie. It was pretty much massive amounts of Velveeta, but the cast and John Williams' score keep it entertaining throughout.

Frank Langella is great as Dracula, managing to be charming and seductive while still animistic and creepy. He remains the classiest Dracula I've seen yet. Langella's committal to the role is palpable, but Laurence Olivier seems to be cashing a paycheck as Van Helsing (although to be fair, the actor's health was extremely frail at the time). Donald Pleasance is delightful; in the commentary track and documentaries, John Badham and Walter Mirisch lament his scene-stealing behavior, but from an audience point of view it is quite enjoyable.

Badham wanted to tone down the color for the video releases, and as a result, despite the fact that the DVD's anamorphic transfer shows a razor-sharp Panavision image, the colors are very inconsistent, sometimes seeming like footage from two different films edited together. The sound, on the other hand, is pretty decent, replicating the original theatrical Dolby Stereo mix with plenty of dimensionality and surround activity (the laserdisc must have sounded amazing).

Williams' score is glorious, taking center stage in several sequences (most notably in the much-maligned Maurice Binder dream sequence that I actually thought was pretty cool, if a bit out of place in this movie). The filmmakers are clearly aware even now of the contribution that Williams made to the film, and his work takes up a decent chunk of the (rather sober) production documentary on the DVD. The interaction between the music and the images is very operatic, the impressive Gothic surges are gripping, although they sometimes serve to emphasize the aforementioned cheese factor today.

There was a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that seeing the film and hearing the complete score chronologically might make me more critical of the soundtrack album, but I found to my surprise the opposite to be true. Having heard the music in its original context, I had a new appreciation for the programming of the album. There are a few moments in the film I would like to have someday (and a few alternate takes between the film and the record), but the album as it stands is a very good representation of the score, and it is a phenomenal listening experience. I'd buy an expanded edition of the score for the additional music, but the album as it stands is magnificent.

This and Fury may be two of my favs by him. Really good stuff.

Anyway, great review from Swashbuckler! Here's a link to an earlier discussion about the same subject:
http://www.moviemusic.com/mb/Forum1/HTML/009991.html

quote:

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Originally posted by Swashbuckler:
While I like how John Williams makes his album re-recordings (Jaws, E.T., etc), I generally don't like how he rearranges his original film score tracks for their album presentations. Dracula has always an the exception to this, and now that I've heard the album as it was originally concieved, I have to say that "Night Journeys," which closes side one, really does a great job of making you want to get right up and turn that platter over. Side two opens with a bang as well with "The Love Scene." This is a really well-arranged record, and it made me really interested in renting the film now to hear more of the music as it appeared in the movie.

---

Even though I love Williams' DRACULA, I don't agree on your opinion that the re-recording would be well-arranged, nor well-sequenced. The climax of "Night Journeys" and "Love Scene" are actually two different interpretations of the same original composition. Gorgeous music, YES, but unfortunately repetitious on the vinyl and on the CD. The re-recorded "Love Scene" variation resembles the authentic "Main Title" in its end - and thus this arrangement feels more like a prelude, or an entr'acte, rather than being an authentic representation of the "Love Scene".

But don't get me wrong - I still love both the re-recording and the actual score. They are just two so different works that is frustrates me; the DRACULA 1979 "soundtrack album" is FAR from being the actual, original score.

quote:

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Originally posted by Swashbuckler: ---but the album as it stands is a very good representation of the score, and it is a phenomenal listening experience. I'd buy an expanded edition of the score for the additional music, but the album as it stands is magnificent.

---

I have said it myself, that if one hears the album (and has never seen the 1979 movie), the musical wholeness stands amazingly on its own, bringing Bram Stoker's original novel vividly to life with gaunt Carpathian mountains, ruined castles, white-shrouded ladies gliding under a silvery moon, misty graveyards, old chappels, and wolves baying at the moon. This explains why I have a certain love/hate relationship to the 1979 movie and its score.

THE ACTUAL SCORE VS. THE ALBUM
Selections with * are featured on the MCA
album (re-released by Varese Sarabande on CD);
however, especially the "Night Journeys" album version
has very little to do with the authentic score.

1 Main Title & Storm Sequence*
2 Meeting in the Cave* (Dracula & Mina)
3 Attack on Renfield (The Abduction of Lucy, part 1*)
4 Dracula's Carriage
5 (source music)
6 For Mina* (1st variation)
7 (source music/enhancement)
8 Wallcrawler I / Dracula & Mina
9 Dracula & Renfield / Morning Sun (a MOST happy theme in the great Williams tradition)
10 For Mina (2nd variation)
11 Drive to Carfax Abbey (very short reprise of the happy theme)
12 Dracula & Harker / Harker Sees the Bat
13 For Mina (Final Version)
14 Lucy's Arrival at Carfax Abbey
15 (The Dinner: source music)
16 Through the Window
17 Dracula's Kiss / The Book
18 Dracula's Horse / Visiting Mina's Grave
19 The White Horse
20 Night Journeys (Intro*) / Love Scene*
21 Encountering the Undead Mina (*Bat Attack Part 2)
22 Van Helsing Encounters Dracula
23 A Graveyard Operation / Lucy's Escape
24 To Carfax Abbey / Encountering Dracula
25 Bat Attack (*Bat Attack excerpt)
26 Jonathan & Lucy (*The Night Visitor)
27 Wolf Approaches / Wallcrawler II
28 The Abduction of Lucy* (the movie version features a chilling chorus)
29 To Scarborough*
30 Dracula's Death*
31 End Titles*

KEN

EDIT 04-20-2010: The actual score tracklist revised.

I was raised on the Hammer horror Dracula films of the late 50's, the 60's, and the early 70's; and as such, I grew up believing Christopher Lee's interpretation Definitive. Gotta tell you, though, that I still get a nice jolt and smile out of Langella shouting, "Sacrilege!", at Van Helsing, before leaping out the window. The Badham/Langella DRACULA had its problems, but I've always loved the very Dutch and underplayed Van Helsing of Olivier, and the soaring score both when the good guys are chasing the carriage & when the loading hook hauls the vamp into the sun.....where he *does not* "twinkle".

---- Mark

quote:

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Originally posted by Ken S:
Even though I love Williams' DRACULA, I don't agree on your opinion that the re-recording would be well-arranged, nor well-sequenced. The climax of "Night Journeys" and "Love Scene" are actually two different interpretations of the same original composition. Gorgeous music, YES, but unfortunately repetitious on the vinyl and on the CD. The re-recorded "Love Scene" variation resembles the authentic "Main Title" in its end - and thus this arrangement feels more like a prelude, or an entr'acte, rather than being an authentic representation of the "Love Scene".

---

I always found it repetitive on CD myself, which is why I was surprised by how well it worked on vinyl. The natural pause that comes from having to flip the platter over keeps the two pieces from piling one top of each other as they do on CD. Quite the opposite, it does a fantastic job of putting you right back where you were before you got off the couch.

I stand by my assessment of the album, tempered (and perhaps buttressed) by the knowledge gained after posting this that the recordings were completely different. While I would welcome a release of the original score tracks, my own ideal presentation would have a something more along the lines of Damien, Justine or The Fury and feature both. As with E.T., Capricorn One or Jaws, the album is different enough from the film recording to be of great interest even if the original tracks are available.

[Message edited by Swashbuckler on 04-18-2010]