The Thing (1982 Original Soundtrack)

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Due to scheduling conflicts, Morricone composed the music after viewing the film before it was even complete. He recorded the synthesizer parts in Rome and the large orchestra in Los Angeles. Ultimately, more than half the score was not used in the film, and some parts were replaced by electronic music newly composed by Carpenter and Howarth. However, Morricone’s work—one of his most imaginative, claustrophobic and paranoid scores—has developed a cult following. It is one of the scores most appreciated by the composer’s fans, and also by Carpenter fans. Quartet Records, Geffen Records and Universal Music Special Markets present the long-awaited remastered reissue of Ennio Morricone's iconic score for the no-less-iconic John Carpenter sci-fi/horror film The Thing (1982). The surprising talent of The Wonders was just as evident live as it is on this, the band's only record. As last minute additions to the Play-Tone Galaxy of Stars, The Wonders thrilled crowds throughout the mid-west with a set of songs that grew by, literally, public demand. With the then state-of- the-art Clavius K-135 Portable Recording system (with Quad Yoshikawa Microphones and a Floating Element Carbonite Tape) two other songs by The Wonders were recorded live during an afternoon show at the Illinois State Fair in late July 1964. Along with other records from the period and from the Play-Tone Stable of Artists, they have been digitally re-mixed, re-mastered and augmented especially for the vinyl you now hold. Although Carpenter himself (in collaboration with Alan Howarth) had scored his five previous films, he turned to the Italian maestro to compose the original score for The Thing since it was his first film with a big studio budget. Ennio Morricone composed the magnificent score for my movie The Thing,” Carpenter said in a statement. “Because we weren’t finished editing the movie, Ennio had to score without seeing a complete picture. When we put everything together, there were gaps dramatically where I would have wanted music. So I went off and scored a couple of simple pieces that filled in.”

John apparently insisted Morricone was a better man for the job than he; which takes a great deal of professionalism & self honesty. The LP version of the original score for The Thing, which is coming out via Waxwork, features remastered audio and has been pressed on 180-gram “blood sample,” red-splattered vinyl. It also includes an 11-inch-by-22-inch poster.

Following decades of success in Europe and his iconic scores for spaghetti westerns, Morricone was only just making inroads into Hollywood. Despite having hundreds of credits to his name, Morricone’s scores remain instantly recognizable, be they the yips of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the stinging surf guitars of Danger Diabolik, or the romantic orchestral swells of The Mission. Watching the film when it screened at BAM a few years ago, it was startling when Morricone’s name emerged on the credits for The Thing—so minimal, restrained, and atmospheric is his score. What Morricone captured that perhaps would have been lost via another artist is the detail. The FX of 'The Thing' is legendary; what Rob Bottin & crew did was a 1st, nothing like it had ever been seen before. Splintering, dripping, pulsating matter unpredictably exploding into random horrific forms, & as he did for the western, Morricone nailed it with the audio equivalent, as if the instruments were mutating too. Interestingly the decision to use orchestral instruments & retain a classical sense works so well; had this been heavily avant-garde, coupled with the imagery it might well have been a toxic overkill. Two years later, Morricone reflected on the score. “The collaboration with Carpenter was really something extraordinary and something very peculiar, as well,” Morricone told Rolling Stone. “He came to Rome to show me the movie but immediately after the end of the screening, he had to rush away, so I couldn’t speak to him. I was very impressed by what I’d seen but I was concerned because he didn’t give me any clue or indication about what he wanted.”

Although Carpenter himself (in collaboration with Alan Howarth) had scored his five previous films, he turned to the Italian maestro to compose the original score for THE THING since it was his first film with a big studio budget.Two different versions were initially available, the “Snow Variant” and “Deluxe Ice Edition,” but the latter has already sold out. So you better act fast on this one. He went on to make several different cues in many different styles. “In the end, he chose just one single piece of music,” Morricone said. “Now one of the pieces he didn’t use is in The Hateful Eight.” Waxwork Records worked to ensure that such a highly anticipated and sought after vinyl film core re-issue would meet and exceed expectations. Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski star alongside Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell.

Waxwork Records and Sacred Bones Records are thrilled to present JOHN CARPENTER’S LOST CUES: THE THING. Composed and performed by director John Carpenter and including performances by Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, LOST CUES: THE THING features unreleased musical cues from the1982 alien-horror masterpiece, THE THING. Quartet Records, Geffen Records and Universal Music Special Markets present the long-awaited remastered reissue of Ennio Morricone’s iconic score for the no-less-iconic John Carpenter sci-fi/horror film THE THING (1982). Most probably dont play things like this very loud and that certainly helps but I prefer to create a more real sense of staging and size to things which requires a volume crank that elevates these problems. Morricone paints a musical portrait of the snowy landscapes with the iciest strings imaginable. The music, dense and foreboding, foreshadows the bleak destiny of the men of the doomed National Science Institute Station 4. It's a symphonic lament for the end of humanity. And, somewhat counterintuitively, it's absolutely magnificent. The dramatic saga – spanning three generations – reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.”

Safe & Secure

Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. Overlooked at the Academy Awards at the time, Morricone would eventually win an Oscar, at least in part for this music, when some of it appeared in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight some thirty-odd years after the fact. Better late than never. R.I.P. Maestro. Ennio Morricone composed the magnificent score for my movie THE THING. Because we weren’t finished editing the movie, Ennio had to score without seeing a complete picture. When we put everything together, there were gaps dramatically where I would have wanted music. So I went off and scored a couple of simple pieces that filled in.” Midway through, Morricone’s themes strike a balance between acoustic, human sounds and cold electronics. The strings of “Solitude” oscillate between anxious and vertiginous. Keys twinkle like melting icicles on the electronic-tinged “Eternity,” soon joined by a church organ line that seems to be perpetually in descent, ratcheting up the tension and creating a sense of the inevitable. A meandering synth piece, “Sterilization,” shows Morricone not altogether comfortable mixing these two distinct palettes together. John Carpenter’s films are of course known for their incredible scores, often performed by Carpenter himself, but for The Thing, Ennio Morricone handled the music. With his landmark score, Morricone – who recently won the Oscar for The Hateful Eight (which, funny enough, used bits of The Thing score) – pitch-perfectly captured the cold, isolated atmosphere of the story.