New from Hammer: A Range of Remastered Hammer Soundtracks
We’re thrilled to confirm the launch of a new range that will see an array of Hammer soundtracks remastered and available in gorgeous packaging, accompanied by brand new, bespoke material.
Film music has long been one of cinema’s most important and cherished elements. Composer Bernard Herrmann called soundtracks ‘a living force’ and Martin Scorcese declared, ‘Music and film are almost one and the same.’ Hammer Films have a long tradition of providing outstanding music for their work, ever since the iconic Paul Robeson sang in their 1936 musical, Song of Freedom.
Since then, many famed composers such as Malcolm Arnold, Edwin Astley and Doreen Carwithen have lent their talent to the studio’s output, whilst more modern notables include Tristram Cary, Laurie Johnson and the Academy Award-winning Michael Giacchino. But the composer most closely associated with the music of Hammer Horror remains the great James Bernard. His scores for classics like The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958) are recognised as landmarks in British filmmaking, and it’s therefore appropriate that music from one of his most popular works will launch this exciting new range.
We spoke to Hammer’s Steve Rogers to get the full story…
Original marketing material for The Curse of Frankenstein.
Hammer News: Hammer have never released soundtracks to their movies before, so this is fantastic news. But how, what, when..?
Steve Rogers: One of the most requested items of merchandise from fans over the last couple of years has been original soundtracks, which is hardly surprising as music is a major part of any film and Hammer composers have produced some of the most memorable in the whole of cinema.
HN: (clears throat) DRAC-U-LA!
SR: Exactly. But there's a problem in that the original soundtrack session recordings, barring some specific exceptions, no longer exist or are otherwise unavailable to us.
HN: Okay, how common is that issue, and what steps does it necessitate?
SR: It's frustrating, but Hammer films are not unique in this regard and session recording tapes for many films have either become lost or re-used over the years. This is why, for example, the soundtracks to both Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein have only been available as (very good) cover versions to date.
Obviously, this is as frustrating for us as it is for the fans and, during last year's restoration of The Curse of Frankenstein we examined the film's music and effects track to see if there was any way we could extract clean music from it. Though it's still impossible, even using modern audio tools, to completely remove things like footsteps, door slams and clanking chains, what we ended up with was thirteen minutes of clean music from the original film. It's not the complete original score but it's as much as we could salvage.
HN: Thirteen minutes of musical gold sounds good to me, to be honest. But when you say, ‘modern audio tools’, are you meaning AI?
SR: No, no AI for this – it was all manually extracted and cleaned up in-house at Hammer.
After the funeral… Elizabeth and Victor face the future in The Curse of Frankenstein.
HN: Great! I have to ask, though, we’re talking about the soundtrack of a movie that’s almost 70 years old. What kind of quality can we expect?
SR: The quality is very good indeed and our audio partner, soundtrack specialists Silva Screen, have had one of their top audio engineers remaster the extracted music to optimise it for physical release and also assemble the various music cues into a series of suites for a more rounded listening experience.
HN: Hammer’s recent releases, and I’m thinking specifically about the Limited Collector's Edition Range here, look superb and come with very strong supporting material. How will this title be presented? And also, what kind of aesthetic and accompanying content have you got planned for it?
SR: Due to its short duration the only sensible way to release the extracted music is as a vinyl EP, so we've created a lovely-looking double 7" green vinyl EP release in gatefold packaging, with Greg Staples' superb design on the cover and liner notes from composer James Bernard's biographer David Huckvale and Hammer music expert John Mansell. It's the only way to present such an iconic soundtrack.
Christopher Lee stars as ‘The Creature’.
HN: Music from The Curse of Frankenstein represents an unexpected treat, but can you absolutely confirm that more releases will follow?
SR: Yes, this is the first of an ongoing range of Hammer soundtracks. As with the special collectors' edition home video range that we began last year, this will be the first time that Hammer has released its own soundtracks and we're determined that they will be things of beauty and as collectable as fans would expect.
HN: All released on 7" vinyl?
SR: The format will be determined by the materials that we can access – so it could just be a single theme on a 7" single or a full soundtrack on a vinyl LP or a collector's edition CD. Either way, fans and collectors can rest assured that both the music and the package will be the best possible quality.
HN: You know what I’m going to ask now! Can you give us any hint about what titles will follow Frankenstein in this range?
SR: We're not in a position to comment on further releases or their formats yet, but fans won't be disappointed. Check out the official site’s news section, sign up to the newsletter or keep an eye on our social media channels for further updates.
Big thanks to Steve for letting us know the score! We’ll bring you more information on this and all things Hammer as it emerges, and as Steve mentioned, you can keep bang up-to-date by signing up to receive the regular newsletter.
