This article originally appeared on Laser Time, November 24, 2015. This is my original, unaltered version.
7 Soundtracks inspired by books
We live in a world filled with
countless soundtracks available to us: soundtracks based on movies,
TV shows, video games, and Broadway musicals. But soundtracks based
on books? Those things with words written on paper? Well, those are
rare indeed. Here is a list of six soundtracks that nail the
difficult task of translating books into music. As for the seventh
entry, well... you'll see.
by Tuomas
Holopainen
Based on: “The Life and Times of Scrooge
McDuck” by Don Rosa
Tuomas
Holopainen is the keyboardist and lead songwriter for the Finnish
metal band Nightwish, and though that juggernoght of a band has
constantly kept him busy, he had long wanted to produce an album
based on the Scrooge McDuck comic – a book he claims as his
favorite story of all time. The album, released in 2014, is not a
metal album in the style of Nightwish, but more of a traditional
orchestral score, with some vocals. The music is tremendous. An
epic tale of sweeping melodies that puts even the most grand
Hollywood movie score to shame.
“Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire”
by Joel McNeely
Based on: “Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire”
by Steve Perry
In 1996, Lucasfilm launched a hugely
successful Star Wars expanded universe story called Shadows of the
Empire. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi,
the book was only the beginning. The project also spawned a series
of action figures, a Nintendo 64 video game, a comic by Dark Horse,
and its very own soundtrack. Joel McNeely was personally selected by
John Williams to take on the project. McNeely may not be a household
name, but he's definitely no slouch and is a very accomplished
composer in his own right.
The music score is outstanding. The
production quality is right up there with an proper Star Wars film
soundtrack. There are elements of classic Star Wars themes, but the
score is largely original, and yet it fits in perfectly to the Star
Wars universe. This soundtrack sounds like it belongs to an early
80s sci-fi adventure that was never made.
“Nightfall in Middle Earth”
by
Blind Guardian
Based on: “The Silmarillion” by J. R. R.
Tolkien
Blind Guardian is a German band widely
considered to be the king of the genre called Power Metal – a style
of metal that is highly melodic with a larger than life style of
epic, bombastic music. Many European metal bands feature fantasy
themes, but Blind Guardian's 1998 album is the only one of its kind:
a full length concept album based entirely on a book that is
neck-deep in Tolkien mythology. Blind Guardian's massive, wall of
sound approach to music comes roaring to life on this album,
punctuated by the band's incredibly technical musicianship and lead
singer Hansi Kürsch's insane, harmony drenched vocals.
“Fear and Bullets”
by Trust Obey
Base on: “The Crow” by James O'barr
Trust Obey's Fear and Bullets was
released in 1994 as a companion piece to a special edition of James
O'Barr's classic graphic novel, and timed to ride the wave of
publicity based on the movie's release that same year. Trust Obey
was the brainchild of artist and musician John Bergin, friend of
James O'Barr.
Fear and Bullets is a harsh, dark,
industrial gothic take on O'Barr's highly stylized tale of revenge.
Though it is not directly related to the movie, the album works as a
companion to it as well as the book. Trust Obey later signed onto
Trent Reznor's record label and only produced one other album, but it
wouldn't be John Bergin's last appearance on this list.
"Traitor General”
by John Bergin
Based on: “Traitor General” by Dan Abnett
Based in the Warhammer 40,000 universe,
Traitor General was part of a fifteen(!) book series called Gaunt's
Ghosts. I can't begin to make heads or tails of Warhammer, but I can
tell you that this album seems to be crazy obscure, as I couldn't
find a single listing for it on Amazon or eBay (though the entire
album is on Youtube). I can also tell you that this music is a
perfect fit for the Warhammer brand: dark, brooding, intense, and
uncompromising.
Out of the roughly 10,000 books set in
the Warhammer expanded universe, why they made a soundtrack based on
this one book, god only knows, but it is worth checking out.
“The Dark Saga”
by Iced Earth
Based on: “Spawn” by Todd McFarlane
Iced Earth is arguably second only to
Blind Guardian for Power Metal royalty. Both bands were hugely
instrumental in popularizing the genre in the 90s. Iced Earth,
however, always had more of a thrash metal edge to their music, which
is fitting when it comes to this album. The Dark Saga is a retelling
of the classic Spawn story in a way that only makes sense: through
dark, brutal, heavy metal.
This album isn't Iced Earth's best
work, but it is a showcase for what they are very good at: these
guys love concept albums, and Spawn is a perfect fit into their
style, which always leaned more towards sci-fi than fantasy.
“Space Jazz”
by L. Ron Hubbard and
others
Based on: “Battlefield Earth” by L. Ron
Hubbard
You are not going insane. Yes, it's
true: You just read the words “Space Jazz, based on Battlefield
Earth.” Released in 1982, along with the book, Space Jazz was
touted as the first ever soundtrack for a book. L. Ron Hubbard is
credited as the composer, but it is believed that his project
partners did most of the real work. If you're into jazz, you might
recognize some of the guest performers like Chick Corea and Stanley
Clarke. It is surprisingly hard to track down audio clips from this
oddity; there are only a couple tracks you can find on YouTube, and,
well, it's jazz all right.
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