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 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 7:49 AM   
 By:   Music Box Records   (Member)



OBSESSION (Special Archival Edition) (1976)
Music Composed and Conducted by Bernard Herrmann


A 2-CD set. Newly remastered and expanded deluxe edition.
Limited Collector's Edition of 3000 units.
A full-color 24-page CD booklet with in-depth liner notes by Daniel Schweiger.

Ref: MBR-060
Release Date: February 16, 2014

In collaboration with Litto Enterprises Inc., Music Box Records is very proud to present one of its most ambitious releases yet - a classic Bernard Herrmann score from one of his last efforts and an important milestone in his immense career for Brian De Palma's classic melodrama Obsession (1976) written by Paul Schrader and starring Geneviève Bujold, Cliff Robertson and John Lithgow.

In a career often spent paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock with the likes of Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Body Double, Obsession even today stands as De Palma’s ultimate fever dream homage to the director who’d made Bernard Herrmann a household name as the romantic master of musical suspense during an eight film collaboration, no more so than with 1958s Vertigo. Yet Obsession’s reincarnation of that masterpiece showed just how devious De Palma always was in his admiration, cloaking a truly seditious plot twist that would’ve given even Hitchcock pause within sleek, star-filtered visuals.
Obsession remains his most fervently romantic, and dare one say innocent attempt to recreate the studio gloss of a time when outright violence and sex were left to the mind’s eye, its rage and sensuality truly made explicit in its music. It’s a powerful, stylistic subtlety that increasingly made Obsession into the filmmaker’s most discerning cult film.

When at last Herrmann returned to his grandly symphonic style for a movie with a major pedigree, 1976s Obsession resounded with more haunted passion than ever before. It was a much movie score as it was Herrmann’s own requiem for an uninhibited scoring style that had become a ghost of itself in Hollywood. He composed a stunning score, filled with powerful themes, ominously underlined by an organ, or a harp, sometimes with abrupt choral flourishes, in eerie evocations of a mystery. He again creates an unusual combination to underscore the drama: a large cathedral organ and tympani as primary musical signature characters, and a small choir of wordless and sighing female voices, horns, winds and strings. The score was nominated for an Oscar for 'Best Original Score' in 1977.

For this special archival edition 2-CD set, Music Box Records has gathered the best sources available to this day in order to present faithfully the original score written by the composer.
CD 1 presents “The Film Score'. With the precious technical assistance of our sound engineer, we did our best to reconstruct and restore the score from the 5.1 Music Stem (courtesy of Sony Pictures) and a safety copy of the original tapes. The result is stunningly convincing. As such, we kindly ask you to listen to our samples and make a decision on the quality yourself.
CD 2 presents 'The Original 1976 Soundtrack Album' (courtesy of Universal Music) that was edited from Herrmann’s sessions and was specially remastered for this edition. We also corrected the cue titles of the 1976 London Decca release which were misnamed and incomplete in tracks 4 and 5. Now you have the details of all the right cues used in the original LP.

Our release offers a rare opportunity to hear the magnificent romantic Herrmann score in two different presentations and preserves the composer’s own irreplaceable interpretation, bringing this marvelous music back to life just 40 years after it was written. This Deluxe Edition with slipcase is limited to 3000 units and includes a 24-page full-color booklet with in-depth liner notes by Daniel Schweiger, sharing his comments about the film and the score, including new interviews with editor Paul Hirsch and producer George Litto. Everyone will no doubt be 'obsessed' with this true original masterpiece!



TRACK LISTING:

DISC 1 • THE FILM SCORE (Stereo)
1. Main Title (1:58)
2. Opening Party (0:40)
3. Valse Lente (1:33)
4. Kidnap (2:32)
5. Newsboy (1:45)
6. The Tape (0:29)
7. The Ferry (2:42)
8. Hideout (0:46)
9. Breakout (1:34)
10. The Tomb (1:16)
11. Memorial Park (1:19)
12. Sandra (6:44)
13. Sandra Again (0:58)
14. Court Meets Sandra (1:24)
15. The Church (1:26)
16. Bryn Mawr (2:04)
17. Bryn Mawr Walk (1:16)
18. Court's Confession (2:29)
19. Hospital (0:44)
20. Cemetery (1:04)
21. New Orleans (1:54)
22. Walk Down Hallway (1:07)
23. Portrait of Elizabeth (1:49)
24. Memorabilia (2:54)
25. Walk to Church (0:12)
26. Sandra at Monument (2:59)
27. After Dinner (0:46)
28. The Wedding (2:33)
29. The Wedding Part II (1:31)
30. Court, The Morning After (1:33)
31. Court Signs Papers (1:34)
32. Sandra Finds Briefcase (2:25)
33. Court Arrives at Wharf (0:41)
34. LaSalle and Sandra at Airport (2:02)
35. The Plane (2:21)
36. Court Finds LaSalle (2:02)
37. Court and LaSalle Struggle (1:06)
38. Airport (3:50)

BONUS TRACKS
39. Ransom (Unused Cue)* (0:18)
40. Past and Present (Unused Cue)* (0:28)
41. Airport (Alternate)* (3:41)
* not used in film

Disc 1 Time • 74:00

DISC 2 • THE ORIGNAL 1976 SOUNDTRACK ALBUM (Remastered Edition)
1. Main Title / Valse Lente / Kidnap (5:58)
2. Newsboy / The Tape / The Ferry (4:57)
3. The Tomb / Sandra (8:04)
4. The Church / Court’s Confession / Bryn Mawr / New Orleans / Wedding (9:25)
5. Court, The Morning After / Court Signs Papers / Sandra Finds Briefcase / Court Arrives at Wharf (4:31)
6. The Plane / Court and LaSalle Struggle / Airport (5:58)

Disc 2 Time • 39:07

Total Two-Disc Time • 113:07

For sound clips and available for order, please visit: http://www.musicbox-records.com/en/cd-soundtracks/1414-obsession.html

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 7:49 AM   
 By:   Angelillo   (Member)

smile

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 7:55 AM   
 By:   Last Child   (Member)

Soundsamples are decent, if not stunning.
Very nice arty announcement text and collage above.

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 8:03 AM   
 By:   Francis   (Member)

Nice samples and is that another dies irae quote popping up in "Cemetery"?

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 8:08 AM   
 By:   Henry Jones   (Member)

Fantastic! And the samples sound great!!!

Ordered!

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 8:14 AM   
 By:   Brandon Brown   (Member)

Beautiful. Ordering!

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 8:39 AM   
 By:   JB Fan   (Member)

Ordered!
Great samples, as previously was mentioned...

By the way, with 3000 copies it seems that this is the biggest Music Box project wink

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:18 AM   
 By:   Shaun Rutherford   (Member)

All the sidejive about this not coming out "for a reason" seems to be unfounded? Just from the clips it sounds better and less compromised than stuff like Hook and the first expanded edition of Elfman's Batman.

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:25 AM   
 By:   Rollin Hand   (Member)

¶ This is the total masterpiece. Beautiful. Magnifico. Bravo Music Box.
Ordered at the speed of thought!

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:30 AM   
 By:   .   (Member)

I would buy this for the album remaster alone. The rest is a bonus.

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:35 AM   
 By:   LeHah   (Member)

I'll be shaking out the couch cushions for this one...

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:44 AM   
 By:   DS   (Member)

The sound quality sounds very good to my ears, and this being my #1 all-time favorite score (as it has been for half of my life!) that is a relief to say. From the clips alone the complete tracks sound **so much better** here than the isolated score on the old laserdisc (as in: "apples and oranges," "night and day," etc.) & the original album presentation also sounds a lot better than its last CD release. Will order ASAP.

Then of course, later in the year we have the Raine/Fitzpatrick re-recording.

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:49 AM   
 By:   Leo Nicols   (Member)

This is the Big one !

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:51 AM   
 By:   Spence   (Member)

Ordered. Been waiting for years for this to happen!

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 9:54 AM   
 By:   Spence   (Member)

Ordered. Been waiting for years for this to happen!

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 10:16 AM   
 By:   dashrr   (Member)

boy, had to brush up on my French but ordered nonetheless...yippee!

 
 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 10:25 AM   
 By:   John McMasters   (Member)

This looks like a wonderful release -- obviously ordered. Also can't wait for the rerecord coming to us later. Both of these releases seem almost dreamlike -- I've been waiting for a complete OBSESSION since seeing the movie in 1976. Now I'll have two to treasure. Utterly amazing. Thank you to all who made this possible.

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 10:29 AM   
 By:   Timothy J. Phlaps   (Member)

Aiming to pick this up if it lasts a couple of weeks until payday, but knowing the Tadlow recording is on the way takes the edge off a bit.

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 11:04 AM   
 By:   Amer Zahid   (Member)

Superb mouth watering presentation and release!

 
 Posted:   Jan 21, 2015 - 11:08 AM   
 By:   Jerry Horne   (Member)

Just ordered this bad boy from SAE. What a long time coming!

 
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