31 Days 31 Scores
October 7th
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t stay around to watch. I just can’t cope with the freaky stuff.”
Welcome back to 31 Days 31 Scores. Today we look at the 1982 score to Videodrome by Howard Shore. This is shore at his most experimental. The score begins with a collage of digital sounds and voices on “Welcome To Videodrome”. That in itself is creepy but Shore creates a wonderful vibe with the Synclavier II. The score is mostly digital and seems to be inspired by the scores of John Carpenter but in this case the score has a better structure. “A Slow Burn” begins with a creepy breathing sound that actually stopped me in my tracks and do a double take, the rest of the cue continues the creepy vibe and works quite well. The score creates a similar kind of vibe as “Blade Runner” but with a much more sinister tone. The score, much like Shore’s other early work, is a slow burn score. Taking its time to get to where it needs to be. The score ends with “Long Live The New Flesh” a down beat cue that was Shore’s signature in his early scores. Flashes of horn and brass make their way through the cue to the final conclusion with synth. Videodrome clocks in at just under 34 minutes on CD and Shore does not waste a moment. While a challenging listen the score does carry the mark of an 80’s score with Shore’s fingerprints all over it and that makes it worth a listen.
Join me tomorrow for more 31 Days 31 Scores where “The silence can be deafening.”