Varese Sarabande revisits the glory days of 1980s sci-fi “synthwave” with a new edition of TANGERINE DREAM’s classic 1984 electronic score for ‘Firestarter’.
‘Firestarter’, based on a 1980 book by Stephen King and directed by Mark L. Lester, starred eight-year-old Drew Barrymore as Charly, a girl with pyrokinetic powers owing to her parents’ participation in a secret study of hallucinogenic drugs. When the agency behind the experiments comes for Charly to weaponize her powers, led by an assassin played by George C. Scott, she goes on the run with her father.
‘Firestarter’ came amidst the 1980s film-scoring heyday of German synth band TANGERINE DREAM, in their well-known line-up of Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Johannes Schmoelling. The band’s pulsating textures and ambient soundscape reinvented film scoring in films as varied as: ‘Thief’, ‘Risky Business’, ‘The Keep’, ‘Legend’ (U.S. version), ‘Three O’Clock High’, ‘Near Dark’ and ‘Miracle Mile’, and have cast a long shadow on future styles.
The band considered ‘Firestarter’ one of their most challenging scores, as they needed to provide not only suspense and pace for the paranormal chases and powers, but an emotional sensitivity to the child protagonist. New liner notes by Randall D. Larson explain how the band did not score to picture, but created “wild” cues to be used by the film’s music editors. Hence this 11-track program is the same as MCA Records’ 1984 soundtrack album, released by Varese Sarabande on CD in 1990, and NEWLY REMASTERED for this long-awaited reissue.
Tracklist A
0101 | 03:11 | Crystal Voice
0102 | 04:50 | The Run
0103 | 04:01 | Testlab
0104 | 03:55 | Charly The Kid
0105 | 05:10 | Escaping Point
Tracklist B
0201 | 02:32 | Rainbirds Move
0202 | 04:19 | Burning Force
0203 | 02:58 | Between Realities
0204 | 03:16 | Shop Territory
0205 | 05:17 | Flash Final
0206 | 02:31 | Out Of The Heat
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