Escape From New York
(Film - 1981 CD - 1987)
Music Composed By John Carpenter
In Association With Alan Howarth
Varese Sarabande
Part Number VCD-47224 Length 37:2801. Main Title (3:52)
02. Up The Wall / Air Force #1 (2:29)
03. Orientation #2 (1:48)
04. Engulfed Cathedral (Debussy)* (2:24)
05. Back To The Pod / The Crazies Come Out (3:00)
06. Arrival At The Library (1:06)
07. Everyone's Coming To New York (2:54)
08. The Duke Arrives / The Barricade + (3:35)
09. Police State / Romero And The President (3:21)
10. The President At The Train (2:55)
11. The President Is Gone (2:30)
12. Chase Across The 69th Street Bridge (2:33)
13. Over The Wall (3:43)Music Composed And Performed By: John Carpenter
In Association With: Alan HowarthRecording, Editing, Sequencing And Synthesizer Programming By: Alan Howarth At Pi West Studios
* Pamela Smith, Keyboard
+ Tommy Wallace, Guitar
Escape From New York
(Film - 1980 CD - 1999)
Music Composed By John Carpenter
In Association With Alan Howarth
Silva Screen
Part Number SSD-1110 Length 57:31
01. Main Title (3:53)
02. The Bank Robbery (3:30) *
03. "Prison Introduction" (0:20)
04. Over The Wall / Air Force One (2:22)
05. He's Still Alive/Romero (2:12) *
06. "Snake' Plissken" (1:41)
07. Orientation (1:47)
08. "Tell Him" (1:46)
09. Engulfed Cathedral (Debussy) (3:31) **
10. Across The Roof (1:14) *
11. Decent Into New York (3:37) *
12. Back To The Pod - Version #1 (1:34) *
13. Everyone's Coming To New York (2:24)
14. "Don't Go Down There!" (0:19)
15. Back To The Pod - Version #2
The Crazies Come Out (2:09)
16. "I Heard You Were Dead!" (0:09)
17. Arrival At The Library (1:06)
18. "You Are The Duke Of New York" (0:16)
19. The Duke Arrives / Barricade (3:35) +
20. President At The Train (2:28)
21. "Who Are You?" (0:27)
22. Police Action (2:27)
23. Romero And The President (1:43)
24. The President Is Gone (1:53)
25. 69th Street Bridge (2:43)
26. Over The Wall (3:42)
27. "The Name Is Plissken" (0:26)
28. Snake Shake - End Credits (3:58) *Music Composed And Performed By: John Carpenter
In Association With: Alan Howarth* Previously Unreleased
** Pamela Smith, Keyboard
+ Tommy Wallace, Guitar
A NOTE FROM THE PRODUCER It was 1980, and I had just finished my first sound design assignment for the feature film STAR TREK - THE MOTION PICTURE. The film's editor was Todd Ramsey, who then went on to edit ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK for John Carpenter. Todd introduced me to John and advised him that I was a musician as well as a sound designer. John came over to my home, checked out what I was up to and said to me, "OK, let's do it." This meant that he would score ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK in my home studio and that was it! We had the latest technology of the day, an ARP Quadra, ARP Avatar with 16 step sequencer, a Prophet 5 programmable analog synthesizer, and a Linn LM-1 drum machine. Everything was recorded to the analog 24 & 8 track tape. This was before we had synchronization with video, so I recorded a track with dialogue from the scene, and we used that as a guide for timing the cues. The whole process was primitive by today's standards, it was about creating music for film, and John said, "There's only one rule to follow, there are no rules." There was no intention to make a soundtrack record while we were composing the score. The whole idea was only brought up after the film came out. John had me edit the record (no CDs back then), which was for released on vinyl, so there was a 22 to 25 minute limit to each side, due to the physical restraints of the medium. Now it's 20 years later, and I am going back into the original tracks to make a CD. As I went through the cues, all the memories of the sessions returned. It was a wonderful experience to learn from John about music for films. The tracks themselves were clean, but the original mixes were created before there was console automation that we take for granted today. For this pass, the analog tapes were transferred to a Soundscape RED digital workstation, and all the clean up and mixing was done within the computer, which did editing as well as the mix. I took more advantage of stereo separation as well as cutting out all the analog noise of tracks that are not playing any material. Dialogue was included in the CD to help tell the story as you listen. The film still holds up as well as the music we created for it.
Alan Howarth
March 12, 2000
About This Release
For this expanded CD release, Silva Screen Records went back to the original multi-track music masters and commissioned Alan Howarth to create a newly remastered stereo mix that would bring this landmark score into the 21st Century.
Howarth had made extensive edits to the score for its original album release. However, for this new presentation on CD it was decided to restore the music to its original film version. This disc contains all of the music from the original album release, as well as a number of previously unreleased cues such as "He's Still Alive/Romero," "Across The Roof," "Decent Into New York" and "Back To The Pod - Version #1."
This release also features for the first time two sequences that were never used in the final version of the film. The first is "The Bank Robbery," a tense underscore for a deleted bank robbery sequence that is only mentioned later in the story. 'Snake' Plissken's participation in the Atlanta heist leads to his arrest and sentencing to the New York Maximum Security Prison, and was intended to open the film. This prologue was deleted after several preview audiences indicated that it diminished the introduction of the character by seeing him captured so early in the film.
The second is "Snake Shake" which was intended to play under the end credits for the film. Director and composer John Carpenter felt that it was to light in tone and at odds with the film's darkly ironic ending. This was eventually replaced by a reprise of the Ennio Morricone-flavored main theme that became musically synonymous with the anti-hero, 'Snake' Plissken.
