INTRADA
Announces:
RAVAGERS
Composed and Conducted by FRED KARLIN
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 164
The 1979 Columbia Pictures post-nuclear war apocalypse Ravagers featured a grim, realistic and unsentimental tone to what was rapidly becoming a new sub-genre in the science fiction realm. To complement the proceedings, composer Fred Karlin delivered a spot-on brooding, melancholy score. Karlin was no stranger to bleak, futuristic films; his scores for Westworld (1973) and its sequel Futureworld (1976) uniquely combined acoustic instruments and electronic manipulation. Ravagers gave Fred Karlin an opportunity to write in an idiom far and away from his typical assignments. Known for composing haunting music, beautiful melodies and effective dramatic underscoring, Karlin turned 180 degrees and created a powerful symphonic score, at times dense and moody, at other times ferocious and exciting, reflecting the violence and horror of the post-apocalyptic story. The jazz trumpet that Karlin launched his career with gets a starring role here. Much of the film is painted with a cool, jazzy vibe, and the album opens with a noir-like trumpet solo against the bleak background of strings.
The only known suitable master elements that survived for this impressive work were ¼” 7½ ips full-track safeties made for Karlin after the recording sessions in 1979. Though the mono tapes were somewhat harsh and brittle sounding, they fortunately survived in good shape and were complete, including all of the orchestral music as well as three Karlin-penned source cues recorded in separate sessions for small folk and rag ensembles.
In the film, Richard Harris stars as the weathered everyman protagonist Falk, one of the “lucky” survivors of some vague nuclear apocalypse scenario. It is the distant year of 1991. The barren world, and consequent food shortage, has produced two classes of humanity: the Flockers, who are characterized by hiding and partying in cavernous communities, and the titular Ravagers, a rough and tumble crew that enjoy raping, murdering. The drama ignites when the Ravagers descend on the happy home of Falk and his wife, Miriam...
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 164
Retail Price: $19.99
AVAILABLE NOW
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7040/.f