Search - John Carpenter, The Splash Band :: The Music of John Carpenter

Carpenter fans, stay away from this CD!

Jason Hughes | Novi, MI United States | 08/05/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I made the unfortunate mistake of buying this CD, thinking it might contain some credible tributes to some of John Carpenter's film scores. Boy, was I wrong! All of the tracks sound like they were produced in someone's basement, using a keyboard bought at Radio Shack. The Splash Band has even managed to make most of the songs sound like background music to a porno flick. If you enjoy Carpenter's scores, you would be sickened by what you heard on this disc. I'm throwing my copy away, as I could never sell this disc in good faith to another Carpenter fan."

Dance Mixes Of The Music Of John Carpenter

Mr. | USA | 05/04/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Track Listing: 1. The End (aka Assault On Precinct 13) Main Title(Disco)(5:08), 2. Unheimliche Schattenlichter-Uncanny Shadow Lights (aka Dark Star) Main Title (3:58), 3. Das Ding (aka The Thing)Humanity(Part II)(4:15), 4. The Fog (Main Title Theme)(4:15), 5. Christine (Moochie's Death) (2:50), 6. Halloween (Main Title)(3:22), 7. The End (aka Assault On Precinct 13) Main Title (Sound)(3:58), 8. Halloween II (Main Title)(3:27), 9. Die Klapperschlange-The Rattle Snake (aka Escape From New York) Main Title (3:17)



The German group, Splash Band, pay homage to director and composer, John Carpenter. This set of tracks, basically the main titles to most of Carpenter's early film work (Dark Star, Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog ec) is given the electronic treatment and turns the themes into catchy dance mixes. Quite an interesting idea. There are some very unique interpretations here, some quite good, such as tracks taken from Dark Star and The Thing for example. The Disco version of Assault On Precinct 13 is better than the Sound version, in my opinion, only because they decided to give the Sound version a chant, with men screaming out "Power! Terror! Panic!" and following with a woman who seems to be screaming "Help me! Help"! I just don't get it...must be a German thing. Some vocals have also been added to the Dance mix for Escape From New York which you can get use to, but still, my preference is to keep instrumental pieces just that...instrumental. Halloween and Halloween II use the same theme, only played in a different way with different sounds. I think it would've been nicer to give us Laurie Strode's Theme instead (oh well). This CD was originally an LP that came out in the mid 1980s. You can tell because Christine is the latest film of Carpenter's on the album (no Starman or Big Trouble In Little China or Prince Of Darkness or They Live ec). Oh, and by the way, Ennio Morricone composed the score for The Thing, not Mr. Carpenter. You need to give credit where credit is due. As you know by now, this CD has long been out of print and is highly collectable. I don't know if it will ever be reissued and if not, your best bet to find a copy is looking in online auctions, which is where I found my copy. If you're a fan of electronic techno music or are a big fan of John Carpenter, I recommend seeking this CD out. It's very interesting and quite a listening experience (even with the added vocals for some tracks)."

NOT John Carpenter

AldoFan | 12/13/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It's bad enough that they put John Carpenter's name in the title of this CD but Amazon should not have it listed as BY John Carpenter when it is clearly not. It is his music but butchered by some hacks in a garage (or cave) somewhere in some third world country with sporadic electricity and no running water. That's what it sounds like anyway. It should be listed as by the Splash Band where i'm sure it would sell millions of copies to their fans (you know who you are.) Simply awful!"