Musique Fantastique

July 26, 2018

Chuck Cirino’s RETURN OF SWAMP THING Nourishes a Groovy Soundtrack from Dragon’s Domain Records

The Swamp Thing returns to battle the evil Dr. Arcane, who has a new science lab full of creatures transformed by genetic mutation, and chooses Heather Locklear as his new object of affection. In Jim Wynorski’s comedic follow-up to Wes Craven’s original 1982 movie version of DC’s bayou-bound super hero, you’ll find chills, spills, and thrills among the sloshy quagmire!  Forbidden Love! A Swarthy Hero Born in the Bayou with a Heart of Gold – and Guts of Gory Vegetable Matter, horribly transformed! A Mad Scientist even more horribly transformed! Hapless Underlings Knocked About!  Splashing Muck! Foul Mire!

Director Wynorski’s go-to-composer for exciting and quirky film scores, Chuck Cirino, turns in a superlative, eagerly thematic score for 1989’s THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING that enriches the film’s earnest drama, energetic excitement, and tongue-in-cheek entertainment. As both director and composer are lifelong Ennio Morricone fans, it won’t come as much of a surprise to see affectionate elements of the Italian maestro’s style filtered through SWAMP THING’s sonic foliage. Cirino was able to accommodate a few live instruments in addition to his state-of-the-art-late-‘80s-style electronic studio, including a small brass section containing flugelhorns and trumpets, a recorder soloist, and an Electric Valve Instrument player. Recorded in a cramped and complicated set-up in the bedroom of Cirino’s then-Van Nuys home, the complete film score comes to CD for the first time in this premiere release – which also includes a 22-minute suite of Cirino’s first – and unused – original score mock-up.

THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING is presented by Dragon’s Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, in a limited edition release of 1000 units. This album is mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland and features exclusive liner notes by author Randall Larson, with the participation of the composer and director.

For details, and to sample several of the tracks, see: buysoundtrax