Almost 40 years after its release, David Cronenberg’s Videodrome still rings true. A sci-fi horror thriller about a TV channel that might just be murdering people as a way to corrupt perverted Americans somehow now, in an era of streaming, social media, and 24/7 news, feels more modern an ever. And while the film has remained disturbingly timeless, its music has remained oddly absent.
Previous releases of the film’s score, written by Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore, were not the full, original score — just remixes. But now, for the first time ever, the score has been restored from the original session masters and supervised by Shore himself. Mondo will release it on vinyl with artwork by Rich Kelly this Wednesday, February 23, but Gizmodo has got your exclusive first look.
And here’s the inside, giving you a glimpse of more of Kelly’s artowrk as well as the vinyl itself.
“As continued fans of the Cronenberg and Shore collaborations over the years, our partnership with HOWE records has proven to be one of the most important in the history of our record label,” Mondo creative director of music, Mo Shafeek told Gizmodo via email. “But sometimes records take a long to make. Not even just the manufacturing process – ever since our first collaboration with HOWE Records (Scanners / The Brood, in 2014) we have been working towards re-issuing Videodrome [for] 8 years!”
“Even at our most optimistic we thought the best we could achieve was a direct re-issue of the original 1983 Videodrome album. We never could have imagined that Howard Shore would be going back to his master tapes to put the album together for the first time ever,” he said.
Pressed on 180 gram colour vinyl, and also available on 180 gram black vinyl, Videodrome will be available for $US30 ($42) pre-order directly at MondoShop.com. (In addition to vinyl, it’ll also be available on CD through La-La Land Records, and digitally through Back Lot Music.) Here’s the track list:
Side A
1. Cable 83 (0:19)
2. Piercing (3:01)
3. Civc TV (2:21)
4. Got A Cigarette? (1:32)
5. Nicki Inside (1:19)
6. Come To Me (3:12)
7. Samurai Dreams, No. 13 (2:03)
8. Whipping (2:31)
9. In Bed (1:20)
10. The New Flesh (2:04)
Side B
1. Spectacular Optical (0:12)
2. Transformation (3:28)
3. Gun In Gut (2:40)
4. Cathode Ray Mission (0:48)
5. Videodrome Is Death (3:30)
6. Grenade (2:11)
7. Condemned Vessel (5:10)
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.