Customer Reviews

Clockwork Orange

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I saw that Clockwork Orange was back in circulation, I had to get the soundtrack. I remembered how much I enjoyed these compositions back in my college days.

I purchased both copies, the Warner Bros. soundtrack (which includes work by Deutsch Gramophone as well as Carlos), and Wendy's original score. The WB version has three delightful songs that I just could not do without: "Overture to the Sun", "I want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper", and "Singing in the Rain."

However, the original music by Carlos on her version was much more satisfying. Apparently, the WB soundtrack was released from tape copies that had been equalized for optimum performance on the film and theatre sound reproduction equipment of the day (1972). Carlos' version, however, is from the original masters, and is a superior product, even for that reason alone.

But, there are other reasons why Wendy's original score outshines the WB soundtrack.

Also, the entire composition of "Timesteps" is included, all 13:50 of it. This is a very good piece, I enjoyed it immensely. You lose the full emotional impact when only playing a part of it, as in the movie soundtrack.

Wendy's version of "La Gazza Ladra" is brighter and fuller than the movie's. "Country Lane" and "Biblical Daydreams" are not available on the original soundtrack. All in all, a very pleasing CD. I found that I enjoy it more now than I did when I was in college. I don't mean to make so many comparisons to the WB soundtrack, but I have just finished listening to both. I recommend that anyone get both to get the full impact.

I've been a huge fan of both Carlos and Kubrick since the mid '70's. I was lucky enough to find a copy of Carlos' vinyl pressing of this album in '79. This CD blows it away, I've listened to it once a month since I bought it about a year ago. Timesteps is one of the best works Carlos has ever done and it really shows you what potential electronic music has or had. It's too bad Kubrick didn't use the whole score, I think it would have made the movie even stronger. The mechanical/electronic works would have heightened the dystopic feel of the film. If you buy one soundtrack this should be it.

Yes the Moogs are this album are "primitive" but their sound is vastly superior to today's synths. The Moogs were vastly more expressive and subtle. If this album were recorded on digital synths, it would just sound cheesy. Timesteps is an amazing piece that gives you the creeps even if you haven't seen the movie. As a soundtrack it perfectly mixes the themes of ultra violence and Beethoven seemlessly. If you buy this cd (and by all means do)please refer to it as "early electronica" rather than "new age". It deserves the credit for everything it helped spawn

I am so glad I bought this. I hear so much more on the CD than on my worn-out soundtrack tape. I highly recommend this to fans of the film, classical music, new age music...just about anyone. Wendy Carlos makes her synthisizers sing. I also like to hear the music not included on the original soundtrack. Do yourself a favor and get Tales of Heaven and Hell, it is a great companion to this CD and wonderful in it's own right. What else is there to say. I love it. I've already downloaded it my iPod so I can listen to it in my local milk bar.

I own the original LP and cassette of this album ... released after the release of the "original soundtrack," this album offers the CLOCKWORK fan the "real" soundtrack. Missing are the third party tracks which Kubrick used ... included are the complete "Timesteps" which is what convinced Kubrick to hire (then) Walter Carlos to adapt the classical works for the film ... also included is the electronic rendition of "The Thieving Magpie," not finished in time for inclusion in the film ... and a piece which wasn't used, "Country Lane."

The Warner album includes an abridged excerpt of "Timesteps" (bits of it were used in the film), but the complete composition gets a deserved spotlight here. This is not a "movie soundtrack" album, but Wendy Carlos' own release of the music she prepared for the film. "Angel trumpets and devil trombones ... hear all proper now." ;)

Apart from Vangelis' score for Bladerunner, this is one of the most eagerly awaited film scores to be released. This is truly a first, an intelligent electronic score to be composed for a major motion picture. Wendy (nee Walter) Carlos has composed a truly mesmerizing score to Kubricks brilliant film. Not since Bernard Herrman has such attention been paid to the music for a film. And imagine..its not digital..this was done on old Moog 3C, which was a pain to record since it was analog and could only play one note at a time. But forget all that..just sit back, put the headphone and slooshy the sounds....do yourself a favor too and read the original novel by Anthony Burgess..it will open your eyes..make you think a bit...

--Which beats the warn out vinyl copy I tried to pamper througout the 70's and 80's until I found the Warner Bros. sound track on CD in the early 90's. But this is not the "Warner" version of the motion picture soundtrack, it's the whole Carlos presentation to director Stanley Kubrick, parts of which (some say the best parts) hit the editing room floor. Like so many of Carlos's masterful creations and interpretations from the 60's and 70's, this original score release faded into out-of-print hell. But since the re-release of this and other Carlos greats, one can see how the artist-formally-known-as-Walter could have owned "New Age" if she'd only waited another thirty years to let us experience what was going on in that visionary mind! Friend and producer Rachael Elkind also made an electronic "vocal imaging" guest appearance on the 9th symphony passages that add to the over-all haunting mood of another great Carlos masterpiece. Starring Wendy Carlos, and co-starring the Moog synthesizer, if you only have two electronic albums in your collection, "Switched On Bach" and "Original Clock Work" are the ones hands down!

I've heard several long-time music fans boast about how this movie soundtrack is simply 'one of' THE best album releases,period!Rather they be a big-time metal head,a classic rock supporter,someone who plays easy listening material all the time,maybe an school punk fan,etc.To best describe this CD(with added bonus cuts that wouldn't fit on the original vinyl lp)I would say it's like ahead-of-it's-time new age with an experimental vibe to it.Key tracks are the unforgetable thirteen minute "Timesteps",the creative "Theme From A Clockwork Orange","William Tell Overture,Abridged" and a tune that was co-written by Carlos and movie producer Rachel Elkind "Biblical Daydreams".A must-have reissue CD of the cult masterpiece Stanley Kubrick film,that after you've seen the flick for the very first time,it MAY effect the way you look at the world from here on out.Highly recommended.

This release is vastly superior in audio quality to the Warner "Clockwork Orange" original soundtrack release. Features the extended versions of great tracks like "Timesteps"--all around it's a great album, and includes tracks that were never used but definitely create the vibe of the film when you listen to them. Only beef--there still are some segments (such as when Alex is attacked by the well) that remain unreleased from the original film, so "almost" belongs before "Complete" in the title.

Though most of this album can be heard on the original "Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange", it more than delivers what soundtrack/classical music fans lust after. The overall sound quality from a first generation dub is the first thing I noticed immediately after buying it. And WHOA, who imagined the actual "Timesteps" song was that long! What a great LSD song! Carlos's interpretation of Rossini's "The Theiving Magpie" was somewhat of a bringdown, lacking the full dynamics of the original. The limit of technology at the time did not seem to limit Carlos's "Beethoviana" as far as dynamics are concerned. But "Country Lane" completely made up for this. The image of a droid Danny Elfman is the first thing that popped in my head the first time listning to it. I think Kubrick should have placed this song as the first track on his CD release, well, being the awesome track to contain little sprinkly hints of several of the other Clockwork themes, sort of like a "Clockwork Orange Suite".