Customer Reviews

The Wicker Man (Original Soundtrack Album)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first watched the Wicker Man many years ago, and loved the film. I believe the film credits lists the group "Lodestone" as having performed some of the music. The film itself has a few flaws, most especially that killing the police man would not actually have worked as a "sacrifice" for fertile fields (by old ideas) because the towns folk lost nothing by his death. But if it was not for the murder of the police man the film would not have been a horror movie at all. Regardless the music is wonderful.

It should be noted that according to official sources, when Robin Hardy was doing research into pagan rites he found the English folk song collection of a Victorian called Sharpe. They were in the right flavor for the movie but the old english words were a problems so Peter Shaffer stepped in and re-wrote the lyrics before giving them to Paul Giovanni. So, the lyrics were not (at least not all) by Paul Giovanni or even original to the movie. They were mostly taken from traditional sources.

One of these songs comes to us from the poetry of Robert Burns (Corn Rigs). Corn Rigs is obviously taken from "Robert Burns - 29. Song - The Rigs o' Barley - From Poems and Songs. The Harvard Classics. 1909".

- quotation from Burns -

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,
An' corn rigs are bonie:
I'll ne'er forget that happy night,
Amang the rigs wi' Annie.

The year was 1974, director Robin Hardy, screenwriter Anthony Shaffer and their co-star producer non-other than Christopher Lee came up with an unusual suspense thriller with twists and turns, still as fresh today as it was then. Take for instance the cast each an individual in his or her own right ~ Edward Woodward (Sgt. Neil Howie), Britt Ekland (Willow), Diane Cilento (Miss Rose), Ingrid Pitt (Librarian) and Christopher Lee (as Lord Summerisle). Lee gives one of his best performances as sacrifice and supernatural events are surfacing.

Time and patience to bring the complete soundtrack composer Paul Giovanni intended but never made it to the presses has finally arrived. Thanks to Silva we have the ultimate and complete score and songs from Summerisle ballads of seduction, fertility and ritual slaughter ~ followed by the incidental music from the film conclusive on 16 tracks. All nicely wrapped into one unforgettable package, gotta love it!

The album itself is a highlight...each track paints a picture of psychological intrigue as clues are absorbed within each spilling over with music. A must have for all "film-score-buffs", even if you've never seen the film. This CD stands on it's own two "wicker-feet"...collection of music for missing persons is brought on by the composers unusual and unsettling themes "FIRE LEAP" and "WILLOW", as an island populated by missing girl's is surrounded by pagan rituals. One can only hope this will open the doors of more to come within the vaults of Silva. You must admit, this is a film collectors cup of tea!

Total Time: 39:42 on 16 Tracks ~ Silva SSD-1141 ~ (2002)

I recently bought the dvd and was blown away - couldn't stop thinking about it. The music haunted me, especially the opening music, I wish it was longer. Movie and music are inseparable. When I play the CD I can picture every scene in the film.

I love The WickerMan. I first picked it off the shelf of my tiny, small-town video store back in the early 90's by chance. It had an interesting cover, and I'd seen most of the other movies in the shop already.

When I got this movie home and started watching I quickly realized the film was special. By the time it was finished my mind was blown and I was a total convert. This is one of the all-time coolest movies, ever.

For years I couldn't understand why no one else I knew had ever heard of this movie. I kept trying to tell people about it, but it is hard to convince people to see this movie. What do you say to sell it? It's a wierd, amazing, 70s, pagan sort-of-horror movie with really cool music and an awesome surprise ending, starring Christopher Lee and the ex wife of Rod Stewart? Most people were not intruigued.

And speaking of the music; the songs from this movie haunted me long after I'd seen the film. Sometimes I think it was the music that pulled me back to rent the video of Wicker Man again and again.

So, when I recently discovered the soundtrack was available, you know I had to buy it. It just arrived today and I love the care and attention that went into the whole cd package. The cd cover folds out to a mini movie poster on one side, and on the other side shows a few other versions of really cool, original movie posters. There is a booklet which comes with the cd, and the artwork on the cd and case are awesome. The recordings sound great too.

Everything is perfect, except for one thing. My only negative critique is that the music on the cd aren't the recordings you hear in the movie itself. For instance, in the movie the song The Landlord's Daughter takes place in a busy pub with all the patrons singing and playing instruments between sips from their full beer steins. There is a lively, spontaneous pub atmosphere and ambiance to the song in the movie. The recording on the cd was obviously done in a quiet, soundproof studio room by a small group of musicians concentrating intently on performing the song perfectly. It has a totally different feel from the movie version! It is static and dull compared to the bawdy movie version.

Unfortunately I found all of the songs to be this exact same way! In this cd there is a marked absence of the special wierdness, and magic which made the movie versions so powerful and captivating. The cd versions sound prim and dull by comparison. This is why I give the cd only three stars.

I wish they had also included versions of the songs lifted straight from the movie.

I guess I will have to rent the dvd and burn the songs straight off the movie to get my fix...

Still, the cd is worth it to the serious fan of this awesome movie.

The Wicker Man certainly is a Trojan Horse. It appeared on the surface to be a rather cheap and badly made film. But the twist in the story is one of the best in film history (imo). The soundtrack is very bizzare. At times, some of the music reminds me of Mike Oldfields early work, such as Hergest Ridge and parts of Ommadawn. But just as you think there is one "style" to this soundtrack, the next song is totally different.

The "Corn Rigs" is a nice little folky tune. In the film,it seems unsuitable though. It's used in sudden short bursts which dim to nothing very suddenly. But i guess it's trying to set the scene for "Everything is alright in this Scottish island town". The "Landlords daughter" is a great "Beer swigging and rocking side to side" one. The scene is one of those "Walk into pub and everything stops (including the music)" moments that are very funny and actually quite common in reality. But on this newly released version,it lacks the rough edge of it in the film, when they're teasing Woodward about the landlord's daughter. On the CD it sounds a bit too "Comical". In the film, it's rather creepy. Lots of "nudge nudge, wink wink,say no more" type of atmosphere which doesn't transfer so strongly onto the CD, for me.

"Gently Johnny" is a mellow and very 'visual' piece that stands well outside of the film. "Maypole" is one of my favourites in the film and on this album. The lyrics symbolizing the endless creation cycle of life. Great stuff, and one of those songs that gets stuck in your mind if you're not carefull. "Fire leap" is very 'pagan' (if i can use it to describe this). I hear that for research for the music, some very old pagan songs were researched and altered. Perhaps this is one. Very harmonic. "The Tinker of Rye" is the one that most people cannot stand. It's comically awfull.

In the film, i had to laugh at Christopher Lee sitting at the Piano in a kilt, singing Tinker of Rye in that very deep operatic voice. His accompaniament is truly awful when it comes to singing. "Willows Song" is the one we all love. What a mellow piece. I was born a year after this movie came out. But the 'sound' of this song brings me to that era somehow. It's very "Hergest Ridge" (Mike Oldfield) that song. One of the songs on this album that is not quirky, but quite a serious and well made song. After this, we get into the Brass band moments with "Procession", which are very unusual and quirky. "Chop chop" gives us some bagpipes and bodhran drums for the "gamble" scene with the swords. "Lullaby" is a wonderful little piece. The sacrifical lamb being prepared. Quite a mystical and calming piece.

The next "Festival/Summer is a-cumen in" (never worked out why they didn't write "Comin' in" (as it should be written). Perhaps for reasons of possible misunderstanding?. This one is the most disturbing of the lot. At 1:59 into it,it's all rocking side to side in glee. When they begin singing it's very disturbing in the film. Considering what is about to happen, the rocking side to side glee of this song and the look of happiness on their faces is very disturbing. Hence, it was the perfect choice of song for this scene if they wanted to shock the viewers. At the end of this song they include the terrified voice of Woodward, screaming "Oh god....oh jesus christ" at the site that confronts him.

The "opening" song truly is beautiful and feels the most accurate of all the songs, in terms of culture and location. Beautiful. After this point, we head into much of the incidental music as such that occured in the film. Such as the "Hobby Horse" where woodward is chasing the hobby horse character around the town. This includes the footsteps and clapping of the wooden horse's mouth. I dont know if this was intentional, or if they had no choice as perhaps the master tapes are now long gone. "Searching for Rowen" is good, but the last minute or so seem way out of place. An electric guitar makes it way in.

"Sunset" is (as in the film) quite unsuitable in my opinion. Something about it just doesn't feel right in that final scene. It's too professional a piece of scoring compared to elsewhere in the soundtrack. Overall,this is a bizzare soundtrack but one to own because this is a rare chance to get it in this format. Hail the Queen of the may!!!

I saw the video recently and loved the quirky bizarreness of it.
Being Pagan myself I could see it wasn't quite accurate as they tend to mix up the Fire Festivals into one May Day (Beltaine) celebration and some of the shock value added are events that wouldn't happen today if they happened at all in ancient times that way.
That said, if your an adult with the taste for the unusual and compelling I would recommend the movie and the Music is wonderful it stands on it's own!
Lovely celtic flavored songs, not really big on folk music overall but this had a sort of folk, renissance quality I really enjoy not to mention that wonderful Retro feel of the 60's and early 70's I so remember!

The first 10 songs are actually songs and songs 12-16 are the incidental music of the movie and fun to hear especially if you have seen the movie first.

Highly recommend it but the movie and music wont' be for everyone but I venture to guess many of my fellow pagans will love it!
"All Hail the May Queen"

This may be the best movie soundtrack of all time. The music conjures up images of the film, just as the film conjures up images of the music. Tracks like "Corn Rigs" are remarkable, while "Gently Johnny" and "WIllow's Song" are, for me, perhaps the most erotic songs ever penned given the context of the movie. A truly haunting film and a stunning sound-track. I should add that I generally loathe folk music, but this is something else.

Anyone who has seen the movie The Wicker Man knows how great the music is and how important it was in setting the mood of the movie. That great experience is carried over into this CD. If you enjoyed the music in the movie or like folk music this CD is a great addition to your collection. The CD is very nicely packaged, coming in a slip box case with beautiful artwork. The box holds the CD case as well as a little book that provides information about the movie and the music. It is a nice read for any fan. The CD case also contains a fold out of a movie poster on one side as well as a few smaller ones on the backside. The music is beautiful, enjoyable, and diverse. This really is a must have for any one who likes the movie and will make a beautiful addition for anyone who just likes the music.

When I first saw this movie, I was not only moved and disturbed by its eerie and shocking content, I was forever haunted and inspired by the faux folk soundtrack. "Corn Rigs" and "Willow's Song" are incredible songs - strange, dramatic, unexpected. Just like you.

after years of loving the music and drama of the original ( AND I believe ONLY version of Wickerman) I am thrilled to have the music . So much so that I bought one for each of my 2 best friends. Bravo.