Customer Reviews

Zombi: Dawn of the Dead

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a huge, HUGE fan of this film since I was a kid (many years now), I grew up literally wearing my original soundtrack LP out (purchased from Fangoria magazine), and just about listened to it almost 24 hours a day for a few years there. ... Well, it's good news, bad news, really. Good news is that at the very least you can finally have the full, original DAWN LP soundtrack on crystal clear, digital CD--and it DOES sound great! Nice, wide stereo seperation, great sparkling dynamic range and virtually NO noise at all present. Really nice sound production here! So, as far as finally having the original LP tracks on a compact disc, I was a happy camper right out of the gate, and at least to me, anything else was just gravy.

That said, I had REALLY high hopes for a few tracks, that did sorely dissapoint me in the end... as well as a couple new surprise gems that totally knocked me out of my chair! Yin and Yang, I guess. :)

First nice surprise: Track 1, L'alba dei morti viventi, is finally in its "proper place" and kicks the CD off first!--as opposed to the second track, Zombi, starting it off as on the original Varese LP release. A subtle point, to be sure, but something I always found a litle instinctively askew on that old LP. I always wanted those two switched in their track order, so this just feels much better to me. :)

Second surprise is just how cool track 11 is! Finally we get to hear something at least SIMILAR to (tho not THE real opening music, as we'll discuss in a minute) that eerie opening throb music played in the actual film. Great track!!!!! And it actually should, technically, be track number 1 now that I think of it. Heck, I'll burn my own "corrected" version soon (and leave out a few lame tracks I'll mention below).

Third surprise: Track 12 (an alternate take). Pretty neat, tho really it serves no purpose since it was not used in the finished film (at least the American Theatrical cut that I grew up with). But it does sound cool and is welcomed in that regard.

Fourth surprise: Track 14, the "Rooftop Music". WOW!!!!! Now this is an awesome track and one that I'd always hoped and dreamed to hear in all its pure, full-length glory! Momentous track for DAWN fans, plain and simple. I can't hear it enough.

Fifth surprise: A little one, Track 16. Not earth-shattering, but still neat to hear--tho I'd much prefer some DeWolfe library tracks instead.

OK, now the dissapointments...

First, the cover. Absolutely horrid! Terrible from not only a design point of view, but also an aesthetic one. It still baffles me that THAT's what they went with for this rather important release. Extremely dissapointing. For that matter, the entire CD booklet and back case designs are also all pretty lackluster, if you ask me. Sorry but it's amatuerish, ugly, and from a fan point of view, thematically misguided. A real bummer.

Now the tracks.

Track 11 (which, as I said above, I do like a lot), still manages to be a slight dissapointment to me. If you know this film and the very SOUND of it and every note in it, like I do, then you know that while a "close approximation", this track on this CD is still not THE actual music element that was used in the film itself. And that's a tad disheartening--as cool as this new track still manages to be! First, the bass running throughout (the 'thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump'...) is NOT the deep, muffled, more sinister DRUM BEAT heard in the film's version of this track (yes, Goblin actually used a dull, thudding drumbeat for that sound in the film, not a tinny, trebly bass). That's the first thing I noticed was wrong right away (I'm also a musician, so I pay attention to those things). Next, while the Phase-shifting, Flanging *electronic swishes* heard in the background of this track here are pretty darn cool, they are NOT the actual Moog-processed HUMAN VOICE SAMPLES heard wailing in the actual film over the thump-thump, thump-thump, in the opening. Again, BIG dissapointment for me. Huge, really. The wailing voices are what make the opening so eerie if you ask me! We need those voice samples in this track--not JUST this swishing sound, tho some of this IS heard in the opening of the film mixed in with the voice samples..but you HAVE TO have those distinctive voice samples as well!! Actually, listen to track 12 on this disc...THOSE are the voice samples heard in the opening of the film. And THOSE are the kind of samples that needed to be included in this track for it to be authentic. :)

OK, onward. Track 13 is, for any fan of the U.S. Theatrical release, pretty much a waste. It wasn't heard or used in the finished film, so it really hasn't much meaning for fans if you ask me. My custom burn will exclude this track for sure. If it was actually used in the movie, I'd love it, but it wasn't. So why do I want to listen to it then? It's pleasant enough, but what does it truly have to do with the finished film, DAWN OF THE DEAD? It wasn't used in it.

Same deal for Track 15...I know this is heard in Argento's cut, but that is not ROMERO's cut and is quite honestly, just not anything I grew up hearing here in the States, so it simply has no meaning for me at all. Maybe it does if you grew up with the Euro version, and I could completely understand that (and this is a European CD release anyway, so..), but I myself didn't, so in that sense, it was a waste of a track for me, and is something I have no reason to listen to. This was quite a letdown when I got the disc, considering that the track is listed as "Supermarket". I was fully expecting a mall piece here from the Domestic version of the film. This is a good point to keep in mind I guess--this is NOT an American CD release, it's European, so it would then, naturally, reflect the version that Europeans mostly know and love. At least that explains certain tracks for me here. :)

Lastly, Track 17, the "Zombie Voices", may have been my biggest dissapointment of the entire CD. I was expecting a track with the isolated HUMAN VOICE wailing samples heard in the film. Instead, it's a noisy, shrilly(!), way-too-loud phasey keyboard effect that sounds nothing, and I repeat NOTHING like anything heard in the film. And it was NOT used in the film--in any version of it. It's a gimmick to sell CD's. It worked. But once you start listening to the track, you really feel cheated--if you were expecting the weird human moans from the film anyway. Basically, it's a total wasted track, and one that I skip every single time--if it doesn't blow my eardrums out before I can run to the CD player when I forget to program the tracks! Bummer.

Overall then, if you're a big fan of this film, well, ya gotta get this CD, of course. For the original remastered LP tracks and the few new tracks that are really nice, it's a qualified mini-goldmine, no doubt, and I'm glad I got it. But we still have a ways to go before anyone ever releases a REAL "complete" and "definitive" DAWN soundtrack CD (that would have to include library tracks, a GOOD overall cover and package design AND the proper REAL track 11). This CD is similar to all the Anchor Bay DAWN DVD/Video releases of recent years...close but no cigar. None of those releases are quite right, either. But that's another review....

First, this is the Soundtrack to the ITALIAN cut of the film, that's why it's (A) an ITALIAN IMPORT and (B) titled 'Zombi' as that was the Italian versions release name.
The Italian cut of the movie, available previously only on Japanese Laserdisc and European VHS/DVD but coming to R1 DVD this year, used ALL the tracks on this CD, but the US/English language European cut used only a few of the (best) tracks on this CD. The mall Muzak (Called "the Gonk") contrary to another writer, is NOT here but is replaced by the cheesy elevator-muzak 70s porn sounding Goblin version (Zombi sexy).
Secondly, Goblin WERE the only ones to compose music for the film, even the versions where not all the music is theirs. The rest of the music on the film with which most of the reviewers here must be familiar, came from the De Wolfe music Library - they were tracks chosen by Romero from this Film music Library!
Some rare Vinyl copies of this 'incidental' music by Herbert Chapell & others (The Gonk, the shopping spree music and so on) still exist (Probably forgotten in Library files), but have otherwise never been (re)released, although they will be released (With none of the Goblin stuff) later this year.
Previously unavailable tracks on this CD are a great addition - the throbbing moog-synth sequence landing on the mall roof for example, or the alternate Dawn theme played when Peter is 'executing' the Ghetto basement Zombies. If it's the haunting synth/Prog Rock Goblin stuff you want - this is it! If it's the quirky Jazz and mall muzak you are looking for you will be disappointed. For my money this is an awesome CD - very little music from low budget 70s productions has had the longevity of this material, it still sends shivers down my spine when I hear it, and although it would be nice to have it rounded off with the 'Gonk' muzak, the Goblin tracks evoke the film perfectly.

Tracks 11,12,14 & 16 do appear in the movie contrary to other writers - Segments of track 11 are used throughout the movie (Peter killing the ghetto basement Zombies), clips from track 12 are used throughout, 14 is used when landing on the mall roof "I guess the power's not off in this area!" and is one of the tracks most missed from previous releases. Track 16 is a collection of the Orchestral 'stabs' used, again, throughout the film, such as when the Titles first appear, the protagonists first look into the mall and so on.

Like Dawn of the Dead? This is the most complete collection of the GOBLIN tracks from it around, ever.

Oh and a final note from a Zombie pedant, the Zombie 'voices' aren't moog synth produced, they are various objects being dragged up and down electric bass and guitar strings.....!

Gee, after a long long wait the Zombi-Dawn of the Dead soundtrack is released. It was well worth the wait. The electronic tracks are especially worth listening to (don't do it in the dark, you'll be scared). Of course, those who didn't see or like the movie won't have the same feelings as those who did. Note that the european and U.S. versions of the movie being very different, so is the soundtrack: this one is the european one. Still this is THE definitive soundtrack of Romero's masterpiece.

I've been looking for the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack for 5 years! I finally found it (thank you AMAZON!!!) and it is awesome! Fans of the American version are treated to tracks only heard in the European version. But don't worry...all your favorites are still here - the opening theme, the mall music, even remixes of various popular tracks! Nothing puts you in the mood to bash zombies than this CD. If you are a fan of this movie - or any zombie flick - this CD is a must have.

The problem with this C.D. is that only about 1/4 of the songs featured on it are in the American version of the movie. That is a real bummer for some American fans I would imagine. It is as if Goblin were the only ones to compose music for the film. I hope somebody makes another reissue with the American version's mall music, jazzy restuarant music, orchestral music, and Claudio Argento's composition(s). I especially like the rock type song with English language singing and played during the Jonestown scene. Combine those songs with the ones on this 20th anniversary reissue and you have the real complete original motion picture soundtrack to this movie. Until then, this is the best you can get. I would still recommend buying it because it may be the best release you will ever be able to get.

This album is something of a curiosity. The term "Soundtrack" should, to my mind, indicate that the album is comprised mainly of cues used within the picture of the same title. Not true here, I'm afraid. For although several tracks will be familiar to fans of the movie, a large number of this CD's featured 17 seem to have wandered in from a Goblin recording session for another picture. Gone is the outstanding organ-based, almost Dirty Harry-in-a-crypt, track used to indicate the breakdown of the protagonists' sanity following Roger's death; gone are the atonal ambient tracks written to accompany the sequence at the beginning of the picture, whereby the lead characters stop for fuel prior to the infamous black comedy image of a zombie being scalped by a helcpter's rotors; gone are the cues used in the raid scenes that open the movie, and gone are the tacky-but-fun shopping mall PA tunes. What we do have here is an inexplicable "Sexy" Zombie theme (go figure!), an ALMOST identical (hence, lesser) version of the album's opening track (which, thankfully IS used in the picture), and a banal two minute mish-mash of people groaning, which the producers of this effort have obviously contrived in order to make the track listing a little longer. On the plus side, however, the remastered sound quality is superb for a recording of such age (save for occaisional master dropouts and flutter), and if it's not a TRUE soundtrack you're after anyway, then some of the non-theatrical porn-movie guitar stylings here might just rattle your groovy inner jazz-lover's cage.

Zombi (1979) was the soundtrack to the Italian/European release of the classic horror film Dawn of the Dead. The U.S. release featured a few tracks from this album (the rest were library music and non-licensed songs). The music is helmed by keyboard virtuosio Claudio Simonetti. A lot of synthesisers and guitars are used in this album (especially the track used in the mall invasion and end credits). Even the mall's musak was composed by Goblin! If you loved Dawn of the Dead then you'll definetely dig this soundtrack. It's a little pricey but worth every penny.

Highly recommended!

I finally received the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack. A lot of people are disappointed because the Mall music wasnt on the disc, but that was either the actual mall's music or library stock music. I miss it, but it's nothing to get upset about. On the disc, it says Complete Soundtrack, but it is missing several songs. For example, whenever Roger starts to hotwire the truck and leaves the truck door open, we see the ghouls start moving towards him. I love the little instrumental that starts playing as the ghouls start marching. It wasn't on the disc but oh well. Another example is when the rednecks are shooting ghouls and drinking beer and so forth, the little song that starts playing there is not on the disc, but I don't know if that was Goblin or not, but I loved that song too. Anyways, it's not a complete soundtrack as some are gone, but if you're a fan of Dawn of the Dead and like the music in the film, you should like this cd. Alot of people said some of the songs are annoying. I, however found none annoying except for the last track, the voices of the dead. Once again, if you like the songs on the movie and are a diehard fan like I, get this cd

Just here to say that I talked to Claudio Simonetti,
the leader of Goblin, and he told me that it was not
a mandolin, but a Dobro iron acoustic guitar played
on "La caccia" on the Zombi soundtrack............
Other than that all is well................

Good album............

...but diehard fans of this film want more. There is still a bit of missing music from Dawn, including the DeWolfe library tracks. The music used when Roger and Peter open the sliding Penney's door--that is nowhere to be found on any release. Nor is the exact track used in the beginning, complete with the human wailing Moog noises. A couple of tracks used when the gang is shopping in the supermarket, etc., I was hoping to hear. I'm not 100% if some of the music I'm thinking of is Goblin or not, but there is certainly a little market of Dawn addicts who would love a bigger, more complete release of music. As it is though, this disc is simply a must for fans, if only for Track 14 ("Power must not be off in this area...")