John Carpenter - Big Trouble In Little China Soundtrack

I'm going to be perfectly frank here and acknowledge that I have no idea where this came from. I was in a used record shop and this CD was in the dollar bin, and being the soundtrack to a movie I love and John Carpenter being all over it, how could I say no? It looks to be an officially produced CD as well with detailed liner notes explaining the musical cues and details surrounding the film and soundtrack productions, but it also notes that it is a promotional only release. Coming from a pre-MP3 world of bootleg CDs and vinyl, seeing the phrase "For Promotional Use Only" on a shady looking CD is usually code for a bootleg release, but how many bootlegs have extremely detailed notes regarding the packaging, mastering and compositions contained therein on an officially pressed disc? Even better question, why spend all that money to produce a CD that won't be sold for a cult classic that doesn't have a massive following? These are questions that soundtrack collectors can probably answer far better than I, and if you are a collector of rare soundtracks I'd love for you to chime in. It's a part of the world of rare music that I'm simply not very informed on. Regardless, I'm sure many will find this interesting for the music contained therein.

The first ten tracks on the CD cover the score from Big Trouble In Little China and include two versions of the theme song as performed by The Coupe de Villes, Carpenter's own band for which he played guitars and handled vocal duties alongside Nick Castle and Tommy Lee Wallace, both of which are also writers and directors in Hollywood, although the liner notes don't specify what instruments they play. Afterward, there are three tracks produced, composed and performed by Alan Howarth for the film Backstabbed and Carpenter and Howarth's unreleased score for the Atlanta Bank Robbery scene in Escape From New York, a scene which was cut from the final film.

Apparently Big Trouble In Little China was given a deluxe soundtrack treatment in 2009 via the label La-La Land Records, for which some information can be found here. There are also some details surrounding the issue of the soundtrack featured here which was released via a label named Supercollector. I think it's great that people are releasing this music, even if the fan base collecting it is minimal, but I'm confused as to why they're doing physical releases. Unless they've got significant pre-orders or are charging through the roof, I can't imagine them making much of a profit. Nonetheless, the Supercollector version as featured here is out of print, not that that makes much sense for a promotional only CD, though you may have more luck with the La-La Land version for which 3000 copies were pressed. You can visit their website here, and I've gotta tell ya, I'm drooling over that deluxe 89 Batman soundtrack!


John Carpenter - Big Trouble In Little China Soundtrack (Supercollector Version)

01 Big Trouble In Little China (performed by The Coupe de Villes)
02 Pork Chop Express
03 The Alley
04 Here Come The Storms
05 Lo Pan's Domain
06 Escape From Wing Kong
07 Into The Spirit Path
08 The Great Arcade/Final Escape Pt. 1
09 Final Escape Pt. 2
10 Big Trouble In Little China, Reprise (performed by The Coupe de Villes)
Tracks 11-13, Alan Howarth - Backstabbed
11 Opening
12 Alexandra
13 Blue Planet Interlude/Final Stab
Track 14, John Carpenter in association with Alan Howarth - Escape From New York
14 Atlanta Bank Robbery


PS - Just in case you're reading this and have never seen Big Trouble In Little China, go rent it this weekend. It is a ridiculously fun, stupid and bizarre eighties movie starring the cockiest version of Kurt Russell on film and a delicious Kim Cattrall.