As soon as I saw this record listed amongst the RSD16 releases I knew I had to be up early to sit outside a record shop again this year. I've been listening to this haunting soundtrack for years and was so excited to get it on vinyl. In the few days that followed, most record shops and websites had it amongst their top picks for RSD, so I knew I wasn't the only one. Reading Twitter on the day it seemed that a lot of other people were extremely excited to finally have it on vinyl too.
Back when I was at school I remember reading in the TV guide about a film called Pi which was being shown late on BBC2 one night and looked really interesting; I think the main thing that draw me in was the name, since I've been a maths-nerd for some time. Being 15 or 16 at the time, I didn't really get the film but thought it was excellent and unlike anything else I'd ever seen. I got the dvd a while later and still think the film is great.
Independently of this, I was also a big fan of Pop Will Eat Itself, having discovered them in a rather unusual manner - they'd contributed a few songs to the soundtrack of the game Loaded which I'd acquired on the doomed Sega Saturn. It would be years before I realised that the soundtrack to one of my favourite films at the time, and this ridiculous band I'd come to love were actually the work of the same person. I think most people who listen to any of Clint Mansell's soundtracks would be amazed to hear his output with PWEI.
The exact order of things is fuzzy in my mind - I remember hearing about Darren Aronofsky's second film Requiem For a Dream and I remember at some point hearing that Clint Mansell had composed the soundtrack to that too. Whether I'd made the Clint Mansell / Pi / PWEI connection at this point I don't know, but I remember really wanting to see the film. Needless to say, Requiem For a Dream is an incredible yet brutal affair; it is not for the faint-hearted but mind-blowing in such a good way. On first viewing I was fully aware that the soundtrack played such a huge part of that - the overtures at the start of each section, the hints of the main theme throughout and then Lux Aeterna in its full glory at the end. Things go spectacularly badly for the characters in that film and the music really hammers that point home. It is a beautiful soundtrack.
For years I meant to buy the cd, but put it off for a very long time (for a while I'd just put the movie on in the background to listen to it, but it tended to be a bit distracting). A couple of years ago I ended up buying a copy and I've listened to it a lot more often since then. As someone who has spent a long time listening to instrumental post-rock bands and, more recently, a genre my record store likes to refer to as "neo-classical" (Max Richter, Nils Frahm, etc) I've found that certain soundtracks tick a lot of the same boxes in what I want from the music. When you listen to it as an album, the "Conga" songs jar a little bit, but as a whole it works remarkably well.
Just last month I had the very exciting experience of seeing Clint Mansell performing some of his film scores in London. It was an excellent show and reminded me how much I loved the soundtrack to Pi but also to all the other films that he's scored that I've seen. The highlight for me was undoubtedly Requiem For a Dream and the compressed version they played was fantastic. Clint looked to be having a good time too and spent a lot of time talking to the audience about the history of some of the scores, which gave a great insight into the process.
Going back to where I started, I was also pleased that the artwork had been redesigned for the RSD release and that the resulting artwork was so great (not that there is anything bad about the original, which is brilliantly referenced). It really feels like someone has gone to quite the effort to make this a nice release (despite the spelling mistakes on the back), which I think everyone appreciates given how much people wanted this soundtrack on vinyl. Included is a note from Clint written nearly 10 years ago which gives even more of the insight I mentioned above and side D comprises two bonus mixes of the score. All in all it is a great record and I am very excited to have it in my collection.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 35
Cost: £30 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 16/04/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
