Big Trouble in Little China (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 1986 | |||
Studio | Electric Melody Studios, Glendale, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:38(1986 release) 71:35 (1999 release) | |||
Label | Enigma Records (1986 release) Super Tracks Music Group (1999 release) | |||
Producer | John Carpenter | |||
John Carpenter chronology | ||||
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Alan Howarth chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() 1999 release |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Soundtrack.Net | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Big Trouble in Little China is a soundtrack produced by John Carpenter for the film of the same name.
With the soundtrack,Carpenter wanted to avoid the usual clichés finding that “other scores for American movies about Chinese characters are basically rinky tink,chop suey music. [He] didn't want that for Big Trouble”. Carpenter instead opted for his trademark synthesizer score mixed with rock ‘n’roll music with a slight mystical Chinese overtone. [3]
A soundtrack album,produced by Carpenter,was released in 1986 on Enigma Records and featured nine tracks for a total of just over 45 minutes. In 1999,an expanded edition was released by Super Tracks Music Group. It included two versions of Carpenter and his band,The Coupe De Villes (consisting of himself,Nick Castle,and Tommy Lee Wallace),performing the "Big Trouble in Little China" theme song,three tracks from Alan Howarth's previously unreleased score for Backstabbed (also known as Mørkeleg),and a track from Escape from New York ,entitled,"Atlanta Bank Robbery".
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "Big Trouble In Little China" | The Coupe De Villes | 3:13 |
2. | "Pork Chop Express" | 3:40 | |
3. | "The Alley" | 2:00 | |
4. | "Here Comes the Storms" | 2:20 | |
5. | "Lo Pan's Domain" | 4:30 | |
6. | "Escape from Wing Kong" | 8:00 | |
7. | "Into the Spirit Path" | 7:07 | |
8. | "The Great Arcade" | 7:50 | |
9. | "The Final Escape" | 6:58 | |
Total length: | 45:38 |
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "Big Trouble In Little China" | The Coupe De Villes | 3:13 |
2. | "Pork Chop Express" | 3:40 | |
3. | "The Alley" | 2:00 | |
4. | "Here Comes the Storms" | 2:20 | |
5. | "Lo Pan's Domain" | 4:30 | |
6. | "Escape from Wing Kong" | 8:00 | |
7. | "Into the Spirit Path" | 7:07 | |
8. | "The Great Arcade" | 10:00 | |
9. | "The Final Escape" | 4:47 | |
10. | "Big Trouble In Little China -Reprise-" | The Coupe De Villes | 3:08 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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11. | "Opening" | Alan Howarth | 3:35 |
12. | "Alexandra" | Howarth | 5:57 |
13. | "Blue Planet Interlude/Final Stab" | Howarth | 5:41 |
No. | Title | Length |
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14. | "Atlanta Bank Robbery" | 3:31 |
Total length: | 71:35 |
Both the 1986 release and 1999 release are out-of-print.
Big Trouble in Little China (Limited Edition) | |
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Soundtrack album by | |
Released | January 2009 |
Studio | Electric Melody Studios, Glendale, California |
Genre | |
Length | 96:29 |
Label | La-La Land Records |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Empire | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
In 2009, a complete 2CD limited edition of the soundtrack was released by La-La Land Records which includes every note of music from the film, including both versions of the title song, remastered. In 2016, it was re-released as part of the film's 30th anniversary, with new artwork and packaging. Both versions have an error on Pork Chop Express on the intro, it plays slightly fast, then slows down to its normal speed. The original 1986 versions don't have this error, this is because the 2009 and 2016 CD's are mastered from the film's audio master, rather than the original master tapes. This is also audibly evident in the film too.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Prologue" | 2:15 |
2. | "Pork Chop Express (Main Title)" | 4:01 |
3. | "Abduction At Airport" | 4:17 |
4. | "The Alley (Procession)" | 1:12 |
5. | "The Alley (War)" | 2:31 |
6. | "The Storms" | 2:42 |
7. | "Tenement / White Tiger" | 3:49 |
8. | "Here Come The Storms" | 4:15 |
9. | "Wing Kong Exchange" | 4:40 |
10. | "Lo Pan's Domain / Looking For A Girl" | 3:16 |
11. | "Friends Of Yours? / Escape Iron Basis" | 7:18 |
12. | "Escape From Wing Kong" | 5:38 |
13. | "Hide" | 4:35 |
Total length: | 50:44 |
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "Call the Police" | 7:32 | |
2. | "Dragon Eyes" | 1:12 | |
3. | "Into the Spirit Path" | 7:05 | |
4. | "The Great Arcade" | 7:53 | |
5. | "The Final Escape (Lo Pan's Demise / Getaway)" | 7:02 | |
6. | "Goodbye Jack" | 3:14 | |
7. | "Big Trouble In Little China (End Credits - Album Version)" | The Coupe De Villes | 3:22 |
8. | "Stingers Montage" | 5:24 | |
9. | "Big Trouble In Little China (Original Version)" | The Coupe De Villes | 3:01 |
Total length: | 45:45 |
The Coupe De Villes
Carpenter's score was nominated at the 14th Saturn Awards for "Best Music". [5]
John Howard Carpenter is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is generally recognized as a master of the horror genre. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the French Directors' Guild gave him the Golden Coach Award and lauded him as "a creative genius of raw, fantastic, and spectacular emotions".
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Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American fantasy action-comedy film directed by John Carpenter, and starring Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun and James Hong. The film tells the story of truck driver Jack Burton (Russell), who helps his friend Wang Chi (Dun) rescue Wang's green-eyed fiancée from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown. They go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown, where they face an ancient sorcerer named David Lo Pan (Hong), who requires a woman with green eyes to marry him in order to be released from a centuries-old curse.
Halloween is an American slasher media franchise that consists of thirteen films, as well as novels, comic books, a video game and other merchandise. The films primarily focus on Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium as a child for the murder of his sister, Judith Myers. Fifteen years later, he escapes to stalk and kill the people of the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. Michael's killings occur on the holiday of Halloween, on which all of the films primarily take place. Throughout the series various protagonists try to stop Myers including, most notably Laurie Strode and psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis. The original Halloween, released in 1978, was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill—the film's director and producer respectively. The film, itself inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Bob Clark's Black Christmas, is known to have inspired a long line of slasher films.
Nicholas Castle is an American screenwriter, film director, and actor. He is known for playing Michael Myers in John Carpenter's horror film Halloween (1978). He also had a cameo as Myers in Halloween (2018). Castle also co-wrote Escape from New York (1981) with Carpenter. After Halloween, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as The Last Starfighter (1984), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Dennis the Menace (1993), and Major Payne (1995).
Thomas Lee Wallace is an American film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror genre, directing films such as Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Fright Night Part 2 and also directing the 1990 television miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's epic horror novel It. He is a long-time collaborator of director John Carpenter, receiving his first credit as art director on Carpenter's directorial debut Dark Star. Along with Charles Bornstein, he edited both the original Halloween film and The Fog.
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Halloween is a soundtrack album composed and performed by John Carpenter, featuring the score to the 1978 film Halloween. It was released in Japan in 1979 by Columbia Records and in the United States in 1983 through Varèse Sarabande. An expanded 20th Anniversary Edition was released in 1998 through Varèse Sarabande. In 2018, an LP was released by Mondo Records featuring the mono tracks taken from the original 35mm stem of the film and for the first time features the music as originally heard in theaters and on the earliest VHS releases of the film.
Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, who co-wrote it with its producer Debra Hill. It stars Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P. J. Soles, and Nancy Loomis. Set mostly in the fictional Illinois town of Haddonfield, the film follows mental patient Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium for murdering his teenage sister one Halloween night during his childhood; he escapes 15 years later and returns to Haddonfield, where he stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends while his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis pursues him.
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Alan Howarth is an American composer and sound designer who has worked on soundtracks for Hollywood films including the Star Trek and Halloween series, and is known for his collaborations with film director and composer John Carpenter.
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Halloween II is a soundtrack by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth for the 1981 film of the same name. It was released in 1981 through Varèse Sarabande. An expanded 30th Anniversary Edition was released in 2009 through Alan Howarth Incorporated.
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Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is a soundtrack by Alan Howarth for the film of the same name. It was released on September 28, 1988 through Varèse Sarabande. A limited expanded edition was released in 2011 through Alan Howarth Incorporated. It is the first Halloween soundtrack not to be produced by John Carpenter.
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They Live is a soundtrack by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth for the film of the same name. It was released in 1988 through Enigma Records. An expanded 20th Anniversary Edition was released in 2008 through Alan Howarth Incorporated.
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