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The Wicker Man Soundtrack and Carving Out Cultural Dream Spaces: Wyrd Explorations 1

There are two distinctively different versions of  The Wicker Man’s soundtrackwhich have been released on vinyl, CD and/or digitally: one in 1998 by Trunk Records and another by Silva Screen in 2002, the latter of which was also included with the 40th anniversary DVD and Blu-ray release of the film and has also had various reissues on CD and vinyl.

The soundtrack was composed and arranged by Paul Giovanni, and performed by him and the band Magnet, which was assembled by the film’s associate musical director Gary Carpenter in order to record the soundtrack.

As with the film itself, it is easy to forget just how odd and unique the soundtrack is and it feels very much part of older British traditional folk music even though only a small part of it is directly traditional in origin, and in effect, it creates a hauntological-esque reimagining of such culture.

The current interest and critical appreciation of The Wicker Man can in part be traced back to the Trunk Records’ release of the soundtrack in 1998, which was the first time it had been released in any form other than as part of the film. At the time interest in the film was still more niche and cult-orientated and the release of the soundtrack was one of the notable events which contributed towards the film’s rehabilitation, and in this sense it can be included in a timeline which also includes, amongst other events, the publication of The Wicker Man focused issue of Cinefantastique in 1978, it being broadcast on the British mainstream television channel BBC Two as the first film in Alex Cox’s cult film series Moviedrome in 1988 and the release of the first edition of Allan Brown’s book Inside The Wicker Man in 2000.

The Trunk Records release is described on its cover as being “The original motion picture soundtrack music and effects” and it is not a conventional soundtrack album where each song is presented as an isolated whole, possibly with snippets of dialogue from the film between the tracks. On the album the songs, effects and so on segue into one another and at points fragments of earlier songs reappear and fade in and out, of which on the Trunk Records’ website, most probably written by the label’s founder Jonny Trunk, it is said:

“The original music and effects tapes were found and carefully copied, and the LP release is an identical copy of the sounds found on these tapes.” (Quoted from “The Wicker Man”, trunkrecords.com, date and author unknown.)

However, rather than appearing to be a straightforward replication of the film’s audio, the resulting album takes the listener on an impressionistic chronological journey through the atmosphere of the film; one which evokes a sense memory of its story, rather than telling it in full.

Presented in mono, the album was created using a shorter cut of the film and therefore does not include the lilting fecund ballad “Gently Johnny”, which is one of the best-known songs from The Wicker Man, as this was not included in the shorter version. The Silva Screen edition of the soundtrack is in stereo and was created using cues from a tape held by Gary Carpenter, mixed with recordings from the Trunk Records’ edition. It is more conventional in terms of its format and features isolated complete songs accompanied by some snippets of the film’s dialogue, and at times it seems almost curiously showbiz-like in comparison to the Trunk Records’ edition. It also differs in that it does not present a chronological journey through the story as it is essentially split into two parts or sides: Songs from Summerisle, which includes many of the “hits” or more well-known songs including “Corn Rigs”, “The Landlord’s Daughter”, “Willow’s Song” and “Gently Johnny”; and Incidental Music From The Wicker Man such as the music from the islander’s procession, the opening and final sequences etc.

Both versions of the soundtrack have their pros and cons and they complement one another in a manner which is in keeping with the film’s history, in relation to the earlier mentioned sense of there not being a definitive, complete and final version of the film known to still be in existence.

The Wicker Man Collage-A Year In The Country-1080

Accompanying this, interest in The Wicker Man only seems to grow as the years pass, as do the number of releases and reissues of books, DVDs, Blu-rays, posters, zines, documentaries, trading cards, soundtracks etc related to it, and the film has inspired a mini-industry all unto itself, which intertwines with and is a reflection of the way it continues to intrigue viewers and inhabits, carves out and conjures its own cultural dream space.

The “Wyrd Explorations” series of posts include a selection of excerpts/edited sections from the A Year In The Country: Wyrd Explorations book.