New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Varèse Sarabande Records is thrilled to unveil its October 2020 CD Club titles: How to
Train Your Dragon (The
Deluxe Edition) by John Powell and Village of the Damned (The
Deluxe Edition) by
John Carpenter & Dave Davies, which are now available exclusively on VareseSarabande.com. The CD Club launched its official start in 1989 and has been a staple of the label ever since, relaunching titles from renowned composers such as
John Williams and Ennio Morricone.
How to
Train Your Dragon (The
Deluxe Edition):
How to
Train Your Dragon was composer John Powell's first solo score for a DreamWorks animated feature, having co-scored numerous soundtracks, including The Road to El Dorado, Kung Fu Panda, Antz, Chicken Run and Shrek. Powell made a memorable impression with his How to
Train Your Dragon score, which earned him his first Academy Award® nomination. The 2-CD
Deluxe Edition includes the score as heard in the film along with alternate versions and demos. Extensive liner notes from film music journalist Tim Greiving are also included.
The film rights to Cressida Cowell's first book How to
Train Your Dragon—about a wimpy young Viking named Hiccup, son of the brawny village chief, who captures and trains a dragon he calls Toothless—were purchased by DreamWorks. The studio released the Academy Award®-nominated animated feature from directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders in 2010.
Regarding his initial creative approach, Powell took the Viking milieu literally and started researching Scandinavian folk tunes and musical traditions, which he says are "wonderfully cold and warm at the same time." DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg advised him to "throw some Enya at it" [Enya is a prolific Irish singer, songwriter and record producer].
In the film, the adults all speak with a Scottish brogue, whereas the kids have American accents, which Powell saw as a subtle symbol of generational shifts: "So there's this kind of mismatch of Viking theory going on. But what I got from that comment, about 'throwing some Enya at it,' was that Irish, Scottish, and to a certain extent Old English folk songs can have a warmth to them that perhaps I wasn't utilizing, because I was being a bit too intellectual. I thought, okay, I'm just going to go back to my roots, as it were. And those roots are maybe deeper than I'd realized—and before I knew it, I had bagpipes. Even though I laughed, in my head a lot of doors opened."
Director Dean DeBlois: "Chris [Sanders] and I quickly realized that John has a very strong story sense in his own right. And when it came to filling the movie with tunes and motifs, he was finding his own way through the story that was almost like a harmony to the main themes that we were tackling on the surface with dialogue and visuals. It's a really unique ability, and something that I'm thankful for. Because the music itself is not just supporting the storytelling—it's deepening it."
Additionally, we're excited to share the news that Omni
Music Publishing (in association with 5 Cat Studios) has released the full score of How to
Train Your Dragon that includes every single cue from the film, matching The
Deluxe Edition album. The book can be purchased here!
*Limited Collector's Edition of 3,000 copies
TRACK LISTING
Disc 1:
This is Berk (Alternate Film Version) [1m2alt] (1:05)
This Is Berk (with Original Opening Version) [1m2] (6:10)
Anybody See That? [1m6] (1:24)
War Room [1m7a] (:44)
Training Out There [1m7b-c] (4:23)
Hiccup Comes Homes [2m8] (:23)
Dragon Training [2m9] (3:09)
Wounded [2m10] (1:27)
9. The Dragon Book [2m11] (2:24)
10. Hiccup Focus [2m12] (2:05)
11. Offering [2m13] (:53)
12. Forbidden Friendship [2m14] (4:13)
13. New Tail [2m15] (2:48)
14. Teamwork [3m16] (:44)
15. Charming The Pziiffelback [3m17] (:28)
16. See You Tomorrow [3m18] (3:53)
17. Test Drive [3m20] (2:35)
18. Not So Fireproof [3m21] (1:13)
19. This Time For Sure [3m22] (:46)
20. Astrid Finds Toothless [3m23] (:39)
21. Astrid Goes For A Spin [3m24] (:47)
22. Romantic Flight [3m25] (1:56)
23. Dragon's Den [3m26b] (2:31)
24. Let's Find Dad [3m26c] (1:12)
25. Kill Ring/Stop The Fight [4m27-28] (4:31)
Disc 2:
Not A Viking [4m30] (1:34)
2. Ready/Confront [4m31] (5:19)
3. Relax/Stroke/Hell [4m33-34] (2:09)
4. Over/Less Okay [4m35-37] (6:19)
5. Wings [4m38] (1:19)
6. Counter Attack [5m39] (1:52)
7. Where's Hiccup? [5m40] (2:54)
8. Coming Back Around [5m41] (2:50)
9. Sticks & Stones (Written and Performed by Jónsi) (4:17)
10. The Vikings Have Their Tea [5m50] (2:06)
Bonus Tracks:
11. The Vikings Have Their Tea (Alternate Version) [5m50alt] (2:02)
12. This Is Berk (Demo) [1m2] (6:11)
13. New Tail (Demo) [2m15] (2:54)
14. See You Tomorrow (Demo) [3m18] (3:54)
15. Test Drive (Demo) [3m20] (2:33)
16. Romantic Flight (Demo) [3m25] (1:57)
17. Coming Back Around (Demo) [5m41] (2:53)
