Friday, October 19, 2018

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' 1990 Movie Film Score Getting First Ever Release with Waxwork Records

COWABUNGA! Waxwork Records has announced its next release will be none other than the original score to 1990 live-action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!


As any child of the '90s will immediately recall, this marked the first motion picture adaptation of the crime-fighting, pizza-loving heroes in a half shell. And while the film was a huge hit, the complete score has actually never been released on any format (though a various artists soundtrack album featuring none other than MC Hammer did arrive alongside the film), and a complete presentation of DuPrez’ music has long been one of the most highly demanded pieces of TMNT ephemera.

This will now change thanks to Waxwork, which on Friday (October 19) will release the complete score to TMNT by John DuPrez. Buy the score here.

The release comes as a collaboration with not only DuPrez, but also TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman and Nickelodeon. For the 2-LP release, the two slabs of vinyl will contain all of DuPrez's music made for the film, with the entire score being restored and remastered.


TMNT OST: the Michelangelo package

The album art, which you can see above, was created by Eastman. The vinyl itself will arrive as two 180-gram coloured LPs, with a total of eight — yes, eight — vinyl variants available (one each for Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Casey Jones, April O'Neil, Master Splinter and The Foot) pressed onto double vinyl with art designed by Turtles creator Kevin Eastman exclusively for this release. The packaging will feature old style tip-on gatefold jackets with satin coating and include a 1990 TMNT film poster postcard.

You can get an idea what to expect from the OST by streaming a sampler below the tracklist.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Original 1990 Score:

John Du Prez, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Original Motion Picture Score (Waxwork Records, 2018 – original film released 1990)

LP 1

Side A

Crimewave
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Crime FIghters
Possess The Right Thinking
Subway Attack
Splinter’s Tale I

Side B

Hidden Treasures
Shredder’s Big Entrance
Raphael In Trouble
Huge Fight
Tatsu Attack
Trouble
Their Greatest Fear

LP 2

Side C

Message From Splinter
Time To Go Back
Splinter’s Tale II
Battle With The Foot
Sewer Surfin’
Street Fight

Side D

Shredder’s Last Stand
The Fall Of Shredder
TMNT (Alt Mix)
Splinter’s Tale I (Alt Mix)
Splinter’s Tale II (Alt Mix)

Portions previously released as suites on SBK Records CDP 91056, 1990



Waxwork basically specializes in these sorts of lux soundtrack vinyl treatments, by the way — so you know you’ll be in good hands.

Based on an independent comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the ultimate in high-concept superheroes, creating a wacky world around the titular quartet, who dwelled in the sewers of Manhattan and fought petty crimes committed by the Foot Clan and their master, the mysterious warlord Shredder. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael were sensations on the page, and in 1987 became a full-fledged phenomenon in the form of a syndicated cartoon series.


A film was inevitable, and 1990’s adaptation – halfway between the grit of the original comics and the goofs of television, with impressive life-size characters built by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop – sliced and diced the box-office, becoming one of the year’s top 10 blockbusters and, for a time, the highest-grossing independent film. Turtles spun off two sequels, and the franchise – now owned by Nickelodeon – is still going strong, with additional films landing in theaters in 2007, 2014 and 2016, as well as one currently in the works, and several new animated bringing the heroes in a half-shell to a new generation. (Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the fourth such series, debuted on Nickelodeon USA last month and is currently rolling out worldwide)


Du Prez, a trumpeter in the salsa-pop outfit Modern Romance (which scored several U.K. Top 10s during the ’80s), was no stranger to scoring. A longtime friend of Eric Idle, he contributed cues to Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life (1983) and later scored the Python-adjacent hit A Fish Called Wanda. For Turtles, Du Prez created a catchy theme for the heroes, as well as memorable motifs for characters (Splinter, the Turtles’ aged sensei, and the villainous Shredder) and various scenarios (the opening “Crimewave” uses a pulsating rhythm and a quickly familiar four-note motif to showcase the Foot’s grip on the city). Though three score suites shared disc space on a soundtrack album with Partners In Kryme and MC Hammer, getting the complete score has been a dream for TMNT fans – one that finally comes true.

Waxwork will release a standard 2LP vinyl later this month, featuring brand-new original artwork by series co-creator Eastman and featuring the complete score (with three alternate mixes as bonus tracks). The label recently sold advanced copies in a special limited-quantity “Shredder” color variant (one disc silver, the other maroon) at New York Comic-Con 2018. Though the label has confirmed to The Second Disc that no CD or digital plans are in motion, I'll be sure to let you know if and when one’s announced!

Check out the NYCC “Shredder” color variant below, and keep an eye on Waxwork Records’ social media feed for details about what time on Friday the others will go on sale!


More Nick: 'Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Global Roll Out Premiere Dates | Nickelodeon!

Originally published: Monday, October 15, 2018.

Sources: Images - Waxwork Records, EXCLAIM!, Nerdist; Additional sources: Google.co.uk, Tiny Mix Tapes.
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