Watch John Carpenter ‘Escape From New York’ Once More
John Carpenter has offered a live studio performance of the Escape From New York theme, one of four classic movie themes the composer has re-recorded and will release on two 12-inch records June 17th via Sacred Bones.
The in-studio clip finds Carpenter and his band — which includes son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies — performing the indelible “Escape From New York” at the Village Recorder studio in Los Angeles. Though the sticky synths give the performance a quintessential Eighties feel, Carpenter and his band use roaring guitars to inject the piece with newfound bombast.
“Escape” will be paired with Carpenter’s breakthrough composition for Halloween, while the second 12-inch disc will boast new versions of the themes from Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog. Both double A-side singles are available to pre-order in three formats: Standard, limited edition with mylar mirror board sleeves and picture disc. Special blue and red vinyl editions will be available exclusively on Carpenter’s upcoming tour (a complete list of dates is available on Carpenter’s website).
The re-recorded movie themes follow Carpenter’s two non-soundtrack collections, 2015’s Lost Themes, and Lost Themes II, which arrived in April. Despite the titles, the music on both LPs is all original, and not unused music from Carpenter’s countless soundtracks.
“Think of it this way,” he told Rolling Stone of the first collection in 2014. “It’s lost themes in the sense that we were scoring the movies that many people have in their imaginations. The perfect way to listen to this would be with a beautiful girl next to you — but if you can’t have that, turn the lights down, start the album up and let the music sink in with the imaginary movies in your mind.”