Dune Part Two
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
by Hans Zimmer
Can you believe they made a Dune movie AGAIN? And that it turned out THIS good? Jodowosky’s Dune opened my world to the mythos surrounding the book and to Jodorowksy himself. My cultural world was changed after watching that documentary, so of course, after seeing David Lynch’s movie, the idea of a new Dune movie is a loaded proposition to me. What was a good sign was that Denis Villeneuve would be directing. The man has proven himself as being a person with a grand vision who is able to deliver the kind of large movies that make you think. He’s the blockbuster equivalent of coming out of an art-house movie and not knowing if the main character has been dead the whole time. With Villeneuve it’s heady in a good way. Also, Arrival is one of the greatest movies of all time. And his brilliant Bladerunner sequel further proved that the man can do a lot with a pre-conceived idea. So, expectations were high.
The soundtrack is an important character to the movie, and we’ll get to that in a bit, but let’s talk about (Made by) Mutant as a label because it’s a beautiful story. A few years ago, Mondo fired a large chunk of their employees and that includes their creative team. I don’t know what motivated this decision, but I’m guessing it was about business, not personal. So what does the creative team do? They go across the street and make Mondo eat their words, as David Letterman said. They start their own company, because they love what they do, and are starting to show that they can play with the big boys. They are putting out the Shogun series and Alien Romulus records. They mean business, and nothing means business like the soundtrack of the biggest movie of the year: Dune Two.
Of course a massive movie like this deserves a massive musical composer and they don’t come any bigger than Hans Zimmer these days. The man has done it all, from Disney animation in the 90s (he did Lion King!), to Chistopher Nolan movies (he did the Dark Knight!), and now being the main go-to guy for blockbuster Warner Brother movies. What you get from Zimmer in the Dune soundtrack is music every bit as grandiose and wide-ranging as you would get from the movie itself. There is nothing here that is subtle, or lo-fi, or cute, just balls-out intensity. Zimmer even claims that he was trying to think in an unearthly scope by creating new instruments (I think he means new synthesizer noises) for the different planets in the Dune storyline. Of course, you’re going to get that trademark Zimmer “KWAAAAA!!!!” noise, but there are also pounding drums, marching bagpipes, that Arab ancient lamentation vocalization and it’s all front and center. Zimmer’s soundtrack is viscous and think, just like the sands of Dune.
Everything about this release is cool, the cover art (showing the more subtle stylization of the DUNE title), the slipcase it comes in revealing our main characters once it’s removed, the full color gatefold and fully printed sleeves depicting the characters, and even the obi strip which adds a touch of class and the beautiful color vinyl. Simply no detail was overlooked and no expense spared. This is a soundtrack worthy of the Dune movie, and a perfect depiction of what vinyl soundtracks represent.
Who knows what the future holds for Dune, but this is about as good of a start as the story can get. And the vinyl is simply marvelous. Bravo.
Get it from Mutant
photo: turntablelab.com
