OBSESSION (COMPLETE FILM SCORE)

2023 CD reissue. Limited Edition of 350 units.
A full-color 24-page CD booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger.

In collaboration with Litto Enterprises Inc., Music Box Records is very proud to present the reissue of one of their most ambitious releases yet - a classic Bernard Herrmann score from one of his last efforts and an important milestone in his immense career for Brian De Palma´s classic melodrama Obsession (1976) written by Paul Schrader and starring Geneviève Bujold, Cliff Robertson and John Lithgow.

In a career often spent paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock with the likes of Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Body Double, Obsession even today stands as De Palma’s ultimate fever dream homage to the director who’d made Bernard Herrmann a household name as the romantic master of musical suspense during an eight film collaboration, no more so than with 1958s Vertigo. Obsession remains his most fervently romantic, and dare one say innocent attempt to recreate the studio gloss of a time when outright violence and sex were left to the mind’s eye, its rage and sensuality truly made explicit in its music. It’s a powerful, stylistic subtlety that increasingly made Obsession into the filmmaker’s most discerning cult film.

Bernard Herrmann returned to his grandly symphonic style and composed a stunning score, filled with powerful themes, ominously underlined by an organ, or a harp, sometimes with abrupt choral flourishes, in eerie evocations of a mystery. He again created an unusual combination to underscore the drama: a large cathedral organ and timpani as primary musical signature characters, and a small choir of wordless and sighing female voices, horns, winds and strings. The score was nominated for an Oscar for 'Best Original Score' in 1977.

Music Box Records is pleased to reissue the 2019 CD release which featured the remastered complete film score from the first disc of our 2015 Special Archival Edition. Limited to 350 units, this 2023 CD reissue also includes a 24-page full-color booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger, sharing his comments about the film and the score, including interviews with editor Paul Hirsch and producer George Litto.

1. Main Title (1:58)
2. Opening Party (0:40)
3. Valse Lente (1:33)
4. Kidnap (2:32)
5. Newsboy (1:45)
6. The Tape (0:29)
7. The Ferry (2:42)
8. Hideout (0:46)
9. Breakout (1:34)
10. The Tomb (1:16)
11. Memorial Park (1:18)
12. Sandra (6:44)
13. Sandra Again (0:58)
14. Court Meets Sandra (1:24)
15. The Church (1:26)
16. Bryn Mawr (2:04)
17. Bryn Mawr Walk (1:17)
18. Court's Confession (2:29)
19. Hospital (0:44)
20. Cemetery (1:04)
21. New Orleans (1:54)
22. Walk Down Hallway (1:07)
23. Portrait of Elizabeth (1:49)
24. Memorabilia (2:54)
25. Walk to Church (0:12)
26. Sandra at Monument (2:59)
27. After Dinner (0:46)
28. The Wedding (2:33)
29. The Wedding Part II (1:31)
30. Court, The Morning After (1:33)
31. Court Signs Papers (1:34)
32. Sandra Finds Briefcase (2:25)
33. Court Arrives at Wharf (0:41)
34. LaSalle and Sandra at Airport (2:02)
35. The Plane (2:21)
36. Court Finds LaSalle (2:02)
37. Court and LaSalle Struggle (1:06)
38. Airport (3:50)

BONUS TRACKS:
39. Ransom (Unused Cue) (0:18)
40. Past and Present (Unused Cue) (0:28)
41. Airport (Alternate) (3:41)

Total Time • 74:00