Snow Files of the Week

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Prologue/Main Title/The Boys Find The Cave/The Kiss/Happy Ending" from the tv movie THE LITTLE KIDNAPPERS (1990).

For this Disney Channel production Mark again could get his hands on an orchestra. The "Main Title" begins with a solo flute and transforms into a wonderful, soaring piece of music. The theme presented here also makes its way into the rest of the score, with happy child adventures music like "The Boys Find The Cave". The score again shows Mark's abilities to create memorable music outside of the X-Files universe.

The score was released, together with Mark's music for IN THE LINE OF DUTY: SMOKE JUMPERS, on the "Mark Snow Collection Volume 1" by Dragon's Domain Records. The CD is limited to 500 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Night Forest / Forest Search" from "The X-Files", episode "Pilot" (1993).

 

That's how it all started. 1993, the first episode "The X-Files" with a score by Mark Snow that was almost raw for later standards. You can tell that everything was new here and that everyone involved had to find their way around this new world. We can already hear the gloomy soundscapes with which Snow's music should shape the series as well as with its wonderful themes.

 

The tracks are taken from the fourth volume of X-Files music from La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 2.000 units.

 

Enjoy listening!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Grow up Superboy/Ferris Wheel" from "Smallville" (2001).

The show ran for ten seasons, but after season 6, Mark left the show and his former music editor Louis Febre took over for the remaining three seasons. It was Mark's decision, since he was so busy doing the music for "Smallville" and "Ghost Whisperer" at the same time, with additional movies in between (like the second X-Files movie in 2008), that he just wanted to have more time with his family.

The music for "Smallville" shows Mark again as a master of haunting themes and melody. His distinctive sound is easy to recognize. A digital album was released with music from the show, before La-La-Land Records released a 2-CD-Set, containing all tracks from the digital album, as well as a second CD with even more music from the show. It also has tracks by Louis Febre from the later seasons. The CD was limited to 3000 copies and is now sold out.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Catalogued/Deny Everything/Blood on Paper" from The X-Files, episodes "Duane Barry" and "Ascension" (1994).

A classic X-Files two-parter from the second season of the series. And with Duane Barry one of the most distinctive figures in the X-Files universe, played in a disturbingly manic way by Steve Railsback. For a long time Barry has been haunted by aliens at night who repeatedly carry out experiments on him. When another visitation is imminent, Barry goes crazy and takes some hostages in an office building. The police thinks he's a dangerous lunatic, of course, but Mulder is interested in the visits.

Mulder manages to outsmart Barry and he is shot and rushed to the hospital. But Barry only plays along on the pretense, breaks out of the hospital and kidnaps Scully, whom he wants to leave to the visitors for their experiments in his place. He takes her to Skyland Mountain at night, from where he was kidnapped for the first time. When Mulder arrives, he only notices a bright light in the sky and finds Barry alone. Scully has disappeared.

Mark Snow accompanies this double episode with very melancholic-mystical sounds. The short motifs for the Cigarette Smoking Man and the conspirators appear again, as they of course also have their fingers in the game. The tracks are from LLL's fourth set of X-Files music. The set is limited to 2,000 copies.

Enjoy listening!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "El Lobo/Sling Blade" from "The Lone Gunmen".

This short-lived X-Files-spin-off focused more on humour. Mark's music also has a brighter touch to it, with sometimes even James-Bond-like spy music. The cliffhanger of the show was resolved in the ninth season of THE X-FILES, with the episode "Jump the shark".

Mark's music was released, limited to 2000 copies, by La-La-Land Records. The album also has music from the fourth Chris-Carter-show, HARSH REALM, on it. The album is sold out.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Ice Cubes/Dan to the Rescue/Hit and Run/No One Ever Leaves Me/Victoria's Madness" from the tv movie "Seduced and Betrayed" (1995).

In the early 90's BASIC INSTINCT hit the theatres and became almost immediately a modern classic. It was a huge comeback for erotic thrillers and in the years that followed many movies wanted to be like it. This is also true for the music, composed by the great Jerry Goldsmith, that influenced the thriller genre for years to come. When SEDUCED AND BETRAYED came around in 1995, it more or less tried to imitate the sexual undertones. And it is pretty obvious that Jerry Goldsmith's score was used as a temp track, before Mark began working on the movie. His main theme is pretty much a slightly different arrangement of Goldsmith's theme. But for the rest of the movie Mark came up with his more mellow and harmonic style.

The main theme was featured on the sampler "The Snow Files". The score was released, paired with CAROLINE AT MIDNIGHT, on "The Mark Snow Collection Vol.2" by Dragon's Domain Records. The CD is limited to 500 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Jack O' Lantern/Battery/790 Days" from "MillenniuM", episode "The Curse of Frank Black" (1997).

What would Halloween be without "The Curse of Frank Black"? A very popular episode amongst fans of "MillenniuM", it features everything you could hope for on this night: Strange happenings, Demons, black cats, witches, ghosts and an overall dark and tense atmosphere. Mark brings the moody episode to a higher level with his dark and spooky music. At the end of the episode, Mark even incorporates a piece of classical music into his score, the "Sarabande" by Georg Friedrich Händel.

The music was released on the first volume of "MillenniuM" music by La-La Land Records in 2008. This edition sold out and was re-released, limited to 1.000 copies.

Happy Halloween!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "My Name Is Not Buddy/Rod Serling Appears/A True Fan/Dr. Wuzzle/ Dr. Thaddeous They/The Untold History of The X-Files/To Find Each Other/Remember How It Was" from The X-Files, episode "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" (2018).

 

Another wacky episode written by Darin Morgan, this one deals with the "Mandela Effect". Or the "Mengele Effect", which one you prefer. It describes the feeling of remembering something in a specific way, even though it was never like that. The episode is another example of Darin Morgan's sense of humour, making fun of the show without disrespecting it.

It was another occasion for Mark to write some wacky music. Like the theme for Reggie or the sort of parodistic hommages to The Twilight Zone. At the end of the episode, Mark's "Home" theme from the second movie "I Want To Believe" can be heard.

 

The music was released on a 2CD set, containing more music from season 11, by La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 3.000 copies.

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Ernest Saves Christmas/Christmas Spirit" from the movie "Ernest Saves Christmas" (1988).

It's that time of the year again and Mark Snow joins the celebration with this jolly score. Performed by an orchestra this score shows Mark in perfect Christmas spirit, very different from his more darker ambient stuff.

The score hasn't been released officially yet, there is only a promotional CD out there. Maybe someday we'll see a proper release.

Enjoy!

 

[Gotham Gal]

Wonderful, but I admit I prefer his darker, moodier stuff.