The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack CD
The Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition.
1993, Touchstone/Disney.
Danny Elfman.
Disney, CD, 2007, DSN8616362
Rating: 
Tim Burton’s stop-motion animation feature could have been a washout had he failed to find a composer of Danny Elfman’s talents to write the score. Unlike many musicals that use songs to mark story progression, Nightmare is largely told through song, making it essential to story development. Initially considered just too dark for mass audiences, it has since become a cult hit, providing Disney with a new found credibility beyond its usual audience. The story of a skeleton who escapes from ‘Halloween Town’ in order to bring the spirit of Christmas home to lighten up the joint but makes a mess of it instead, is an offbeat tale full of ghouls and ghosts, even managing to incorporate a love story between the skeleton and a Frankenstein-like girl (Sally) sewn together by an evil professor. It would all be pretty grim if it weren’t for a strong humorous element that really is laugh-out-loud funny. Songs such as ‘This Is Halloween’, where Jack Skeleton introduces the audience to Halloween Town and ‘What’s This?’ as he discovers Christmas, are two of the strongest performances. ‘Sally’s Song’ is a melancholic ballad, while ’Oogie Boogie’s Song’ is a jazz number performed by a ghoulish boogieman determined to kill Sandy Claws (sic). The vocalists, including Broadway legend Ken Page pull the whole thing off exceptionally well with Elfman taking the role of Jack Skeleton and several other smaller parts. This special edition, released to coincide with the films thirteenth anniversary includes a second disc with covers by Marilyn Manson (‘This Is Halloween’) and Fiona Apple (‘Sally’s Song’) and some demo performances by Elfman.
The Nightmare Before Christmas Movie Soundtrack. Review: Tim Mowbray.
Track Listing:
1. Overture.
2. Opening.
3. This Is Halloween.
4. Jack’s Lament.
5. Doctor Finklestein/In The Forest.
6. What’s This?
7. Town Meeting Song.
8. Jack And Sally Montage.
9. Jack’s Obsession.
10. Kidnap The Sandy Claws.
11. Making Christmas.
12. Nabbed.
13. Oogie Boogie’s Song.
14. Sally’s Song.
15. Christmas Eve Montage.
16. Poor Jack.
17. To The Rescue.
18. Finale/Reprise.
19. Closing.
20. End Title.
CD 2 Track Listing:
1. This Is Halloween (Marilyn Manson).
2. Sally’s Song. (Fiona Apple).
3. What’s This? (Fall Out Boy).
4. Kidnap The Sandy Claws (She Wants Revenge).
5. This IS Halloween (Panic At The Disco).
6. Making Christmas (Demo/Elfman).
7. Oogie Boogie’s Song (Demo/Elfman).
8. Kidnap The Sandy Claws (Demo/Elfman).
9. This Is Halloween (Demo/Elfman).
10. Town Meeting Song (Demo/Elfman).
11. What’s This? (Demo/Elfman).
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