A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Based upon Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry's book about Charles Manson and his trial, Helter Skelter had already been turned into a movie in 1976 with Tom Gries directing.  That time round the music was by Billy Goldenberg (and not, despite what the IMDB would have you believe, The Beatles - their song of the same name was featured in the movie) and this time it's another tv composing veteran, Mark Snow, given the chance to score.  

Films about serial killers are rarely going to attract the most pleasant of scores but Snow's is endlessly, relentlessly bleak and almost completely without warmth.  It's a magnificent portrayal of the most disgusting human facets, incomparably done and a credit to its composer.  But (and I'm sure you can see this comment coming), quite who would want to listen to an album of it, I can't begin to imagine.  The only moments of warmth come when a wordless female vocalist is added; while the underlying theme is still clearly one of terror, a track like "Leave the Baby" is strangely (almost perversely) attractive.  But more abject bleakness is never more than a minute or two away (and some of the bleakest of all comes, strangely, with the newly recorded version of the song "Helter Skelter" sung by Glenn A. Jordan).

Snow is a talented composer, and far too few of his works have been released on CD, so in that respect it is good to see Helter Skelter out there and available, but there are other of his works I would rather have first (his efforts on The X-Files got better as the series went on, in an inverse relation to the quality of the show itself, and ended up being among the best music written for television in a long time).  This is the first release from BSX Records, an offshoot of the buysoundtrax.com online retailer, and copies are available from their website.

Tracks

1. Helter Skelter Glenn A. Jordan (3:27)
2. Titles (1:03)
3. Sword (1:56)
4. Ranchy Cello / Boom Top Chase (2:22)
5. Creepy Crawl (4:13)
6. Cielo Drive / A Bullet for Dennis / Sending Tex / Testing the Pool (3:52)
7. Slaughterhouse (4:32)
8. Bedtime Crime Scene / Bad News / Tex Talk / Labianca (5:36)
9. Come to Now (2:17)
10. News Views / Leave the Baby (3:36)
11. Sunrise Arrest (2:02)
12. Barker Ranch (4:23)
13. Formosa Organ (1:18)
14. Booked / Indictments (2:25)
15. Sadie Tells About Tate (4:00)
16. Linda Surrenders / Labianca Tales / Eerie Smile (3:40)
17. Stopped Watch / Helter Skelter (reprise) (2:42)
18. Heltering the Skelter / Revisiting the House (3:50)
19. Finale (2:15)