Soundtrack Information

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Intrada (Special Collection Vol. 197)

Release Date: May 15, 2012

Conducted by Michael Small

Format: CD

Music By

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Track Listing

1. THE ALBUM: Main Title 2:50
2. Frank In Room 1:12
3. Kitchen Love 3:21
4. Going To Chicago 2:21
5. Got To Have You, Frank 1:36
6. Fuse Box 4:41
7. Please Don't Leave Me 2:22
8. Murder And Push Car 3:35
9. Doing It In The Dirt 2:14
10. We Do It 2:18
11. They Leave Courthouse 3:41
12. Thinking Of Cora 1:46
13. You Know What I Learned 1:20
14. Suspense On Stairs 1:08
15. They Marry 2:20
16. Last Drive 2:05
17. Elegy For Cora 1:16
18. End Credits 2:15
19. THE EXTRAS: Kitchen Love (Alternate) 3:21
20. Got To Have You, Frank (Long Version) 1:50
21. Beat Each Other Up (Alternate) 1:40
22. Cora Spits (Alternate) 0:40
23. Thinking Of Cora (Album Version) 1:48
24. They Marry (Album Version) 1:28
25. Last Drive (Album Version) 2:19
26. La Donna E Mobile (Verdi, Arranged M. 1:07
27. La Ci Darem La Mano (Mozart, Arranged M. Small) 2:25
  Total Album Time: 58:59

From the Manufacturer

The 1981 Warner Bros. erotic thriller The Postman Always Rings Twice features a score by Michael Small—a composer whose distinctive sound helped define the music of 1970s thrillers. Yet the composer felt a new approach was necessary for this assignment, finding Postman to be:

"...more than an erotic film, it's a tragedy. In a way it's almost like an opera, with clearly defined act breaks. I think The Postman Always Rings Twice was very difficult for me because it involved a style of music that I really never wrote before. I wound up going with instinct and memories of being scarily enchanted by suspense movies as a kid. I found the style by trial and error and finally internalized it. It became fun and natural and I have drawn on this 'thirties' feel in unusual, somewhat disguised ways ever since."

Small's score is dominated by two main themes: the tense, repetitive "crime" motif and the warm love theme, which has a sad yet pastoral quality that contrasts effectively with the darkness of the storyline. For this premiere release, Intrada had access to the complete 3-track stereo elements stored in the Warner Bros. vaults.

Starring Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, and John Colicos and based on David Mamet's screenplay, the film begins in the midst of the Depression as a drifter named Frank Chambers arrives at Twin Oaks, a roadside tavern near Los Angeles owned by Greek immigrant Nick Papadakis. Frank turns down Nick's offer of a job, but changes his mind after getting a look at Cora, Nick's young and gorgeous wife. Almost immediately, Frank and Cora become lovers and plot to kill Nick, but their attempt to drown him in a bathtub goes awry when a cop drops by at an inopportune moment.

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