Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings 
announce deluxe reissues for Blade and Blade II, from prolific composers Mark Isham and Marco Beltrami. Debuting on vinyl for the first time, both soundtracks—equally celebrated as unique contributions to the film canon—will be released in multiple unique color variants. Releasing on May 16th and available for pre-order today, these classic scores will be pressed on “Bloodbath” red vinyl exclusively via Barnes & Noble, and “Blood Splatter” clear and black translucent vinyl in a limited-edition run of 500 on the Varèse Sarabande store. Both scores will be available as 2-LP gatefold packages with brand-new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Micha Huigen.
Directed for the big screen by effects artist–turned filmmaker Stephen Norrington (Death Machine) and written by Dark City’s David S. Goyer (with uncredited assistance from David Fincher, who originally intended to direct), 1998’s Blade tapped into the Goth Avenger vein of the adaptations of The Crow and Spawn. Like those undead superheroes out to decimate their killers, Blade moved in the shadows of a big city built from eerily sleek visuals and Hong Kong–influenced action, as powered by the relentless beat of the era’s youth-appealing indie, grunge and electronica bands.
At first offered to The Prodigy, Blade’s score eventually went to Mark Isham, whose origin as a jazz trumpeter didn’t suggest the most predictable fit. It was, though, Isham’s Southwestern gothic score for 1986’s The Hitcher that marked him as a musician worthy of this daunting task.
“Blade was a very interesting movie to be on,” Isham told author Randall D. Larson. “There were two factions that had a very strong musical voice. One was Wesley Snipes. He was involved in the hip-hop community, which was material that he felt reflected the urban part of the story. Then you had this young, sort of punk English director who was into English electronica, acid jazz and things like that. He felt that Blade lived in more of that world. And then of course you have the score. So it was a challenge. I talked a lot with Stephen Norrington and the studio’s music department about how to get these musical elements to all wrap around the story and feel like they belonged together.”
“I tried to give Blade a sense of heroism, but also a darkness, a vibe to him that was somebody you’d be scared shitless to see on a dark street,” Isham explained. “Yet there’s a side to his theme that was much more emotional because there’s a part of him that is still somewhat tender about there being something more than just these sorts of overpowering relationships the vampires have with each other.”
When Director Norrington decided not to take part in the follow up for his smash film, it was only natural that Hollywood came calling for Guillermo del Toro to take on the directing duties of Marvel Comics’ half-human vampire slayer whose 1992 appearance truly marked the beginning of the Marvel Age of movie superheroes.
Blade II presented a different challenge entirely. Receiving his master’s at Yale and studying under Jerry Goldsmith at USC, Marco Beltrami seemed a natural fit for the del Toro vehicle, especially after bursting onto the scene with Wes Craven’s meta-slasher Scream.
“Our collaboration on Blade II was a continuation of the one we had on Mimic,” Beltrami says, referring to their 1997 collaboration. “Sure it was creative, but it was like you were trying to keep something from your parents. Blade II gave me a lot more room to stretch musically, to use the whole orchestra and make a lot of sound and noise. It’s always fun to make noise.”
Beltrami’s collection of Asian instruments matched many of the themes that populated del Toro’s rendition. These included the flute-like shakuhachi, the Chinese opera gong and African percussion joined with an array of taiko drums, or “fat drums” originally used to cast away supernatural entities.
“Guillermo wanted those stylized Asian overtones for me to incorporate at a time before that sound was the rage in film scores,” Beltrami says. “I appropriated instruments and brought them into what I was doing, as I hadn’t studied traditional Japanese music. I used them in a very ‘western’ way for Blade II. We also had the idea of Tibetan throat singing, so we got this guy who called himself ‘the lowest of the low.’ But he wasn’t quite able to do the overtone stuff we wanted. I don’t know if it sounded like someone who was singing or someone who had an upset stomach! But he became part of the sound, along with the sounds that Buck Sanders had been creating.”
Now, both of these historic, unique soundtracks will be available for film lovers and score aficionados alike. Rarely have two films achieved such sterling visions from the same source material, and each project boasts a score to accent this one-of-a-kind style.
Click here to pre-order the Deluxe Editions of Blade and Blade II.
Blade Tracklist:
Side A
- Born Of Blood (Then)
- Headed For Trouble
- Blood Club Voices
- Party Crasher
- Quinn Stapled And Torched
- Quinn Chows Down
- Daywalker *
- The House Of Lords
- Karen Awakens
- The Injection
- There’s A War Going On Out There
Side B
- The Slap
- Glyphs
- Somebody’s Gonna Take You Out
- You Gotta Learn To Pull The Trigger
- Stakeout
- High Tech Lair
- The Translation Completed
- Pearl Fries
- The Book Of Erebus
- Blade Captured
- Whistler’s A Mother
- The Subway
- History
- Sunblock
- The Last Dawn
- A Pain In The Neck
- Man In The Street
Side C
- Top Of The Food Chain
- The Beating
- Death Of Whistler
- A Hurricane’s Coming
- Intruder
- One Big Happy Family
- Temple Of Light
- Curtis Isn’t Himself Today
- Blood Relations
Side D
- The Bleeding Stone
- The Ritual Continues
- The Thirst Always Wins
- The Wraiths Emerge
- Defrosted
- Quinn Loses His Head
- The Blood God
- It’s Not Over
Blade II Tracklist:
Side A
- Blood Bank Creeps
- Nomack The Knife
- Blade II Main Titles
- Moo Cow
- Wheel And Deal
- Wet Whistler
- Waiting For The Sun
- Suckheads Infiltrate
- Caliban By Helicopter
- Big D Hosts Big B
Side B
- The Imp ’n’ Pimp
- Meet The Bloodpack
- Reapers In The Kitchen
- H.O. Paincakes
- Priest Splits
- Little Boy Blue
- Bath Time
- Nyssa Needs A Napkin
Side C
- Sewer Pickles
- B Slice
- Charge Of The Light Grenade
- Blade’s Discharge
- Crispy Reapers
- Nyssa Swallows
- Who’s The Man?
Side D
- Big D Educates
- Nomack Snacks
- Blood Bath
- Reinhardt Splits
- Family Feud
- Smackdown
- Nyssa Over Easy
- End Credits
About Varèse Sarabande:
Varèse Sarabande is one of the leading and most prolific producers of film and television soundtracks. The label was formed as a merger between Varèse International Records (named for composer Edgar Varèse) and Sarabande Records (named after a musical dance form). Initially a classical label, Varèse Sarabande has released thousands of soundtracks and new recordings of classic film scores conducted by celebrated composers with the world’s best-known orchestras since 1977. The label upped the ante for fans by creating the Varèse Sarabande CD Club—releasing exclusive limited-edition deluxe soundtracks featuring rare and long-requested titles. The CD Club ran initially from 1989–92 and was restarted in 2001, and Varèse continues to create Deluxe Editions of cherished scores that might otherwise never see a release. Since joining Concord in 2018, Varèse Sarabande continues its mission to release new scores, high quality vinyl and Deluxe Edition soundtracks.
For more info, visit VareseSarabande.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
About Craft Recordings:
Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, R.E.M., Joan Sebastian, and Traveling Wilburys. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Evanescence, Alison Krauss, Daddy Yankee, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday and Violent Femmes, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation—ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates which preserve and protect their respective names, likeness and music through day-to-day legacy management of these cultural trailblazers.
Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
