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Maniac Cop 2 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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    Ian Jane
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  • Maniac Cop 2 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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    Maniac Cop 2 - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
    Released by: Blue Underground
    Released on: December 3rd, 2014.
    Purchase From Amazon

    It goes without saying that a movie's soundtrack can have a massive impact on its success, and that seems to be a key factor in horror movies probably more than in any other genre. Jay Chattaway's work on the Maniac Cop pictures proves just how effective music can be in helping to build suspense, surprising audiences with a stinger or really just building mood and atmosphere. And the closing track? The infamous Maniac Cop Rap? It proves how quickly certain types of music can sound dated - but damn if it isn't a lot of fun, and way too catchy.

    Most of Chattaway's compositions for this soundtrack, released by Blue Underground on CD and limited to 1,000 numbered pieces, is heavy on strings. It's probably not much of a stretch to say that there's a Bernard Herrmann influence evident throughout much of the instrumental music here. There's a lot of strings up in the mix and it works well, the music does not want for atmosphere. As the film mixes in a lot of action amongst the scares, the music understandably reflects those shifts in tone. So while we start off with something eerie and foreboding like Death Whispers, which uses that whistling that'll be instantly recognizable to Maniac Cop fans, by the time we finish with Pyromania Death March the pace picks up considerably. Along the way we get some interesting compositions that run the range from simple stings to more involved pieces that help to create a feeling of dramatic tension.

    Of course, listening to it without the movie playing is an altogether different experience but the fact that the music on the disc plays well on its own is testament to Chattaway's abilities, making you wonder why isn't better known or more widely regarded among soundtrack junkies than he is.

    And then there's the rap, the Maniac Cop Rap. Completely out of place but at the same time so very obviously a product of the era in which the movie was made, the work of Yeshwua Barnes and Brian 'B.Dub' Woods is as infectiously goofy now as it ever was. The rhyming schemes employed here are usually simple and often predictable - but then they throw in lines that don't have anything to do with anything Maniac Cop related, just to keep the flow going. Case in point?

    “Bullets won't hurt him / I know it sounds like jive / But we're not sure if he's dead or alive / Set him on fire / I shoot him with an Uzi / But he'll show up in your Jacuzzi”

    There aren't any scenes in any of the Maniac Cop movies where Matt Cordell shows up in anyone's Jacuzzi, but God bless Yeshwua and B.Dub for conjuring up that bizarre mental image and for keeping it real. And bonus points for rhyming Uzi in the first place.

    The complete track listing for the Maniac Cop 2 soundtrack is:

    Death Whispers / Maniacal / Gloria / Horrific Revelations / More Bodies / Deathly Chants / Chills And Thrills / On The Prowl / Whispers in The Dark / Dark Rising / Beat Cop / Death Punch / Showdown / Pyromania Death March / Maniac Cop Rap

    The audio quality on the CD is quite good. The levels are mixed well, there is no hiss to note and you can make out the different instruments used in the various compositions nicely. Even at a high volume while flying down the highway in a your car this still sounds good, and it makes for great background music while doing something as mundane as commuting to work. It's the type of music that makes the ordinary things in life more exciting when you hear it, and here's hoping we see more soundtrack CD releases from Blue Underground in the future. They've got a pretty amazing catalogue and the world could benefit from more releases like this.

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