Neha Patil (Editor)

The Killing Fields (album)

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Length
  
38:09

Artist
  
Mike Oldfield

Label
  
Virgin Records

Genre
  
World music

Producer
  
Mike Oldfield

Release date
  
3 December 1984

Movie
  
The Killing Fields

The Killing Fields (album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen556Mik

Released
  
3 December 1984 (1984-12-03)

Recorded
  
England, Germany & Switzerland 1984

Similar
  
Mike Oldfield albums, World music albums

Mike oldfield the killing fields side a


The Killing Fields is the 10th record album by Mike Oldfield, released in 1984 on Virgin Records. It was the soundtrack album for the British drama film of the same name based on the experiences of two journalists in the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It is the only full-length film score written by Oldfield.

Contents

The music was orchestrated by David Bedford. The Killing Fields was re-released in a remastered edition format on 29 January 2016, as per all previous albums which were originally released on the Virgin label.

Mike oldfield pran s theme


History

Though Oldfield's music had been used in films before (see The Exorcist and The Space Movie), this was the first time he had written specifically for film, and so far the only time. Oldfield composed the album on a Fairlight CMI.

Like many movies, the album is not a comprehensive record of all the Oldfield soundtrack music used in the film. Most notably, the music accompanying the darkroom sequence does not feature on the album. The single from the album, "Étude", is taken from the Francisco Tarrega piece "Recuerdos de la Alhambra".

Oldfield's work on the score was partially instigated by Virgin boss Richard Branson when he took Oldfield to see David Puttnam, a producer on the film, when then secured him the role.

Oldfield spent six months working on the score for The Killing Fields before going on tour, but when Oldfield returned the producers of the film asked for more music to be written, prompting Oldfield to ask for the use of an orchestra and a choir; three months later the score was finished. It was released just a few months after Oldfield's previous album, Discovery.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mike Oldfield, except where stated.

Side one

  1. "Pran's Theme" – 0:44
  2. "Requiem for a City" – 2:11
  3. "Evacuation" – 5:14
  4. "Pran's Theme 2" – 1:41
  5. "Capture" – 2:24
  6. "Execution" – 4:47
  7. "Bad News" – 1:14
  8. "Pran's Departure" – 2:08

Side two

  1. "Worksite" – 1:16
  2. "The Year Zero" – 0:28 (David Bedford)
  3. "Blood Sucking" – 1:19
  4. "The Year Zero 2" – 0:37
  5. "Pran's Escape" / "The Killing Fields" – 3:17
  6. "The Trek" – 2:02
  7. "The Boy's Burial" / "Pran Sees the Red Cross" – 2:24
  8. "Good News" – 1:46
  9. "Étude" – 4:37 (Francisco Tárrega, arranged by Mike Oldfield)

2016 remaster

  1. "Pran's Theme"
  2. "Requiem for a City"
  3. "Evacuation"
  4. "Pran's Theme 2"
  5. "Capture"
  6. "Execution"
  7. "Bad News"
  8. "Pran's Departure"
  9. "Worksite"
  10. "The Year Zero"
  11. "Blood Sucking"
  12. "The Year Zero 2"
  13. "Pran's Escape" / "The Killing Fields"
  14. "The Trek"
  15. "The Boy's Burial" / "Pran Sees the Red Cross"
  16. "Good News"
  17. "Étude"
  18. "Evacuation (Single edit)" (Bonus track)
  19. "Étude (Single edit)" (Bonus track)

Personnel

  • Mike Oldfield – guitars (Gibson Les Paul Junior and SG Junior), synthesizers (including Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Oberheim OB-Xa, DMX and Roland VP 330), Fairlight computer, producer, engineer
  • Preston Heyman – oriental percussion
  • Morris Pert – percussion
  • Eberhard Schoener – conductor
  • Bavarian State Orchestra
  • Tölzer Boys Choir

    • Songs

    1Pran's Theme0:49
    2Requiem for a City2:11
    3Evacuation5:14

    References

    The Killing Fields (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA