Danny Elfman: The Nightmare Before Christmas (2LP, soundtrack, zoetrope picture disc) [DISNEY]

Why you'll love it

This limited 2LP set presses the soundtrack on zoetrope picture discs, in a matte gatefold with printed inner sleeves. Elfman wrote every song and the score, and sings as Jack Skellington himself.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Zoetrope picture discs
• Limited edition
• Gatefold jacket
• Printed inner sleeves
• Lyrics included
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Tim Burton first wrote the story as a poem in 1982, while working as an animator at Disney. It took the best part of a decade to reach the screen, with Henry Selick directing the stop-motion and Danny Elfman writing the songs before much of the film existed, so the music very much set the pace for the puppets. Caroline Thompson wrote the screenplay, and Disney first put it out under its Touchstone banner, worried the Gothic look might be too scary for kids.

"This Is Halloween" opens the town's gates, "Jack's Lament" and "What's This?" give Elfman his big moments as the Pumpkin King, and "Kidnap The Sandy Claws" has Lock, Shock and Barrel up to no good. Ken Page swaggers through "Oogie Boogie's Song," and Toronto's own Catherine O'Hara, the voice of Sally, sings the gentle "Sally's Song."

The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated feature, and in 2023 it joined the National Film Registry. It also settles, once and for all, which holiday this record belongs to, by refusing to choose.

Also at Kops: more Danny Elfman on vinyl · browse Soundtracks

Tracklist

Listen

On Walt Disney Records, a reissue of the 1993 soundtrack.