V/A: The Return of the Living Dead (soundtrack, limited edition, clear with blood red splatter vinyl) [REAL GONE]

Why you'll love it

This limited edition comes on clear vinyl with blood red splatter, pressed in the USA. The 1985 soundtrack is a snapshot of the Los Angeles deathrock and punk scene, led by The Cramps' "Surfin' Dead" and 45 Grave's "Partytime."

This edition

• Clear with blood red splatter vinyl
• Limited edition
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Zombie films had been shuffling along quite happily until 1985, when Dan O'Bannon gave the genre a punk haircut. His directorial debut, The Return of the Living Dead, is a gleefully dark comedy about a medical supply warehouse, a leaky drum of toxic gas and a gang of teenage punks, and it's the film that first had its zombies asking specifically for brains.

The music matches the mood. The Cramps open with the swampy "Surfin' Dead," 45 Grave's "Partytime (Zombie Version)" became the film's anthem, and T.S.O.L.'s "Nothing for You" and The Flesh Eaters' "Eyes Without a Face" keep the LA punk energy high. Roky Erickson's "Burn the Flames" adds a dose of 13th Floor Elevators weirdness, The Damned bring "Dead Beat Dance," and SSQ's synthy "Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)" and "Trash's Theme" close it out.

The film became a cult favourite with four sequels, and the soundtrack, a who's who of the mid-80s Los Angeles underground, has long been sought out by horror and punk collectors alike. The splatter on this pressing is, we're assured, entirely decorative.

Also at Kops: more The Return of the Living Dead on vinyl · browse Soundtracks

Tracklist

Listen

On Real Gone Music (cat# RGM-0379), a reissue of the 1985 soundtrack.