Simon Boswell — Santa Sangre OST 30th Anniversary Limited Edition

In 1989, Chilean filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky created one of his finest surreal masterpieces, a film called Santa Sangre. It follows the life of a young boy, Fenix (played by Jodorowsky’s son Axel), who is growing up within the confines of a Mexican circus with his father, Orgo the knife thrower and his mother, Concha a religious fanatic. Orgo is also in an extra-marital relationship with the tattooed lady, whom Concha is jealous of. All of this combines to produce one of the most wonderful, surreal horror movies. However, alongside Jodorowsky’s unique stylistic touches and weird brand of storytelling, one of the key factors in making Santa Sangre such a success is the musical score from English composer/ musician, Simon Boswell. Boswell has more than 90 soundtracks to his name, including work for Dario Argento, Clive Barker, Richard Stanley and Danny Boyle. Santa Sangre remains one of his most celebrated works.

This new CD release from Rustblade/ Pick Up/ Cinevox actually brings together the full soundtrack for the first time on disc (previous versions of the soundtrack were always incomplete).  The score is made up of electronic music, and music that perfectly replicates the traditional Mexican folk sound. 

Album opener "Fin Del Mundo" is a genuine traditional song that sounds like it’s being performed by a mariachi band, with loads of acoustic guitar and violin. "Alma" is up next and is a Latin American-flavoured slice of ambient electronica featuring synthesised panpipes and some beautiful acoustic guitar work. Carnival Violin is an upbeat electronic track with Latin rhythms and some pretty wild electric guitar solos. "Alejandra" is a melancholy mariachi number, written by E. Mora and performed by Circus Orgo. "Holy Guitar" is a pretty acoustic track that reminds me at first of Cavatina, which was used to great effect in The Deer Hunter, while "Besame Mucho" is a ballad performed by Silver Hombre.  Track 7, "Dejame Llorar" is another short ballad, this time performed by Fenix and Concha. Acid Revenge is up next, and this is a wholly more symphonic/electronic track filled with tension, while "Triste" is a really beautiful acoustic guitar track that sounds like it belongs on any traditional Mexican guitar picking album. 

"Grave Business" takes things in a very different musical route, a far darker track that acts almost as a shift in tone. Suddenly, we are in full-on creepy atmospheric electronic territory. "Kid’s Theme" is exactly what it sounds like, it has a real fairground feel to it, and whilst it sounds childlike, there is a certain amount of creeping menace to be felt within the track. "Herbage" is a very mellow piano-led piece; it’s a beautiful and relaxing track that fits so well with the other tracks. "Sweet Dreams" is a queasy, off-kilter take on Kids’ Theme, while "Church Tattoo" is a gentle, flowing synth piece that grows and swells into something far more epic-sounding by the end with some lovely organ vibes. "Truck", on the other hand, adds a certain amount of intrigue to the proceedings with some funky basslines and some more synthesised pipes. Track 16 is "Heart", a tender, heartbreaking number with a hint of menace played largely on woodwind instruments. The album closes with "Wingbeat", a symphonic piece of electronica that works well to bring the album to a close.

Santa Sangre is a wonderful movie with a soundtrack that adds a great deal to the film’s feel. Simon Boswell has created a score that is as memorable as the movie from which it is taken. Much like his other work on Demons 2, Phenomena, Hardware or Dust Devil, it’s a perfect score for the movie.

The new 30th anniversary release looks amazing with some gorgeous packaging, the digipak is fabulous and features some wonderful artwork and photos from the movie. On top of this, the sound quality is top-notch, and the score has never sounded better. It’s also really nice to finally have a far more complete soundtrack (there are still a handful of tracks used in the movie missing from the score, but nothing that would be a deal breaker) than we have had before. Overall, this is a wonderful package for a classic cult movie soundtrack by one of my favourite composers whose work has graced several of my absolute favourite movies. Top-notch stuff!