August 14, 2011

New Archive release: Diary bundle post #2: Ethereal Laura Palmer's Theme variations

Beginnings And Endings:

   

"To Beginnings... And Endings. And the wisdom to know the difference."
-Andrew Packard (episode 23)

Laura Palmer's Theme (Ethereal Pad Version) (1:10)
Laura Palmer's Theme (Letter From Harold) (1:37) Note: This is actually the "Guardian Angel Version"

Other than the two alternate versions of "Harold's Theme", this week's bundle release includes three short ethereal versions of "Laura Palmer's Theme". Of all the musical themes in the show, LP's Theme received the most variation, and in this case, spawns its own sub-category containing similar, yet slightly different variations. Two of this week's tracks fall into the variation I've called "Beginnings And Endings" (named after Andrew's toast).

There are 4 main 'variations' of this version:

Ethereal Pad Version (Josie Version)
The most heard and recognized of the four versions, it became the dominant musical identity of Episode 23.
Episode 16: James gives Donna a ring at the RR Diner.
Episode 23: Josie's fortunes turn progressively worse. (Looped to extend the track in the toast scene).

Guardian Angel Version (Pete/Catherine Version)
Episode 7: Pete rushes into the burning warehouse in search of Catherine.
Episode 17: Catherine tells Truman about the events of that same night and how a guardian angel saved her life.
Episode 18: Hawk tells Cooper about the legend of The White Lodge (heard in half-speed).
Note: This variation was actually two separate "parts" or tracks (the Pete scene & the Catherine scene) on the bootleg. But they have been combined into one track in the released version.

Caroline Version
Episode 21: Cooper tells Truman about Caroline's death (an image of Caroline appears over Cooper).
Episode 28: Leo looks at the Queen-Shelly card.

Letter From Harold Version
Episode 16: Heard when Donna reads Laura's last diary entry to Cooper. Then mixes into "Dance Of The Dream Man (Sax Solo)" & "Laura Palmer's Theme (Bells)".

Confusingly, the version released as "Letter From Harold" is actually misnamed. It is NOT the version heard in the Donna/Cooper/Diary scene, but rather the Catherine "Guardian Angel Version". So the actual "Letter From Harold" version and the "Caroline Version" remain unreleased.

Ghost Version:

Laura Palmer's Theme (Ghost Version) (1:49)

Rounding out the release is the haunting "Ghost Version" which can be heard in the following scenes:
Episode 1: Over the picnic video footage of Laura and Donna.
Episode 4: James first sees Maddy in the RR.
Episode 10: Donna finds Laura's secret diary at Harold's.
Episode 11: Harold reads from Laura's Diary to Donna; Judge Sternwood addresses Leland.

7 comments:

  1. Will you do covers for "Laura Palmer's Theme (Ethereal Pad Version)" and "Laura Palmer's Theme (Letter From Harold)" as well?

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  2. Everything you've been doing to research and document the Twin Peaks Archive music (and then design covers after they are released) has been terrific! Really excellent work, and very appreciated as a companion resource to the Archive.

    I do have a question though:
    I noticed your track order is not quite the same as listed on the David Lynch site, especially when you view the track lists for the bundles, etc. before purchasing.
    I was curious about your reasons (if intentional) for changing the order in those cases.

    Thanks again for your wonderful efforts to enhance these great gifts from David and Angelo!

    ~Chris

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  3. Thanks very much! Obviously, the release of more TP music has been a dream come true for me. So its my pleasure.

    As for the track listing, its actually completely unintentional! Since the tracks come unnumbered, I just assigned an order to each bundle myself. I never even noticed that you could view the track lists for bundles on dl.com. I'll work on correcting the order.

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  4. Actually, I'm not even sure that all of the bundle tracklists on dl.com ARE in a particular order...

    Some are listed in a way that seems to make sense or at least follow the order of their descriptions in the pop-up Info boxes, but others seem a bit more random.

    I think since they don't have track numbers within the bundles, let alone within the overall Archive, it sort of leaves it to us to just do whatever suits our tastes anyway.

    I've pretty much been following the order you've posted, but I am curious about what other collectors think about the track order issue in general. And how they've put them together.

    Cheers!
    ~Chris

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  5. I think I'll just leave my order as is. I was looking at the dl.com site again, and as you say, its hard to know if there is even an "official order".

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  6. To answer Chris's question about how other fans order their tracklisting, every time a new release comes out and I download it, I stick it straight onto my iPhone and keep them all in the order that they were released. When it comes to bundles, if they are not already numbered (Slow Speed Orchestra 1, Slow Speed Orchestra 2... etc) I just order them in "as heard" order on the show (for example Miss Twin Peaks Theme, Lucy's Dance, Lana's Dance, Miss Twin Peaks Finale... etc)

    Hope that helps... and keep up the great work with your artwork and research Ross. I've been a fan of Twin Peaks since I was 11 years old when it was first shown here in the UK in 1990, and I have read and researched everything I could about the show, and when studying Media at college I even wrote my final dissertation on the series, and created a 15 minute documentary video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txIThKhZXkQ )...

    ...and yet I have no idea where you have managed to find all the information you have about the "archives" tracks and the names of tracks that have yet to be released. This site compliments the new "archives" releases perfectly.

    You're doing a "damn fine" job :-)

    ReplyDelete