The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack CD

The 2006 re-release of the soundtrack to Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS features a bonus disc containing both cover tunes by alternative acts and a set of composer Danny Elfman's demos. Goth performer Marilyn Manson contributes a tense, bristling version of "This Is Halloween," and pop singer Fiona Apple offers up a beautifully wistful rendition of "Sally's Song," leaving room for tracks by popular emo-rock bands and Elfman's entertaining extras.
With its gleefully morbid and mischievous songs, the soundtrack to THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is just as adored as Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion animated classic itself. While the movie deftly blends the Rankin-Bass holiday aesthetic with Hammer-style horror, Danny Elfman's expertly follows suit, his score meshing seamlessly with the fantastical tale of Jack Skellington and company on ghoulishly festive tunes such as "This Is Halloween" and "Making Christmas." The album includes vocals by actors such as Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman), Catherine O'Hara, and Patrick Stewart, with Elfman singing a number of character parts himself, most notably Jack. For devoted fans of the film, particularly goth-inclined listeners, this collection is essential.
Danny Elfman, who has scored many of Tim Burton's imaginative films (Edward Scissorhands, his two Batman films, etc.), is a perfect musical partner for the somewhat macabre director, and never more so than here, where, in fact, Elfman gets not only to write the music but to play the part of the main character. The Nightmare Before Christmas is an animated movie musical about the abduction of Christmas by the denizens of Halloween land, and Elfman sings the part of Jack, the Pumpkin King. The score is in his usual lush but threatening style (Kurt Weill is his biggest influence), but the highlight is Elfman's singing. Even in his rock band Oingo Boingo (now merely Boingo), Elfman doesn't get to sing like this. Granted, the soundtrack album inevitably lacks the film's outlandish visuals, but it tells the story on its own, and one is better able to appreciate Elfman's outstanding performance. ~ William Ruhlmann