Revisit the Nightmare Before Christmas's Definitive Halloween Music

When The Nightmare Before Christmas debuted in 1993, the majority of my college friends didn't take to it. While they were fans of most Disney animated musicals, Danny Elfman's songs and score didn't quite suit their tastes. Instead it was my Prong- and Pantera-loving Calculus study partner that brought an already worn tape to listen to as we dealt with functions and differentials. I'd like to hope he's enjoying Nightmare Revisited as much as he did the original.

Nightmare Revisited is a complete cover album of all 20 tracks of the original Danny Elfman soundtrack for The Nightmare Before Christmas. Released on September 30, 2008, it follows on the heels of the 2006 re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack that included on the second disc several covers and Danny Elfman demos. The only cover that is included in both projects is Marilyn Manson's grungy, industrial metal cover of "This is Halloween."

The eclectic selection of other artists chosen for the compilation run the gamut between popular and the downright obscure. Aside from Manson, KoRn provides a frantic rendition of "Kidnap the Sandy Klaws," Evanescence's Amy Lee gives "Sally's Song" an ethereal treatment, and Flyleaf includes an inspired rendition of "What's This?" that changes it into a gothic Christmas carol. On the other end of the spectrum, DeVotchKa and Iceland's Amiina provide two of the album's outstanding instrumental tracks, and The Polyphonic Spree turns "Town Meeting Song" into a Pink Floyd-esque confection.

The compilation generally retains a dark quality throughout, finely illustrating the relationship between punk and goth as musical genres, but perhaps its one weaknesses is that it, of course, doesn't retain the continuity that the original album has. Tracks such as Yoshida Brother's rendition of "Nabbed" or Sparklehorse's "Jack's Obsession" are interesting on their own, but don't quite fit the rest of the album's tone. As a digital download (available through iTunes or Amazon.com for instance), the album includes a bonus track: a second cover of "Oogie Boogie's Song" by Tiger Army, that fits the album somewhat better than Rodrigo y Gabriela's lovely, but too delicate, classical guitar version.

On the whole, a "full-album" cover is an intriguing idea and the producers of Nightmare Revisited do a good job of putting together an enjoyable experience. I would consider it a "must" for most fans of the original, even if one already owns the 2006 special edition. While not every track works with the whole, the sheer gutsiness of some of the covers is well appreciated.