It has been a very long time since I have the movie to this soundtrack but it does stand alone on its own merits. It is moody and evocative of something very sinister happening, full of the usual Herrmann bravura but now accompanied by creepy synth. It will not be ranked high among his best works but it is a must have for any collector of Bernard Herrmann. Here we have the composer late in his career and finding a new appreciation amongst the young turks of Hollywood and European New Wave. Sadly this was terminated too quickly and we were denied the new evolution of his brilliant career. We can only speculate what the score to a proposed third collaboration between Herrman and Brian DePalma as he was going to score DePalma's upcoming Carrie. But in It's Alive, Obsession (which needs to be re-released), Sisters you have a composer maybe abandoned by Hollywood as being "old fashion" as Hitchcock cruelly commented coming back to life. Perhaps some of the movies were beneath him but he seemed to never create a score that he did not put his heart into. It is highly recommended to all fans of Bernard Herrmann.
I first got It's Alive 2 because it is mostly a reworking of Herrmann's original by composer Laurie Johnson, but what Herrmann's so brilliantly creates is a much more atmospheric tone. What Johnson's version has is a much more narrow sound as if all the musician's are huddled tightly together and playing at similar volumes, whereas Herrmann's recording sounds like each musician is placed as if inside a cave or stone cathedral. Herrmann was very big on getting these recording parameters just right.
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