Eyes Wide Shut • Gram Vinyl

quot;Eyes Wide Shut", Stanley Kubrick's final film, is an incredibly dense and highly stylized psychological thriller starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The film follows the sexually charged adventures of Dr. Bill Harford, who is shocked when his wife, Alice, reveals that she had contemplated having an affair a year earlier. He then embarks on a night-long adventure, during which he infiltrates a masked orgy of an unnamed secret society. This is the 2021 reissue of the soundtrack, with brand new artwork and extra tracks, remastered to superb sound quality and pressed onto double heavyweight vinyl. As is typical of a Kubrick score, it features previously existing tracks and classical pieces, but also contains four original pieces recorded especially for the film by composer Jocelyn Pook. These pieces are the centerpiece of the film and are incredibly unsettling and experimental, perfectly complementing the disturbing and ominous visuals. Another track in the film, "Migrations", features a Tamil song sung by Manickam Yogeswaran, a Carnatic singer. The original cut featured a scriptural recitation from the Bhagavad Gita, which Pook took from a previous Yogeswaran recording. As a result of various fringe Hindu groups protesting against the scripture being used, Warner issued a public apology, and hired the singer to record a similar track to replace the chant. The party at Ziegler's house features rearrangements of love songs such as "When I Fall In Love" and "It Had To Be You", used in increasingly ironic ways considering how Alice and Bill flirt with other people in the scene. As Kidman was nervous about doing nude scenes, Kubrick stated she could bring music to liven up. When Kidman brought a Chris Isaak CD, Kubrick approved it, and incorporated Isaak's song "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing" to both an early romantic embrace of Bill and Alice and the film's trailer. The artwork was created by Alan Hynes and fully approved by the Kubrick Estate, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The package is as dark and mysterious as the film itself: two beautiful printed inner sleeves are housed inside a bespoke die-cut jacket printed by Stoughton Press. This is the definitive, highly acclaimed and admired version of this classic soundtrack!