The Rocky Horror Picture Show | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Various Artists | ||||
Released | 1975 | |||
Genre | Glam rock, rock and roll | |||
Length | 45:04 | |||
Label | Ode | |||
Producer | Richard Hartley | |||
Various Artists chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic |
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the original soundtrack album to the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, an adaptation of the musical The Rocky Horror Show that had opened in 1973. The soundtrack was released as an album in 1975 by Ode Records, produced by Richard Hartley.
The album peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard 200 in 1978. It reached No. 12 on the Australian albums chart and No. 11 on the New Zealand albums chart. William Ruhlmann of Allmusic gave the album a star rating of five stars out of five and described it as the "definitive version of the [Rocky Horror] score".
Following its initial release, the album was not successful, and was deleted everywhere but in Canada. Marty Scott, co-founder of Jem Records, obtained a licensing agreement from Ode Records owner Lou Adler, which enabled the album to be imported to the United States. Scott also obtained a production and distribution license from Adler, which resulted in renewed interest in the album.
The soundtrack omits two of the songs sung in the film: Rocky's "The Sword of Damocles", and the Frank-N-Furter-led "Planet, Schmanet, Janet" (often erroneously referred to as "Wise Up, Janet Weiss"). Also omitted is "Once in a While," which was shot for the film but later unincluded.
"The Sword of Damocles" and "Planet, Schmanet, Janet" are included on the album "25 Years of Absolute Pleasure" however "Planet, Schmanet, Janet" is missing the last verse (don't get hot and flustered) and they are in mono and ported directly from the film itself and so include all the sound effects and dialogue that would normally be omitted from a soundtrack album.
In 2011 these three songs were released, as MP3 format only, in their stereo, studio mixes on the download only release "The Rocky Horror Picture Show Complete Soundtrack: Absolute Treasures 2011 Special Edition". The album was later issued on double red vinyl for the film's 40th anniversary. However, incidental music and cues are not included and "The Sword of Damocles" features an unknown lead vocalist in place of Trevor White. The latter is included with Trevor White's vocals as a bonus track for the iTunes edition; this is the same version found on the "25 Years of Absolute Pleasure" release, albeit in stereo and contains the dialogue and sound effects from the film.