In a previous article, I detailed how I picked up the Twin Peaks Season 2 Music and More for Record Store Day on April 13, 2019. Once I returned home, I took a closer look at the soundtrack, which was wrapped in plastic (of course).
Here’s a look at the front and back of the album’s minimalistic cover which was co-designed by David Lynch and Rory Wilson, who has been an Art Director for Rhino Entertainment since July 2013.
The album sleeve for sides 3 and 4 contained a one-sheet square image, which looks like an alternate cover for this release. I wonder what happened during the design process and why this insert was included.
The image appears to come from a publicity shot for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me since we don’t actually see this angle in the film.
The insert certainly appears similar to the 2007 CD release cover.
Inside the gate fold, there are images of Special Agent Dale Cooper and Laura Palmer.
These images are also used on the front and back covers for the oversized, 16-page booklet.
Sides 1 and 2 are presented on green-colored vinyl, while Sides 3 and 4 were pressed into brilliant blue colored wax.
The last two tracks on Side 4 were originally hidden tracks before track 1 on the CD release. On the track with the sound of wind, David Lynch says, “Booth 34 X5149.” When DavidLynch.com was an active site, you could enter that code in the Phone Booth to reveal another track, “The Norwegians.” I was happy to hear it was included on the vinyl release but it’s unfortunate you can no longer enter that code.
The inside of the booklet contains a lengthy forward about the album’s release:
“April 2019
Twin Peaks which first aired in the US in April 1990, will turn 29 this year. Just as the death of this small town homecoming queen, Laura Palmer, set in motion a far-reaching chain of events, so has Twin Peaks, the television series created a large undeniable cultural ripple. It is an impact easily seen today in the landscape of modern television and film. However, more interesting is perhaps the existence of a completely separate Twin Peaks universe. The television series, including the recent 2017 third season, as well as the theatrical prequel are all part of a journey through a dark, mysterious, violent, yet often beautiful world. A world surrounded by dark woods. A world inhabited by strange and beautiful people. A world where there has always been music in the air.
This Season Two soundtrack album continues the journey, highlighting an enormous amount of lesser known tracks as well as alternate versions of more familiar themes. As the Giant said, “a path is formed by laying one stone at a time.” This soundtrack on its own is hardly a comprehensive collection. It’s simply an essential companion to an ensemble of albums … another stone in a musical path.
The journey through this musical world is not a conventional one. Musically speaking, the nods or components of the Twin Peaks sound are obvious, yet the sum of these pieces makes something far more complex and layered than its parts alone. It is not something that is easily defined. It is a mysterious intangible that seems to operate almost exclusively to Lynch/Badalamenti collaborations. So indefinable in fact, it is often impossible to determine which came first. Did the image dictate the music? Or did music dictate the image?
Having collaborated on and completed Julee Cruise’s “Floating into the Night” LP nearly a year prior to filming the pilot episode of Twin Peaks, “Falling” was immediately tagged in Lynch’s mind as the title theme for his then fledgling television show idea. Several other tracks from the album would turn up on the show as well, yet another key theme was written prior to filming, but this time with the show singularly in mind. Working side-by-side … Badalamenti at keyboard, Lynch immediately beside … words would frequently (though not always) being a thought.
Composer Angelo Badalmenti: “David would say that the music should begin very dark and slow. He said imagine you are alone in the woods at night and you hear only the sound of win in the forest … now keep playing … but get ready for a change because now you see a beautiful girl. She’s coming out of the darkness, through the trees, she’s all alone, coming toward us … so now go into a beautiful melody that climbs every so slowly until it reaches a climax. Let it tear your heart out.”
With this brief set of directions verbalized, Lynch and Badalamenti would lay the ground work mood for the entire show. This sonic compass for the show’s music is surely the composition that became the ‘Love Theme From Twin Peaks.’ This anthem broods, climbs, envelopes and falls over hundreds of images throughout the course of the shoe’s three seasons and feature-length prequel. The theme embodies two of the most important tonal aspects of the show: a dark sinister undercurrent, and a soaring, heart wrenching bitter-sweetness. The operating words here are ‘dark’ and ‘beautiful.’ Two words that, not only describe the musical fabric of Twin Peaks (as well as other frequent collaborative results of Lynch and Badalamenti), but also illustrates the succinct musical vocabulary the Lynch and Badalamenti converse with.
It is important to remember that the music selections contained on this soundtrack were originally born out of images, wed to images during the show, and will always remain intrinsically linked to images. It is part of the process as well as the fabric of this world. The ‘dark’ and ‘beautiful’ world of Twin Peaks…”
The next page contains additional publicity shots of The Log Lady and Audrey Horne. I love the fact they are oversized images … except The Log Lady photo is backward!
Notice the way she is holding the log and the writing in the signage is backward. DavidLynch.com had several images posted years ago which the incomparable Twin Peaks Archive posted. I’ll be referencing those images and more as my analysis continues.
The image of Audrey appears to be shot on the same day as the iconic images of Special Agent Dale Cooper and her at the Double R Diner. Notice the outfit, booth, wallpaper and artwork on the wall (the latter which I hope to identify). The slice of pie by Cooper is on the table behind Audrey in the booklet photo.
That booth, wallpaper and artwork appears in the first season (particularly in Episode 1003 where Cooper arrives at the Double R and learns about the Bookhouse Boys). By Episode 2001 in the second season, the wallpaper has been replaced with wood paneling but the artwork and booth remains.
The next pages in the booklet contain images of Norma Jennings and Big Ed Hurley from the Pilot Episode. There is also an image of Killer BOB screaming.
The Norma and Ed photo is taken from the Roadhouse scene in the Pilot Episode. Notice the placement of the bottles and half empty glass of beer. We don’t actually see the angle of the booklet image in the episode.
A cropped version of this image also appeared on DavidLynch.com.
A cropped image with superimposed red drapes with Killer BOB was also featured on DavidLynch.com.
I’m guessing the image could have been a publicity shot or outtake from the of Episode 2001. And can I just say … Frank Silva did a damn fine job playing BOB. Just look at the emotion in the images above.
Donna and James in Wallies’ Hideout in Episode 2015 and Catherine and Josie Packard from the Pilot Episode are included on the next pages.
The top image is the closest image I found to match the publicity shot. Meanwhile, Josie and Catherine stand on opposite sides in the Pilot Episode.
A black and white image of Shelly Johnson and a reversed image of Sarah Palmer from the Pilot Episode is found just after the middle pages of the booklet.
Here’s a look at Sarah in a similar scene from the Pilot Episode. Notice how the phots of Laura Palmer behind her are reversed in the booklet.
I love the image of Deputy Andy Brennan and Lucy Moran from Episode 2004. The opposite is of Pete Martell is from the Pilot Episode after he spots Laura’s body on the rocky beach outside Blue Pine Lodge.
Similar to other images from the booklet, the image doesn’t exactly match the episode image (which means it was probably a publicity shot). The favorite detail from the Episode 2004 image above it Lucy’s passive-aggressive note about making coffee on the kitchen wall.
For the image of Pete, I couldn’t find an exact match from the Pilot Episode, as the scene cuts to him carrying the fishing pole after he passes the exterior stairs of Blue Pine Lodge. DavidLynch.com offered a cropped image of Pete.
The last pages inside the book contain an image of an enamel pin and a set photo from the bathroom in Room 315 that was used in The Missing Pieces of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
According to Twin Peaks Archive, the pin is something that David Lynch designed for the Cast and Crew in late 1990.
The design was most recently featured on a patch that HotTopic.com carried beginning in 2017.
An image of the bathroom set was included on DavidLynch.com when the Twin Peaks Archive music collection was released.
This is the image of Dale Cooper just after hitting his head in the mirror from The Missing Pieces. We don’t get the same angle as the set photo above it.
The last page also gives the album credits including the following:
MUSICIANS
Piano – Angelo Badalamenti (except “Credit Boogie,” played by Alicia Witt
Keyboards/Synthesizer – Kinny Landrum, Angelo Badalamenti (except “Blue Frank”, keyboard by Andy Armer)
Clarinet – Al regni, Eddie Daniels
Tenor Sax – Al Regni
Vibraphone – Jay Hoggard, David Cooper
Electric Guitars – Vinnie Bell, Eddie Dixon (except “Blue Frank,” guitar by David Jaurequi)
Bass – Buster Williams, Ron Carter (except “Blue Frank,” bass by Don Falzone)
Drums – Grady Tate (except “Blue Frank,” drums by Steven Hodges)
Vocals on “Just You” by James Marshall, Sheryl Lee and Lara Flynn Boyle
Executive Producer by David Lynch and Angelo Badalmenti
Music composed and arranged by Angelo Badalamenti (except “Blue Frank,” composed and arranged by David Lynch)
Lyrics on “Just You” by David Lynch
Assist to Angelo Badalamenti: Daniel Coe
Recorded at Excalibur Sound by Art Pohlemus except “Blue Frank” recorded at Capitol Recording by David Bianco and “Abstract Mood,” “Just You,” “Drug Deal Blues” recorded at Group IV Recording by George Rutko
Mixed by Art Pohlemus at Excalibur Sound
Digital Assembly by Dean Hurley
Additional Assistance by Daniel Coe
Additional mixing by Dean Hurley and David Lynch at Asymmetrical Studio, Hollywood, CA
Mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering, Hollywood, CA
Art Direction: David Lynch
Design and Layout: David Lynch and Rory Wilson
Photography by Kimberly Wright, Dean Tokuno and Peter Iovino
Film stills courtesy of CBS
All titles published by Anlon Music Company (ASCAP) and Bobkind Music Company (ASCAP)
Special thanks: Erik Crary, Anna Skarbek, Jay Aaseng, Jon Reynolds, Eric Bassett, Ken Ross, Susane Seidman, James Beaton, Johnathan Schultz, Kyle Hurley, Brian Loucks, Tom Hansen, Mae Ho, Debby Trutnik, John Wentworth, Michael Barile, and Sabrina S. Southerland.
