Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: The Motion Picture Soundtrack

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: The Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released December 18, 2007
Recorded 2007
Genre Soundtrack
Length 71:26
Label Dreamworks, Warner Bros.
Producer Mike Higham
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: The Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack to the film of the same name, released on December 18, 2007. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the second film in Burton's directing career not to include music composed by Danny Elfman (the first being Ed Wood). Burton wanted to avoid the traditional approach of patches of dialogue interrupted by song.

He cut the show's famous opening number, "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", explaining, "Why have a chorus singing about 'attending the tale of Sweeney Todd' when you could just go ahead and attend it?" Sondheim acknowledged that, in adapting a musical to film, the plot has to be kept moving, and was sent MP3 files of his shortened songs by Mike Higham, the film's music producer, for approval. Several other songs were also cut, and Sondheim noted that there were "many changes, additions and deletions... [though]... if you just go along with it, I think you'll have a spectacular time."[2] To create a larger, more cinematic feel, the score was reorchestrated by the stage musical's original orchestrator, Jonathan Tunick, who increased the orchestra from twenty-seven musicians to seventy-eight.

The Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Deluxe Complete Edition soundtrack was released on December 18, 2007. Johnny Depp's singing was described by a New York Times reviewer as "harsh and thin, but amazingly forceful".[3] Another critic adds that, though Depp's voice "does not have much heft or power", "his ear is obviously excellent, because his pitch is dead-on accurate... Beyond his good pitch and phrasing, the expressive colorings of his singing are crucial to the portrayal. Beneath this Sweeney's vacant, sullen exterior is a man consumed with a murderous rage that threatens to burst forth every time he slowly takes a breath and is poised to speak. Yet when he sings, his voice crackles and breaks with sadness."[4]

Track listing

All tracks written by Stephen Sondheim. 

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Opening Title"   3:30
2."No Place Like London" (**)Johnny Depp, Jamie Campbell Bower5:31
3."The Worst Pies in London"  Helena Bonham Carter2:23
4."Poor Thing" (**)Helena Bonham Carter3:09
5."My Friends"  Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter3:48
6."Green Finch and Linnet Bird"  Jayne Wisener2:16
7."Alms! Alms!" (* ***)Laura Michelle Kelly1:16
8."Johanna"  Jamie Campbell Bower1:57
9."Pirelli's Miracle Elixir"  Edward Sanders, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter2:00
10."The Contest" (**)Sacha Baron Cohen3:39
11."Wait"  Helena Bonham Carter2:38
12."Ladies in Their Sensitivities" (*)Timothy Spall1:23
13."Pretty Women" (**)Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman4:27
14."Epiphany"  Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter3:16
15."A Little Priest" (**)Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp5:15
16."Johanna" (Reprise)Jamie Campbell Bower, Johnny Depp, Laura Michelle Kelly5:42
17."God, That's Good!" (***)Edward Sanders, Helena Bonham Carter2:46
18."By the Sea"  Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp2:19
19."Not While I'm Around" (**)Edward Sanders, Helena Bonham Carter4:11
20."Final Scene" (****)Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Laura Michelle Kelly, Alan Rickman10:21

* Not on the "Highlights" version of the soundtrack.
** Tracks that are significantly longer than their "Highlights" counterparts.
*** Song is either written specially or adapted for the film.

Additional album personnel

Complete soundtrack and score bootleg

On July 5, 2012, the complete approved final mixes recordings leaked on the internet, containing the film's complete clean soundtrack (no dialogue included), along with score pieces.

Later, on October 13th, 2012, a complete film version soundtrack was leaked, fan-made using the complete recordings. See the track listing below:

  1. Opening/There's No Place Like London (9:14)
  2. The Worst Pies in London (2:21)
  3. Benjamin Barker/Poor Thing (3:37)
  4. Sweeney Todd/My Friends (6:21)
  5. Green Finch (2:15)
  6. Alms Alms (1:16)
  7. Johanna (1:00)
  8. Turpin's Library (1:30)
  9. Johanna (reprise) (1:43)
  10. The Market (0:35)
  11. Pirelli's Miracle Elixir/Pirelli's Entrance (2:26)
  12. The Contest (2:10)
  13. Judge Turpin/Wait (4:54)
  14. Kidnapping Plot/Pirelli at Window (1:40)
  15. Pirelli's Blackmail (2:09)
  16. Pirelli's Death (2:35)
  17. Turpin & Beadle/Ladies and their Sensibilities/Judge at the Window (3:28)
  18. Pretty Women (4:09)
  19. Epiphany (3:33)
  20. Little Priest (4:58)
  21. Building the Death Chair (1:58)
  22. Johanna Medley (5:40)
  23. God That's Good! (2:39)
  24. By the Sea (2:47)
  25. Yellow Hair/The Letter (2:42)
  26. Not While I'm Around (4:10)
  27. Locking Up Toby (0:42)
  28. The Asylum (1:44)
  29. Toby's Finger (2:43)
  30. Finale Pt. 1 (5:00)
  31. Finale Pt. 2 (6:23)

Chart performance

Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[5] 16
US Billboard Top Soundtracks[5] 3

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Buckley, Michael (2007-12-16). "Stage to Screens: Logan, Zanuck and Parkes of "Sweeney Todd," Plus "Atonement" Writer Hampton". Playbill. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  3. ↑ Scott, A. O. (2007-12-21). "Murder Most Musical". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  4. ↑ Thomasini, Anthony (2008-01-12). "An Actor Whose Approach to Singing Lets the Words Take Center Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  5. 1 2 "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
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