Soundtracks — CDs  

Ah, yes, it's a sunshine day, alright – and this batch of groovy, polyester 70s TV pop fits just right! God help us for admitting this, but these goofy, well arranged, dumb fun numbers from the Brady Kids 70s LPs are a heck of a good time, and a pretty true distillation of 70s vanilla pop sounds. It ain't nearly as glorious as the best stuff from the Monkees or the Partridge Family as real pop art, nor does it need to be. Like Jonny Bravo, they they fit the suit just fine! Includes "It's A Sunshine Day", "We Can Make The World A Whole Lot Brighter", the very Brady cover of cheese classic "American Pie", "Keep On", "Merry Go Round", "Candy (Sugar Shoppe)", "Truckin' Back To You", "We'll Always Be Friends"

A pair of weird soundtracks from Italian soundtrack heavy Fabio Fizzi – the stylistically sprawling music for Zombi 2 (released in America as Zombie) and some later compositions for Un Gatto Nel Cervello! The Zombi grooves are wildly unpredictable – from neo Carribbean inflections, to electronics reminiscent of John Carpenter, to African percussion. Wild stuff for a movie about Zombie carnage – and yes, that's the movie with the zombie-shark faceoff! Un Gatto Nel Cervello finds Frizzi working in a more classically soundtracky style – but it's done on synthesizers, which gives it seedy undercurrent! Both soundtracks on a single CD – with each consisting of multiple title theme sequences – and featuring 23 tracks in all.

Eerie early 60s material from Les Baxter – his soundtrack work for Roger Corman's American International feature The Man With X-Ray Eyes – plus Corman's Morella entry in the Poe-themed anthology Tales Of Terror! The Man With X-Ray Eyes is one of those groovy soundtracks where the mood and style of the material matches the titles pretty greatly – "Penthouse", "Fast Twist", "Casino Lounge", "Posh" and more. Fun stuff! The Morella material is, appropriately more gothic horror themed and it's very well done at that! Includes "The Corpse And The Ghost", "Lenora/Morella/Fire & Smoke/Eerie House" and more. This great La La Land set also includes 4 bonus tracks from The Man With X-Ray Eyes.

A never-heard soundtrack for a never-seen film – and a record that's every bit as funky as better-known sets from the blacksploitation era! Final Solution were a small time group from Chicago's west side in the 70s, but on this wicked little soundtrack they sparkle just as brightly as Isaac Hayes, Willie Hutch, Curtis Mayfield, or any of our favorite soundtrack soul artists from the time – working in a really righteous approach to soul with lots of heavy rhythms on the bottom and rumbling bass in the mix – so that even when the tunes are mellow, there's still a bold, brash sort of power to the set! The vocals are mostly delivered in harmony style, again with a nice edge – a bit like The Impressions work on Three The Hard Way, but with more of an indie soul feel overall, given the production circumstances. Once again, our hats are off to Numero for unearthing this gem – and as usual, the full tale of the group, the movie, and the music is told at length in the accompanying 16 page booklet! Titles include "Brotherman", "Never Coming Back Again", "I Don't Care", "Girl In My Life", "Gotta Get Through To You", "One Day", "I'm Ready For Love", "Theme From Brotherman", "No Place To Run", and "We Can Work It Out".

An amazing little soundtrack – one that's as spooky and eerie as the film for which it was written, and which was also one of the few American recordings issued by Polish jazz great Krzysztof Komeda! The core of the album is an especially haunting theme – one hummed as a lullaby by Mia Farrow on the title, and which is repeated often throughout – a dreamy little number that had a surprising life long beyond the film and this album, in a number of different versions on the market. We still like the original best – and especially appreciate Komeda's blend of soft jazz, odd electronics, and some darker atonal passages – all of which combine here to make the record a masterpiece throughout – on a level that easily matches the best from Morricone at the time! Titles include "Panic", "What Have You Done To Its Eyes", "Dream", "Expectancy", "Lullaby", "The Coven", and "Main Title". This expanded version is incredible – with 24 more bonus tracks (!!!!!), including the full film score on top of the original album – with lots of cool "ritual" tracks – and the source music, and even some tracks from the 45 of the main theme! Great sound, amazing booklet – and the best-ever CD reissue!

Brilliant music from one of our favorite artists ever – a set that features the mighty Michel Legrand in a host of different settings – all of them great! CD 1 features 20 vocal numbers by Legrand – a great reminder that although best know for his soundtracks, Michel is a hell of a singer – one with this warm, raspy voice that's as at home in scatting jazz as it is in a more lyrical interlude – beautifully displayed here on tunes from the 60s through the 21st Century – vocal numbers that include "Attendre", "Quand Ca Balance", "Elle A Elle A Pas", "Rupture", "Le Cinema", "Trombone Guitare Et Compagnie", "Edith", "La Partie De Tennis", "Les Enfants Qui Pleurent", and "Mon Dernier Concert". CD 2 features jazz tunes by Legrand and others – almost all of which are versions of Legrand's great compositions – and a few others based around his sublime arrangements! Titles include "Flight" by Stan Getz, "De Delphine A Lancien" by Bud Shank, "Vida Real" by Arturo Sandoval, "Images" by Phil Woods, "Once You've Been In Love" by Sarah Vaughan, "My Funny Valentine" by Toots Thielmans, and "I Will Wait For You" by Lena Horn. CD 3 features soundtrack material – perhaps Legrand's most famous area of expression, and for good reason too – as you'll hear on titles from films like La Piscine, Le Sauvage, Cinq Jours En Juin, La Buche, Ice Station Zebra, Cleo De 5 A 7, Dingo, The Picasso Summer, Les Demoiselles De Rochefort, and Robin & Marian. CD 4 is a rare treat – music we've never heard before, and a set of recent duets that feature Michel Legrand on piano and Cetherine Michel on harp – running through some wonderful takes on classic Legrand compositions, including "His Eyes Her Eyes", "Orson's Theme", "Au Concert", "Nobody Knows", "How Do You Keep The Music Playing", and "I Will Say Goodbye". Amazing music throughout – and a hell of a great set at this price!

Mad funk from the great Galt MacDermot – a wonderful selection of obscure tunes from some of his best funky soundtracks! Galt's work on Hair has been sampled heavily by a variety of hip hop producers over the years – but even better is his work for less famous soundtracks, a good variety of which are sampled here in a wonderfully-done set that focuses on the truly funky tracks that Galt wrote for these films – and which gets past the sometimes-off tracks that can occasionally get in the way of his lesser soundtracks. The package is a total jam throughout – filled with tunes that have weird rhythms, moody keyboards, and the kind of offbeat approach to funk that's always made his work so great. There's only a few tracks from previously reissued soundtracks like Woman Is Sweeter and Cotton Comes To Harlem – plus lots lots more from weirder films that include American Express, Nucleus, Fortune & Men's Eyes, Moon Over The Alley, and Rhinoceros! In true Galt MacDermot funky fashion, there's lots of great drum work on the set from Bernard Purdie – and titles include "Golden Apples", "Coffin Ed", "Dead End", "Fragments II", "Tango", "Ed & Digger", "Duffer", "Bedroom", "Queenie's Theme", "Fortune & Men's Eyes", "Rhinoceros Theme", and "Never Die Desire Not".

The first-ever issue of music from a really weird John Phillips side-project of the 70s – a space-themed musical produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrisey – with performances by Phillips, Dennh Doherty, and members of Warhol's Factory! Despite a loopy story, the tunes have a fair bit of homegrown charm – at least on the core material here, which is performed by Phillips himself, using just a bit of acoustic guitar, and coming across with a folksy feel that's mighty nice, especially given the date of the recording – almost a childlike simplicity in the themes, which is a nice change from the other Phillips modes of the time. Some other selections feature numbers recorded live at the play – and the set also features some additional studio tracks sung by Genevieve Waite, plus some other out-takes and rehearsal material. 38 tracks in all – with titles that include "Oh Andy My Assistant", "Mission Control", "My Name Is Can", "Star Stepping Stranger/Convent", "Penthouse Of Your Mind", "Starburst", "Handcuffs", "Close Your Eyes", "Love Is Coming Back", and "The Last Of The Unnatural Acts".

Groovy genius from German arranger Peter Thomas – a sweet little follow-up to his soundtrack for Chariots Of The Gods! This time around, the setting's a bit more funky – a great mixture of mid 70s grooves with some of the trippier touches you'd know from Peter's previous space scores – all wrapped up with impeccable German production that really makes the whole thing sparkle! Some cuts are heavy on keyboards, while others mix up modes nicely – and as usual with Thomas, there's a really rich array of great sounds that keeps things delightful throughout. Daisy Door sings on the one vocal cut – "Dankeschon Fur Das Wiedersehn" – and other cuts include "Power Boost", "Mysteries Of Humanity", "Gamblin Ostinato", "The Eyes Of The Golden Mask", "Gods & Natives", and "Crystal Skull".

A really amazing little soundtrack – darkly subtle, and better almost than the Derek Jarman film for which it was penned! Simon Fischer Turner's been many things over the years – a boy pop idol in 70s England, the King Of Luxembourg in the 80s El Records roster – but he's never sounded more beautiful than here – working in a blend of sound snippets, colors, and tones to illustrate Jarman's moody portrait of the painter Michelangelo Caravaggio. The overall sound of the set is relatively spare – often with just a cello, a piano line, a guitar strum, or some other bit – mixed alongside the chirp of a cricket, the slam of a door, or some other incidental noise – an approach that's wonderfully evocative in its use of space and silence, and which is almost even a further extension of some of the more minimal modes put forward by the Italian scene in the 70s. Titles include "The Hills Of Abruzzi", "Umber Wastes", "In The Still Of The Night", "Michele Of The Shadows", "The Hourglass", and "I Love You More Than My Eyes". CD also features bonus "Easter Week" tracks too!

Titles include "After The Shower", "Ball's Caprice", "Move Em Out", "Simone", "Pink Panther Theme 78", and "Almond Eyes".

A playful score by George Duning for Who's Got The Action? – an early 60s gambling farce starring Dean Martin and Lana Turner! Duning manages to cover quite a bit of stylistic territory here – from Dixieland, to Spanish dance to Japanese strings – and a whole lot of good-natured, sunny 60s cinema sounds full of romance and comedy. It all kicks off with the groovy strings, brass and bongos-flavored main titles theme, and it manages to get even groovier and more adventurous from there! Includes "Roza", "Good Morning, Mr. Flood", "Saturday Night", "Blue Eyes", "Japanese Record", "Clutch In Dutch", "The Culprit", "Empty Spaces", "Shaky Clutch/Bookie Blues", "Alibi/Bridal Brisket", "Bastille Day/Finale" and more! This great Kritzerland CD edition has some bonus tracks, too – including a a demo vocal version of "Who's Got The Action" with vocals and lyrics by Jack Brooks, plus "La Scala" and a couple of cinematic adaptations of Brahms and Beethoven.

An amazing collection of music – and essential to any collection of blacksploitation soul and funk, even if you own the original Shaft album on Stax! Disc 1 features the original film score for the Shaft movie, not the record issued by Stax – so although Isaac Hayes handled the music, it's different from what you might have on record – and features a great array of vocal tracks and shorter funky sound cues – all with rhythm by The Bar-Kays and The Movement! Titles on disc 1 include "Bumpy's Theme", "I Can't Get Over Losin You", "Reel 4 Part 6", "Source No 1 6M1C", "Source No 2 7M1A", "Shaft Strikes Again/Return Of Shaft", "Shaft's Pain", "Rescue/Roll Up", "Love Scene Ellie", "Harlem Montage", "Shaft's First Fight", and "Title Shaft". Disc 2 features the killer soundtrack to Shaft's Big Score – written by Gordon Parks, and played with full funky style by Dick Hazard, who's getting a bit of help from the mighty Tom McIntosh. The tracks seem to include everything issued on the original LP, plus a bit more – with titles that include "Symphony For Shafted Souls", "9M3", "Funeral Home", "Don't Misunderstand", "Fight Scene", "Ike's Place", "First Meeting", "Smart Money", and "Blowin Your Mind". That disc and all of disc 3 features music from the Shaft TV series – some really under-exposed music that's totally great too, but almost with more of a crime/cop sort of style – although also with some cool moody moments too. Some of this music was done by Johnny Pate, and titles include work from the episodes The Executioners, The Killing, Hit Run, The Cop Killers, and The Kidnapping. 3CD set also features 2 bonus tracks from a single – "The Men" and "Type Thang".