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Fred Bongusto comes up with a plenty playful score for this goofy 80s film – the story of civilization, but from the perspective of a loser! The music moves between serious scoring and more whimsical numbers – the latter of which feature more of the 80s elements, especially keyboards, that you might expect from the date – especially on the clubby-grooving main theme. Other instrumentation is a mix of electric and acoustic – sometimes the former aping the latter – and this deluxe reissue features 28 tracks that include "Super Torneo", "Tema D'Amore Excalibur", "Fantozzo Antico", "Regata Super", "Super Maratona", "Super Shimmy", and "Super Jazz Club".

That's a pretty darn goofy cover for this early 80s Italian soundtrack – a record that's done with some pretty goofy music to match! The great Stelvio Cipriani serves up plenty of his trademark keyboards – but this time around, they're used in a way that's more playful than some of his previous sensual scores for 70s romantic films – never too offbeat, but with a mix of whimsical themes and a few more mellow moments that recall the older sound of Cipriani. CD features 14 tracks in all!

Amazing electronics from the mad Francois De Roubaix – one of the hippest soundtrack composers of the 70s, heard here in a wealth of his most groundbreaking tracks! Francois often uses electronics quite sparingly and spaciously – as sonic elements that drop out of nowhere and color in his whimsical, playful little tunes – all in a mode that's quite different than the darker, spookier electronics of Italian and American composers of the same period! Many of the numbers here have an inherent sense of rhythm – a bottom-level pulse that really keeps things going, even when tracks aren't as all-out funky – and De Roubaix almost inherits a style from French soundtrack composers of a generation before, then makes it even groovier with his electronic sounds! CD features 19 completely sublime tracks – titles that include "Afron Evrard", "Souvenirs Cubistes", "Violence Et Reverie", "Ballet Sans Balais", "Les Anges", "Trois Enfants Au Nepal", "Mort D'Un Guide", "La Fete Des Dieux Avions", and "Charo" – plsu the bonus tracks "Rencontre Avec Le Skua" and "Electropolis".

A rollicking 70s comedy score from the team of Guido & Maurizio De Angelis – quite a change from the harder sounds of their more familiar crime soundtracks! The album begins with some short tunes that are plenty playful – almost a 70s take on some of the more whimsical melodies you might find in Italian cinema of the early 60s – such as in the work of Nino Rota. Other tracks start to shift the mood a bit, but in ways that are a bit more contemporary – sometimes using slight funky touches or keyboards, but then quickly returning to more traditional fare in the end. CD features a total of 28 short tunes in all!

A rocketing bit of South African funky soul – and of the few great records released on Ahmad Jamal's short-lived Jamal label! The session's a lot hipper than some of the South African work that was issued in the US around the same time – and the feel here is almost more in a London post-colonial mode, with a strong criss-crossing of elements, but also a good sense of roots. There's an undercurrent of funk, too – tightly vamping rhythms, killer percussion, and it's peppered with sharp jazz solos from Gwangwa on trombone and Du Du Pukwana on sax – an overall groove that's almost like some of the Perception/Today label jazz funk of the early 70s! Some cuts feature vocals from Mamsie, and titles include "Dark City", "Switch #2", "Switch #1", "Szaba Szaba", "Kwatula", "Chant", "Who", and "African Sausage".

A goofy title track, and a groovy little album from Jan & Dean – a set that has them settling nicely into their role as one of the most playful pairs in west coast pop – with a heck of a lot more staying power than some of their more surf-washed contemporaries! The album's got a number of tracks that follow in the similar LA-environs mode as the title track – but instead of being gimmicky, they almost come across with this whimsical sort of charm – like they're Jan & Dean's version of British tunes from The Kinks – a wonderfully playful picture postcard version of California, with more wit than you might expect! Titles include "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena", "The Anaheim Azusa & Cuckamonga Sewing Circle", "Summer Means Fun", "Old Ladies Seldom Power Shift", "Sidewalk Surfin", "One Piece Topless Bathing Suit", and "Horace The Swinging School Bus Driver".

A goofy title track, and a groovy little album from Jan & Dean – a set that has them settling nicely into their role as one of the most playful pairs in west coast pop – with a heck of a lot more staying power than some of their more surf-washed contemporaries! The album's got a number of tracks that follow in the similar LA-environs mode as the title track – but instead of being gimmicky, they almost come across with this whimsical sort of charm – like they're Jan & Dean's version of British tunes from The Kinks – a wonderfully playful picture postcard version of California, with more wit than you might expect! Titles include "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena", "The Anaheim Azusa & Cuckamonga Sewing Circle", "Summer Means Fun", "Old Ladies Seldom Power Shift", "Sidewalk Surfin", "One Piece Topless Bathing Suit", and "Horace The Swinging School Bus Driver".

A lost chapter in the career of cellist Fred Katz – an album recorded after his small combo work with Chico Hamilton, and sort of a larger group take on the whimsical sound of the classic Hamilton Quintet! The tracks are all older folk tunes, adapted by Katz to fit a chamber jazz mode – and featuring shifting instrumentation from track to track, in order to fit the African, American, or Jewish origins of the tunes. Although the concept may sound a bit gimmicky, the record's actually pretty darn great from a jazz perspective – and is one of the few to show the real depth of Katz as a leader! Players include Billy Bean on guitar, Gene Estes on vibes, Jack Costanzo on percussion, Pete Candoli on trumpet, and Paul Horn on flute and alto – all great talents for this sort of work, especially Horn, whose reed lines help keep things lively. Titles include "Mate'ka", "Chili'lo", "Mathni-ki", "Old Paint", "Foggy Foggy Dew", and "Rav's Nigun".

Sure, you've heard it a million times – but it's still a fantastic soundtrack! Mancini's whimsical scoring was a perfect touch for this classic Peter Sellers film – and it's made even better by the LA group of musicians who play the music, including Plas Johnson, Pete Jolly, Shelly Manne, Jack Sheldon, and Larry Bunker. The "Pink Panther Theme" should be familiar enough to you, but there's loads of other nice numbers – like "Something For Sellers", "Piano & Strings", "The Village Inn", "The Tiber Tiwst", and "Cortina". Lots of jaunty jazz numbers – with clever breakaway solos in the Mancini mode!

A pair of Mercury Records albums from Johnny Mathis – on CD for the first time ever! Tender Is The Night is tremendous work from Johnny's short years on Mercury – a set that has the singer hitting a new level of maturity in his music – thanks in part to arrangements from Don Costa! Costa's scored plenty of singers before this set – but with Johnny, he hits a level of sophistication that's really amazing – the depth of tones and colors that Frank Sinatra was getting on his late 60s years at Reprise – perfect for the new level of expression that Mathis was hitting in his vocals. There's loads of numbers here that go way beyond what you might expect from the usual hits from Johnny – and titles include "Laura", "No Strings", "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes", "Forget Me Not", and "Tomorrow Song". Wonderful World Of Make Believe features Mathis working with arranger Allyn Ferguson – who often gives Johnny the same sort of shimmering charts he might get from Glenn Osser, but who takes a bit more liberties here with the "make believe" modes promised in the title! Lots of the tunes are numbers from shows – but those of a whimsical, wistful variety – postwar tunes with a fantasy vibe that's perfect for the inherent sense of longing in Mathis' vocals. Titles include "Shangri La", "House Of Flowers", "Beyond The Sea", "Camelot", "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", "Sands Of Time", and "When You Wish Upon A Star".

The subtle genius of Stanley Myers isn't always as well appreciated as his contemporaries in the 60s soundtrack business – but a record like this will more than have you digging Stan's talents, as he mixes together numbers that run through a range of soundtrack styles – from fuzzy, to serious, to groovy, to Brit whimsical, to Bacharach breezy. Vocals on 2 numbers are by Don Partridge, and on one more are by Alex Keenan – and titles include "Tell Her You Love Her", "Mock Baroque Rock", "Persian Version", "Fuzz", "Homeless Bones", "The Good The Bad & The Simply Disgusting", and "Sauna Corner".

Plenty of peepin going on on the cover to this sweet set of soundtrack tunes – and the CD features some music that's as equally goofy as the images on the front! Music for both Pierino films is by the great Stelvio Cipriani – working here in a mode that's a bit more whimsical than some of his famous crime or erotic music of the 70s – but carried off in a similar style of well-balanced keyboards and larger orchestrations. Rhythms aren't so much funky as they are playful – and the CD features 24 tracks in all, and a few more sexy photos in the booklet!

The Rubber Band turn their talents towards The Beatles – after successful earlier albums based around the work of Cream and Jimi Hendrix! The sound here is a bit more playful than the funkier sets from before – almost whimsical at times, with instrumentation that does odd things with woodwinds, strings, and other instrumental bits. Most of the tunes are from the later Beatles years – post-Revolver material arranged nicely by John Bahler – with titles that include "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "She's Leaving Home", "Here Comes The Sun", "Blackbird", "Getting Better", and "Got To Get You Into My Life".

Great 60s grooves from Carlo Savina – two playful comedic scores from the 60s, both filled with whimsical instrumental touches! Veneri Al Sole is excellent right from the start – with a Piero Piccioni-like blend of jazz, Latin rhythms, and some mod 60s instrumentation – especially on organ, electric harpsichord, and vibes, which both ring out on some of the album's best tracks – in ways that have sonic properties that go way beyond their familiar use! The record's a great example of the way that 60s Italian composers were really changing things around – and that spirit follows strongly on Veneri In Collegio – a set of tracks that's almost more vivid overall – especially in the way it uses wider woodwind passages to flesh out the sound. CD features 26 tracks in all – with great remastering!

The rare soundtrack for the second movie starring a very young Brigitte Bardot – with moods that range from whimsical movie symphony to sultry, percussion heavy exoticism! The 1952 vehicle for Bardot pegged her to portray the alluring daughter of a light house keeper, and it's pretty sweet how this nice little score brings visions of the beauty to mind! The best parts are the sultrier turns, ratcheting up the drums and off kilter strings for a smoky vibe that sounds a decade ahead of it's time! Titles include "Overture (Manina Theme/Parisian Interlude/Tangier Oriental)", "Swimmers Ballet", "Corsican Guitar Motif", "Music Hall Can Can", "Moorish Oriental", "Guitar Serenades", "The Escape (The Chase/Manina's Love Song)" and "Drowning Scene Music".

A wonderful follow up to one of our favorite compilations in recent years! London Is The Place For Me compiles the stylistically varied music coming from the emergent West Indian and African communities of 50s and 60s London – far more than just the topical, and often quite whimsical calypso tunes of the era! Calypso is well represented, but the set includes strains of jazz, percussive instrumentals that veer towards native Trinidad and Nigeria, and loads of Caribbean grooves! It's all exceptionally bright – with some lovingly, and knowingly, naive vocals that are as sweet as they are wise. A truly wonderful compilation. Essential! 20 tracks in all: "Calypso Be" by Young Tiger, "Yolanda" by Ambrose Campbell, "Calypso Blues" by Mona Baptiste, "My Wife's Nightie" by Lord Kitchener, "Ominara" by West African Rhythm Brothers, "Gerrard Street" by King Timothy, "ET Mensah's Rolling Ball" by West African Swing Stars, "West Indian Drums" by Russ Henderson, "Gbonimawo" by Rans Boi's Ghana Highlife Band and more!

The first two volumes in this legendary series – back to back in one set! Volume 1 is an amazing collection – and one that really helped completely revise our understanding of Caribbean music! The collection features a fair bit of artists with roots in the West Indies, but who made a huge impact on London's postwar immigrant population – the new rise of non-native residents who were swelling the ranks of the city in the years after the way – bringing with them new cultures, new sounds, and new traditions – with all the requisite ideas and politics that might imply! The work here often has a subtle social agenda – working through themes important to these new Londoners, yet still echoing modes of the homeland as well – often with great musical backings that's heavy on percussion, jazzy instrumentation, and very upbeat rhythms. Titles include "London Is The Place For Me" by Lord Kitchener, "I Was There" by Young Tiger, "Some Girl Something" by The Lion, "No Carnival In Britain" by Mighty Terror, "Jamaica Hurricane" by Lord Beginner, "Birth Of Ghana" by Lord Kitchener, "Victory Test Match" by Lord Beginner, "Spanish Calypso" by The Lion, "Bulldog Don't Bite Me" by Timothy, "My Landlady" by Lord Kitchener, "If You're Not White You're Black" by Lord Kitchener, and "Aguiti" by Lord Invader. Volume 2 compiles the stylistically varied music coming from the emergent West Indian and African communities of 50s and 60s London – far more than just the topical, and often quite whimsical calypso tunes of the era! Calypso is well represented, but the set includes strains of jazz, percussive instrumentals that veer towards native Trinidad and Nigeria, and loads of Caribbean grooves! It's all exceptionally bright – with some lovingly, and knowingly, naive vocals that are as sweet as they are wise. A truly wonderful compilation. Essential! 20 tracks in all: "Calypso Be" by Young Tiger, "Yolanda" by Ambrose Campbell, "Calypso Blues" by Mona Baptiste, "My Wife's Nightie" by Lord Kitchener, "Ominara" by West African Rhythm Brothers, "Gerrard Street" by King Timothy, "ET Mensah's Rolling Ball" by West African Swing Stars, "West Indian Drums" by Russ Henderson, "Gbonimawo" by Rans Boi's Ghana Highlife Band and more!

Bassist Max Bennett displays a wonderful ear for unique phrasing and compelling small combo leadership on this set – working with a group that includes Carl Fontana on trombone, Charlie Mariano on alto, Nick Travis on trumpet, and Mel Lewis on drums! The style is a bit in the east coast chamber jazz mode of the mid 50s – but has some freer-swinging components overall, and some especially great alto solos from Mariano, whose playing on the record is worth the price of admission alone! Max has a really great ear for leading the group – a slightly whimsical way at times, but never in a way that's too gimmicky or academic. Titles include "Ira Of The IRA", "Johnny Jaguar", "Max Is The Factor", "13 Toes", and "Something To Remember You By".

Important work from Robert Fripp and the brothers Peter & Michael Giles – recorded a year before the first King Crimson album with a mad sound that's somewhere in between Bowie's early Deram recordings, and some of the Syd Barrett work with Pink Floyd! Although Fripp's guitar figures nicely in the sound of the group, the overall style is much more whimsical and heavily arranged than any of his later work – done with a playful blend of strings and piano, and also some surprising jazz undercurrents from time to time. There's none of the overblown modes of the early King Crimson sound – and if anything, the record's a charmingly understated set that's ripe for rediscovery by ears trained on newly revived strands of 60s music! Titles include "The Sun Is Shining", "One In A Million", "Saga Of Rodney Toady", "North Meadow", "Call Tomorrow", "Digging My Lawn", "Erudite Eyes", and "The Crukster".

Amazing stuff from bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac "Red" Holt! At the time of this release, the pair had already risen to great fame as the rhythm backing for Ramsey Lewis in his first trio – but broke out on their own as a solo act, with a real focus on rhythmic piano grooves! Working here with pianist Hysear Don Walker, the pair attempt to recreate a bit of the rolling soul jazz groove they hit with Ramsey – but they also take a hipper approach, by moving the drums and bass forward in the mix, especially Young's bass, which was capable of amazing funky riffs and elegant whimsical lines. The title cut, "Wack Wack", is one of those 60s instrumental hits we'd put on a par with "Bang Bang" or "Soul Finger" – and the album also includes wonderful versions of jazz and pop hits like "Monday, Monday", "Song for My Father", "Sunny", and "Girl Talk", all of which are completely transformed by the group!

A wonderful departure for Kevin Ayers – an album that's a lot lighter and more whimsical than his original fame with Soft Machine! The tunes are extremely playful, and often quite catchy – almost a Donovan-esque blend of folksy roots and jazz inflections – but tuned a bit more towards trippier ends, thanks to instrumentation that includes celeste, electronics, flute, oboe, kazoo, cello, organ, and a wide range of different guitars! David Bedford handled arrangements, and other players on the session include some ex-Soft Machine comrades – like Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt! Ayers' vocals are produced with a nicely compressed quality that squeezes them in alongside the instrumentation – and titles include "Joy Of A Toy Continued", "The Lady Rachel", "All This Crazy Gift Of Time", "Eleanor's Cake", and "Girl On A Swing".

Beautiful work from the Art Ensemble – and one of their undisputed classics! The record features some of the most perfectly realized moments the band ever cut to wax, with a blend of whimsical multi-instrumental improvisation, and a strong sense of the spiritual tradition in jazz. The album features one long piece – "Reese & The Smooth Ones" – and it's a stunning array of spontanteous instrumentation, with a jagged sound that never stops reinventing itself!

A beautiful soundtrack from the under-reissued 80s years of Stelvio Cipriani – and a set that's every bit as sparkling and keyboard-heavy as his best work of the 70s! The score's got a slightly sweet feel, but one that's handled wonderfully in Cipriani's slow-moving, sexy-styled sort of way – spare melodies on the keyboards stepping out with enough of a whimsical feel to match the movie's theme. Yet there's never any of the too-commercial modes you'd hear in an American film of this vintage – things are completely charming throughout, with all the best bits we'd expect from the maestro. Titles include "Exuberant Youth", "Girl In Blue", "Figurations", "For The Last Time", "Sprite", "Blue Tears", and "Sunday At Four". CD features 13 more bonus tracks – and great sound throughout!

A pair of scores recorded a decade apart – both working pretty well together on a single CD! Seven Days In May is a mid 60s military thriller – scored by Jerry Goldsmith with a fair bit of snapping snare – but used in a way that kind of bridges suspenseful moments and more war-like themes – pretty darn taught throughout the entire soundtrack! The numbers have a nice sort of resonance with each other, and really keep up the energy – and tracks include "Main Title", "Pickets", "First Sign Of Trouble", "Midnight Rendezvous", "Casey Is Caught", and "Scott Defeated". The Mackintosh Man sounds quite different, and provides a great change of pace after the tenseness of Seven Days In May – a slightly whimsical score penned by Maurice Jarre for an overlooked early 70s spy thriller with Paul Newman – handled with this great main theme that's provided in a number of different variations – almost a jaunty number, with echoes of Italian modes of the time, but almost more comedy than spy! The pace and instrumentation changes a bit from track to track, but this great theme repeats often – and titles include "Postal Thief", "Meeting In Prison", "Escape Route", "Drugs For Rearden", "Party 2", "Loose Talk", and "Rendezvous With Wheeler". Features some bonus tracks too!

A Shirley Booth double-header – two obscure films that star the mostly-TV actress, both with mighty nice soundtracks! First up is Hot Spell, a great soundtrack from Alex North – done with all the subtle drama and spare intensity he brought to his more famous work at the time – surprisingly wonderful music that's as vivid sonically as the performances from Booth and Shirley MacLaine in the film! There's almost an Elmer Bernstein sensibility to the music at times – a "hot" heat that you can really feel, especially on some of the more urban jazzy passages. Titles include "The Lonely Woman", "We Never Close", "News About Jack", "Jack Leaves", "The Truth Hurts", and "Memories Fade". The Matchmaker is a bit more whimsical overall – scored by Adolph Deutsch in the manner of some of his famous comedy soundtracks of the early 60s – with lots of nice twists and turns in the melodies, and playful instrumentation within the larger orchestra that really helps the more humorous screen moments stand out. Titles include "Something Rotten In Yonkers", "The Matchmaker Polka", "Flirtation", "Bad Weather/Run For Cover", and "Discord In Harmonia Gardens".

A pair of very groovy soundtracks – back to back on a single CD! I Due Vigili is a real departure from Carlo Rustichelli – and a score that has him in the best mod territory of Piero Piccioni and Armando Trovajoli – with lots of cool guitar, sweet Hammond lines, and other hip instrumental touches that make for tunes that are as groovy as they are playful! There's still a few echoes of early 60s Italian scoring at times, but most numbers have a great bouncy comedic feel – and the CD features 11 tracks from the film, including one unused number! Ma Chi T'Ha Dat La Patente is pretty great too – with some very cool moments that include a whimsical main theme with echoey whistling, some jazzier interludes, and weird use of voices and guitar at points! The whistling enough is more than enough to draw us in – and the CD features 9 tracks from the film!

A charming little set from the great Dave Frishberg – easily one of the hippest singers and songwriters in jazz during the past few decades! The set's got Dave working solo – just singing along with his own piano accompaniment – in a whimsical way that matches the same sort of energy you'd get from Blossom Dearie or Bob Dorough in a similar setting – both good comparisons, given how much each have sung some of Frishberg's tunes! And as a way of tipping his hat back, the set features a great version of Dearie's "Long Daddy Green" – plus an extended "Johnny Hodges Medley", and loads of great tunes that include "The Dear Departed Past", "Eloise", "One Horse Town", "Zanzibar", and "Blizzard Of Lies".

Some of the most whimsical music ever penned by Michel Legrand – music for two animated films from the late 70s! First up is Legrand's excellent score for a Baron Munchausen film – handled with these surprisingly deep tones at times, yet still mixed with a sense of fable-like wonder, too – a bit like his landmark score for Peau D'Ane from a decade before. Like that one, there's some nice sing-song moments here, and some more serious elements that balance things out beautifully – and trust us, the whole thing is way better than any US animated scores that were coming out at the time! Titles include "Sur La Route De Trukesban", "Recit Du Baron", "Theme De L'Aventure", "Chanson De La Sirene", and the playful vocal tune "Chanson Du Baron". Next up is music scored for an early Smurfs film – a very odd setting for Legrand, but one that he still handles beautifully! There's a handful of serious tunes, mixed in with music that's a lot more playful and cartoony – including a number of strange vocal songs, sung in goofy voices. Titles include "Hyme Au Travail", "La Flute A Six Schtroumphs", "Le Ballet De Torchesac", "Le Roi E La Flute", and "La Fete". CD also features one cool bonus track – "Building A Bird House" – from a TV special called Michel's Mixed-Up Musical Bird!

A rare French soundtrack by Nino Rota, done for this 1960 film by Rene Clement – but filled with all the bold themes and whimsical moments of Rota's best work for Fellini! Clement's film has some beautifully spare moments that Rota scores perfectly here – letting the music drift along with the gentlest breeze on the sea, but contrasting in other moments with a more dramatic orchestral theme. CD marks the first real reissue of the material in this form ever – and is done with the very high standards of others in the Ecoutez Le Cinema series – with detailed notes in English and French, and lots of great shots from the film! Titles include "Meurte De Philippe", "Plein Soleil", Via Veneto", "Falsification", "La Plage", and "La Gemissante".

Late 50s jazzy recordings from Kenyon Hopkins – best known as a soundtrack composer, working some magic on the Rooms and Sound Of New York LPs – on a single CD! Rooms is one of those groovy late 50s pre-concept albums, with 10 pieces put together to portray moods via jazzy backing of trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax, bass, piano and percussion, conducted by Hopkins. Titles include "Alone", "Dreams", Escape", "Going", "Panic", "Daydream" and "The End". The Sound Of New York (A Music-Sound Portrait) is a whimsical kind of day-in-the-life, idealized and totally fun musical portrait of the Big Apple, with originals "The Sound Of New York", "East Side, West Side", "Coney Island Visit" and more with adaptations of New York themed material by Rodgers & Hart ("Manhattan"), Billy Strayhorn ("Take The 'A' Train)" and more, with groovy vocal sound bites. 22 tracks in all!

A great soundtrack for a pretty darn obscure film – the third appearance of Inspector Clouseau, filmed after A Shot In The Dark and The Pink Panther, but featuring Alan Arkin in the title role, instead of Peter Sellers! The score is by Ken Thorne, and is quite different from more familiar Mancini moments from Panther films – a bit more whimsical overall, with a nice range of off-kilter instrumentation! Some tunes are groovy, others have an exotic flair – and overall, the soundtrack's a wonderfully strong effort – every bit as great as Ken Thorne's other few classics from the 60s. Titles include "Why Don't You Go" – a Brit Invasion-styled vocal track – plus "Bossa Nova", "Car Chase", "Fitting The Mask", "Don't Go", "March", "Lindt Vans", and "Water Ballet & End Titles".

One of the most interesting records in years from Macy Gray – and not just because she turns towards songs from other folks – and covers music from Radiohead, Teenage Fanclub, My Chemical Romance, The Eurhythmics, and others! Those song choices are great – a refreshing forum for Gray's well-known vocals – but along with them, there's also a sense of play to the record that comes across strongly, too – a feel that's maybe a bit more relaxed, and slightly whimsical – which breaks through some of the more monolithic modes that have held strong from Macy's stardom. Of course, given that the great Hal Willner had a hand in putting the record together, the playfulness of the record makes plenty of sense – and really allows for some great guest appearances from JB Smoove, Idris Elba, MC Lyte, and others. Titles include "Creep", "Here Comes The Rain Again", "La La La", "Smoke Two Joints", "I Try Is Cool & All But", "Wake Up", "Really", and "Lovelockdown/Buck".

A set of groovy tunes from mad mid 60s French films – recorded in a variety of wild styles! The CD features tracks from a number of movies directed by Georges Lautner – including Les Tontons Flingeurs, Les Barbouzes, Ne Nous Fachons Pas, La Grande Sauterelle, and Le Monocle Rit Jaune – all slightly whimsical films, scored here in the manner of groovy movies from mid 60s America or London! Magne's work dominates the set, as he did 4 of the 6 films involved, but Bernard Gerard throws in some nicely rocking touches to match the mood of the other tunes – making for a pretty crazy batch of tracks with a strong 60s feel! Titles include "Monocle Story", "Ne Nous Fachons Pas", "Barbouzes En Folie", "Du Riffi Au Chateau", "Slow Des Tontons", "Route De Nuit", and "Mechoui". 22 titles, and some nice images from the films!

A key early entry in the "jazz meets Broadway" genre – and a record that was so successful, it went onto inspire countless imitations! Shelly Manne's working here in a lightly playful trio setting – alongside Andre Previn on piano and Leroy Vinnegar on bass, in a reading of tunes originally composed for the musical My Fair Lady. Given Manne's talent for unusual rhythms and melodic percussion, the session's got a bit of a whimsical edge that takes it way past the core compositions that most listeners already knew – into a realm that allows for much great improvisation and play with the melodies. Previn's nicely restrained on the keys, and Vinnegar adds in a good sense of bottom to the set – and titles include "Get Me To The Church On Time", "I Could Have Dance All Night", "Ascot Gavotte", "Show Me", and "With A Little Bit Of Luck".

A lovely little soundtrack to this French travelogue film – scored by Jean Prodromides with a feel that's as light and whimsical as a journey in a balloon! Instrumentation is mostly orchestral, and often heavy on the strings – but there's also some playful woodwind passages that are quite evocative, and which almost have a neo-classical feel in their deft portrayal of little pictures in sound. Orchestrations are directed by Andre Girard, and our favorite part of the soundtrack is the main theme – which drifts in and out of some of the other tracks, always holding the music nicely to home base. Titles include "Poursuite En Bretagne", "Generique", "L'Envol", "Les Alpes", "Provence", and "Camargue".