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Synanon/Enter Laughing

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Great groovy work from the 60s – a pair of excellent film scores, back to back on a single CD! The first half features Neal Hefti's music for Synanon – a really wonderful soundtrack, for a very gripping film! Synanon, for those not in the know, was a famous west coast drug treatment center in the 60s – well known for its work with musicians like Joe Pass, Art Pepper, and others. The hospital is the setting for this dramatic film that starred Chuck Connors, Edmund O'Brien, and Stella Stevens – and it features a very hip soundtrack by Neal Hefti, on a par with his best jazzy work of the 60s! The tunes have a swinging approach – with some nice use of organ, drawn out in a spare thin tone that snakes through the best numbers with a sexy ease. The mood changes nicely from track to track – but keeps a groovy pace that makes the soundtrack a lot fresher than you might think, given the topic of the film. Titles include "Zankie", "Main Street", "Blues For Hopper", "Hope", "Tonight's The Night", and "Open House". Enter Laughing is a pretty sweet – and nearly forgotten – Quincy Jones soundtrack from the 60s – done for a film based on Carl Reiner's book and play of the same name, directed by Reiner himself! The film's set in the 30s, so there's a few period songs on the album that have an older jazz feel – including two with vocals by Reiner – but the film was produced in the 60s, and the best tracks have some really nice Quincy Jones jazzy touches – with some especially nice woodwind passages that dart around magically! Mel Carter sings 2 versions of the title cut "Enter Laughing", and other tracks include "David Dooze It", "Exit Crying", "Vienna Wails", and "I Hear You Calling". (Limited edition of 1000 copies.)  © 1996-2013, Dusty Groove, Inc.