A really unique soundtrack for an Italian film – one that includes jazz from New York and San Francisco, calypso from Port Of Spain, steel band work from Trinidad, and more music from Brazil and Argentina too! Features work by Lionel Hampton, Punch Miller, Desperados Trinidad Steel Band, Lina Lancia, Wilbur De Paris, Canta Thais, Native Rhythm Con Silvana, and Mighty Sparrow. LP, Vinyl record album

Weird and wonderful sounds from a very electric man – the mighty Piero Umiliani, an Italian composer who first rose to fame for a set of groundbreaking film scores in the 60s – then moved into even more experimental sound library work in the following decade! This set has Piero working in all sorts of cool electronic styles – never too outside or avant, but definitely in the darker side of his spectrum – although almost always with that playful sense of a tune that made his 60s music such a delight! The range of instruments varies – Umiliani clearly had a studio that was full of brand-new, top-shelf technologies – and titles are mostly from the mid 70s, with a few later cuts from 1983. Tunes include "Danza Magica", "Soundmaker Blues", "Fruitori", "Batticuore", "Sinistro Carillon", "Dolomiti", "Apocolaisse Atomica", "Description", "Lavorazione A Mare", and "Elettrone". (Sound Library, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

A movie that's so familiar, we sometimes forget the greatness of its soundtrack! True, the film did give the world a few big hits from Barry Manilow, but the instrumental score by Charles Fox is mighty nice – a great blend of 70s cop/crime modes with a few tenser moments – orchestrated wonderfully with this approach that's still very classic in its instrumentation, while sparkling with just a few slight contemporary elements. And away from the performances on the screen, the music almost sounds even classier – elevated past PG comedy realm, into the range of classic film score! LP, Vinyl record album

Daisaku Kume did a fantastic job with the music for this excellent film from Takeshi Kitano – serving up a fair bit of the keyboard sounds that you'd know from his work in the famous fusion group T-Square, but in a way that's nicely different than those records too! There's definitely lots of 80s elements in the production, yet the sound is often nice and spare – matching the directorial genius of Kitano – with slow-moving drum machine rhythms, nicely chromatic keyboards, and a glow in the overall sound that's mighty nice. A few passages have lead tenor solos, and there's also two takes on work from Erik Satie – which might stand as a good inspiration for Kume's direction with the music. LP, Vinyl record album

Two very different films, both of which receive some mighty nice scoring from the lesser-known Italian maestro Franco Piersanti! First up is Il Nudo Del Ragno – a creepy film, as you might guess from the cover – but one that's scored by Piersanti with a surprising degree of sensitivity, and some very rich orchestrations that are very different than the stark, more electric modes being used in so much of 80s horror! There's some really beautiful woodwinds in the music, and some darker strings that echo 70s atonality from Morricone – on titles that include "Labirinto", "Omicidio", "Radio Jazz", "Budapest", and "Illusioni Ottiche". Next is Una Prova D'Innocenza, a film of a more serious nature, and which gets equally beautiful handling – with a blend of strings that can get very dark at times, almost with the richness of some of Morricone's global scores of the period – inflected with just the right dose of woodwinds too, matched by the occasional echoey piano line. CD features 15 tracks from the score – a real under-discovered beauty! CD

A really unusual soundtrack from the mighty Lalo Schifrin – and one that seems to show off all of his best modes in its shifting range of styles! The film is a somewhat understated story set on the streets of New York – and the music often takes on the same sort of vibe – with some beautiful melodic passages that are quite different than Lalo's big hits of the 60s. But then there's also some beautiful orchestra moments too – with these arrangements that are complicated, yet sparkling – that sophisticated charm that always put Schifrin ahead of the pack! And then Lalo even opens up with a few funkier tracks that recall his electric jazz albums of the late 70s for the CTI label – fuller groovers that are showcased on the two longest tracks – "Hey Nunzio" and "Candy Store Frenzy". Other titles include "Sad Nunzio", "Superspeed", "To The Rescue", "Only A Memory", "Nunzio In Love", "Goodnights My Little One", and "Flying Love". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest soundtracks ever from the mighty Piero Umiliani – sounds initially written for a film that was an international "sexpose" of daily life in Sweden – but which have grown to even greater fame on their own over the years – thanks to the talent of the maestro! The music here is awash in groovy elements – lots of sweet Hammond organ lines, mod basslines, and some especially cool wordless vocals from the choir of Alessandro Alessandroni – scatting away in a great way alongside the instruments, and bringing an added level of breathy eroticism to the whole thing! This special LP version recreates the original Omicron release of the record – with titles that include the two lyrical tracks "You Tried To Warn Me" and "Sleep Now Little One", sung by Lydia McDonald – plus the tracks "Topless Party", "Eva Svedense", "Essere Donna", "La Signora Cameriera", "FotoModelle", and "Le Ragazze Dell'Archipellago". (Note, does not contain the track "Mah Na Mah Na", which is on other versions of the soundtrack – but it appears on the "partner" reissue of Umiliani's Psichedelica from Schema, under the title "Viva La Sauna Svedese".) LP, Vinyl record album

Lots of jazziness here – including tight piano, snapping snare, and moody vibes – all served up in one of the best early soundtracks we've heard from Piero Piccioni! The core of the record features the original EP release of the film score – some of the most tight, tuneful numbers that really showcase Piccioni's jazz potential – but even the rich array of bonus tracks (29 extra tunes!) still mostly retain the jazzy flourish of the originals, and offer up some sweet instrumental variations that are mighty nice! The whole thing stands strongly next to some of the best French or American jazz soundtracks of the period – and this reissue adds in so much extra music, the CD runs for almost 80 minutes in length. CD

One of the grooviest soundtracks we've ever heard from the mighty Piero Umiliani – a sparkling set that's filled with jazzy scatting, mod instrumentation, and loads of other wonderful 60s touches throughout! The music has that special Italian sound that's built on bossa that you'll find in some of the coolest soundtracks from Umiliani's generation – and like the rest, it really takes off in its own unique direction – with soaring, seductive sounds that live quite vibrantly away from the screen! The whole thing's right up there with bossa jazzy classics like Sweden Heaven & Hell or La Matriarca. LP, Vinyl record album

A rare soundtrack from the mighty Cerrone – recorded right at the height of his electro disco fame, and with a very similar groove! The film was also titled Vice Squad in the US market – and the music here definitely echoes the sleaze of its subject matter – with loads of sweet clubby lines that are heavy in the keyboard styles you'll know from "Supernature" – but maybe even leaner and meaner here – with a stripped-down punch that makes for plenty of funky disco moments! The tracks are mostly groovers, but even the few mellow moments are great – and titles include "Phonic", "Give Me Love", "Make Up", "The Loft", "Strip Tease", "Experience", and "Deauville". (Soul, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

The mighty RD Burman is at the height of his powers here – crafting a Bollywood soundtrack that has an even moodier, groovier feel than usual – with some currents that even link the music towards some European film score styles of the time! Tracks are shortish, and definitely have the lead vocal approach you'd know from Indian film scores – but there's also some creative elements in the instrumentation that pushes past the usual – even bits of funk or psych that make for some especially groovy tunes! The album features vocals from Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, and Kishor Kumar – and titles include the funky numbers "Dum Maro Dum" and "Dance Music 1" – plus "I Love You", "Kanchi Re Kanchi", "Ghunghroo Kya Bole", and "Phoolon Ka Taron Ka". (Global Grooves, Soundtracks) CD

Michel Colombier created some mighty funky music in the French scene of the late 60s and early 70s – including some with Pierre Henry and Serge Gainsbourg – and this standalone soundtrack effort is definitely part of that really great legacy in music! There's a nice current of funk amidst the larger orchestrations on some of the best cuts – mixed with a few other sweeter sounds too – all handled with that really inventive approach that easily made Colombier one of the key cats pushing forward the sound of the scene at the time. The set's got a vocal tune sung by Drupi – and titles include "Violence Et Solitude", "La Baie", "Constance Et Laurent", "La Mort", and a number of variations on "Le Hasard Et La Violence". LP, Vinyl record album

Tempting sounds from the great Piero Piccioni – two late 60s horror scores on a single CD! First up is Temptation – a soundtrack that's got some wonderful organ lines and slow-moving grooves – of the sort that were covered by the Easy Tempo series years back, when we first fell in love with Piccioni's music! There's a slow swell and soft step to the music that's mighty nice – almost a perfect distillation of the Italian bossa influences that made for some of the best film scores of the time! The CD features 13 numbers from the film – all of them great, and the kind of variations on a single groovy theme you might find in Armando Trovajoli's La Matriarca. La Figlia Del Capitano is a bit richer, with more strings in the music, and a few more dramatic spots too – yet overall, the mood nicely fits that of Temptation – with a sense of holding back, then running forward – which suits the music very well. CD features 10 tracks from La Figlia – for a total of 23 in all. CD

A nice little shark-themed soundtrack, but one that comes across with a vibe that's quite different than any of the music used for Jaws – partly because there's a number of vocal tunes in the mix! The set features three standout songs – "Hollywood Big Time" and "You've Changed The World For Me", sung by Yvonne Wilkins – and "Ballad", which is sung by composer Maurizio De Angelis himself – which are then mixed with instrumental numbers that are electric and keyboard-heavy, maybe more in line with Italian slasher/horror work of the period than you might expect! The colder electronics must have given the watery scenes a really great vibe on the screen – and the package features great sound throughout, and a mighty nice graphic appeal. LP, Vinyl record album