A huge amount of work from one of the most important French film composers of the modern age – the great Philippe Sarde, an artist whose music has accompanied a wide range of really wonderful films over the decades! Sarde was a key figure in merging some of the larger orchestrations of the previous generations with some of the leaner, more focused musical ideas that emerged on the European scene in the late 60s, especially on the French and Italian scenes – and over the decade, his use of new ideas woven with mainstream richness really brought a new sense of life to the world of soundtracks – so much so that Sarde's work was widely acclaimed on our side of the Atlantic – which wasn't always the case for some of his French contemporaries. This 6CD set provides a great overview of his compositions – and features 101 remastered selections from dozens of films – all packaged with a big 36 page booklet of notes. CD

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Sensitive scoring by Philippe Sarde – one of his soundtracks for director Bernard Tavernier, for a film based on the Jim Thompson novel Pop 1280! One track features a vocal by Stephane Audran – another by the lovely Isabelle Huppert! LP, Vinyl record album

A great jazzy soundtrack – with work from Chet Baker on trumpet, Hubert Laws on flute, Hubert Rostaing on clarinet, Larry Coryell on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

A great combination of two French soundtracks – Flic Ou Voyage and Le Guignolo – both written by Philippe Sarde for films directed by Georges Lautner and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, and both featuring jazz-based groups led by Nat Peck. Players on the set include Hubert Laws, Chet Baker, Ron Carter, Maurice Vander, and Toots Thielmans – and the tracks on both sets is a mix of sombre scoring and freer jazz numbers. Tracks include "Stan", "Ou Voyou", "Variation Voyou", "Pour Chet", "Pour Toots", "Venise", "Pour Jean Paul", and "Bibou Blues". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Sarde soundtracks for 2 Roman Polanski films – Tess and The Tenant. Given that Tess is based on the Thomas Hardy novel, the soundtrack's relatively traditional – with warmly sentimental themes that capture the emotion of the settings. The Tenant is much more in the spookier Polanski mode – darkly moody, with spare orchestral themes trickling out and building suspense. Carlo Savina directed the orchestra of Nat Peck on both soundtracks – and there's a total of 22 tracks that include "Le Viol", "Le Cimetere", "Cour D'Immeuble", "Le Locateire", "Conspiration", and "Le Retour D'Angel". CD

Philippe Sarde's sophisticated score for the film La Guerre Du Feu – also known as Quest For Fire – music that's a fair bit more modern than the prehistoric setting of the movie! Most of the instrumentation is orchestral, but Sarde also allows plenty of space for spare, brooding moments too – passages that have an almost tribal quality at points, and an organically resonant approach at others. The recording has quite a high dynamic range – bursting from silence to fullness in a very short space – then slinking back into the shadows at the next moment! LP, Vinyl record album

Genius! Pure mad genius – and one of the best volumes in this always-great series! After 10 volumes, the folks at Easy Tempo have become incredibly well skilled at picking groovy soundtrack tunes – and this beautiful 20 track package is as much a delight for the ears as it is for the musically-driven mind. The range of grooves is incredible – with elements that include swinging Hammond organ, breezy wordless vocals, spare sax and reeds, cool vibes, and just about anything else the Italian soundtrack composers of the 60s and 70s could get their hands on! Titles include "Swing E Sesso" by Carlo Rustichelli, "On Ce Voit Ce Soir" by Philippe Sarde, "Allora Il Treno" by Bruno Nicolai, "Tough Guys" by Carlo Pes, "Face To Face" by Stelvio Cipriani, "L'Isola Misteriosa" by Piero Piccioni, "Mary's Theme" by Stelvio Cipriani, "Qualcosa Piu Grande Di Noi" by Armando Trovajoli, and "La Pupa Del Gangster" by Piero Umiliani. (Funky Compilations, Soundtracks) CD