Man On A Swing: Vinyl LP
WWSLP69Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: WeWantSounds
Release Date: 17th March
Lalo Schifrin, Bossa Nova jams, Lounge Jazz soft soul, hard funk grooves designed for high-speed car chases and dark suspenseful orchestration - what more could you want from a 70s soundtrack? How about some of the most white hot musician's to ever do it in the for of The Wrecking Crew? That's a perfect mix for a killer soundtrack and one that gets its first vinyl release. Instant essential.
For those who dig: suspenseful crime soundtracks with some heavy funk and a swing of bossa nova.
FIRST EVER VINYL RELEASE OF LALO SCHIFRIN'S SOUNDTRACK FOR FRANK PERRY'S 1974 PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER 'MAN ON A SWING' FEATURING UNISSUED TRACKS. REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL TAPES
Wewantsounds is delighted to release for the first time on vinyl the Lalo Schifrin’s soundtrack for Frank Perry’s thriller ‘Man On A Swing’ from 1974. Featuring Schifrin's superb mix of Jazz, Bossa, Groove and atmospheric soundscape, the soundtrack, recorded in LA with the Wrecking Crew’s Emil Richards, Bud Shank and Howard Roberts among others, finds the composer at his most inspired. Delving in the Paramount tapes, the label has re-sequenced the soundtrack from scratch and found several unissued queues as bonus tracks. Among which the mindblowing rhythm track for the title ‘Radio Source’, featuring a super Funk breakbeat. The Soundtrack has been remastered for vinyl by Colorsound studio and features liner notes by Jeremy Allen with artwork by Eric Adrian Lee
By the time Lalo Schifrin composed the soundtrack for Frank Perry's psychological thriller in 1974, starring Cliff Robertson and Joel Gray (who'd just won an Oscar for his role in Bob Fosse's Cabaret) he was Hollywood royalty having worked on such iconic films as Bullitt and Dirty Harry. Perry on his side, had caused a stir with The Swimmer in 1968 starring Burt Lancaster (although he would dismiss the film after being fired from the production) and followed up with a string of great cult movies including ‘Last Summer’ (1969), Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) starring Carrie Snodgress - whom Neil Young famously fell in love with upon seeing the film and "Play It as It lays" in 1972, adapted from Joan Didion's eponymous novel.
Breaking from the social dramas from of his previous films, Perry decided to shoot a thriller based on journalist William Arthur Clark's book "The Girl on The Volkswagen Floor." The film follows a police officer investigating a murder with the help of a strange ambiguous clairvoyant played by Gray. For the score Perry went to Lalo Schifrin who'd just come out of a bad experience on The Exorcist working with William Friedkin who'd rejected his music in favour of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield! The score was recorded in LA with the Wrecking Crew and, although the full line up is not known, it included Emil Richards, Howard Roberts, Bud Shank and of course Schifrin on piano.
'Man on a Swing' is pure undiluted Schifrin from the early 70s. The score plays like a long suite alternating Bossa Nova ("Juke Box Source"), Lounge Jazz ("Trip to LA") and groove ("FM Groove") with superb "suspense” soundscapes like "Rosehaven Hotel". The label has gone back to the Paramount 3-track tape transfers and come up with an updated tracklist (a CD version briefly appeared in the 2010s) - re-sequenced and augmented with a handful of bonus tracks and alternate takes. A highlight is certainly "Radio Source Rhythm" which, losing the guitar and organ, reveal a jaw dropping funk breakbeat that is in the league of Dirty Harry and Enter the Dragon. This and the whole soundtrack, will ravish all the funk diggers and Lalo Schifrin fans around the world.