Morton Stevens: Blues Trip
From Hawaii 5-0 (Capitol, 1969)
Geoff Love and His Orchestra: 3 Days of the Condor
From Big Terror Movie Themes (Music For Pleasure, 1976)
For beat-heads, the joy of soundtrack and sound library songs is that, by nature of their function – to set moods, convey particular emotions, etc. – the tend to veer towards repeated phrases, riffs and rhythms. Of course, so does music in other genres, but compared to 12 minute solo noodling you might find on a jazz song, a nice sound track song usually cuts straight to the point (hey, movies and commercials don’t have time to spare!)
This isn’t necessarily a theme-week though I pulled about two or three postings worth of material. We start with the soundtrack to Hawaii 5-0 from ’69. I don’t know about you, but personally, I never thought this OST (Original Sound Track) would have much heat since, well, the theme song everyone and their cousin knows isn’t exactly making waves on the funk side. But Morton Stevens comes with it elsewhere, with a lot of choice bits that seem better tailored for a blaxploitation movie. Case in point: “Blues Trip” – such a funky, Hammond-driven piece. If someone had said the Mohawks had recorded this for KPM, I would have believed it.
Next up is the UK’s Geoff Love on one of his several soundtrack inspired albums. This one tackles a range of “terror themes” though the movies he’s reinterpreting includes films as far and wide as “The Exorcist” and “Towering Inferno.” “3 Days of the Condor” was a spy thriller (starring Robert Redford) and already had one of the best OSTs already before Love got his hands on the main theme and manages to kick out a rendition that’s just as tasty as the original.
chatter