SINGLE SERVINGS: SCORPIO AND HIS PEOPLE

Scorpio and His People: The Unforgiven
The Theme from “Movietown Sound”
From 7″ (International Hits, 1972)

One can have a legit and spirited debate over whether or not this 7″ is really worth a $1K+ or not. Those kinds of debates are the lifeblood of collecting and I remain largely agnostic on this particular issue.

What I can say is that this single is cool as f—. That’s my professional opinion. Start with the label, which looks like a child hand drew it; seriously, for a label so optimistically called “International Hits,” you’d think they could step it up on the design front just to give us the impression that this might actually have gone int’l instead of looking like an art project made while drunk. (Note: this is praising with faint damning).

Next, let’s talk about names: Scorpio = win. It’d already be vying for the illest zodiac sign but then the Dennis Coffey association (even if that song may have come out later) just elevates it to a whole new level. And “The Unforgiven” = unqualifiedly bad ass song title (in this case, association with pre-chair-muttering Clint Eastwood doesn’t hurt either). “Theme From ‘Movietown Sound'” is…not that great as far as titles go but still.

And, of course, there’s the actual music. Check it off: big rhythm/brass opening riff? Yup. Heavy ride cymbal? Oh yeah. A male singer who sounds like a lady? Yessir. Or, er, ma’am. A bridge – “your warm embrace/are haunting me” – with tense disagreement problems. Even that.

From any angle, this whole song screams “raw” in the best ways possible. The flip side isn’t nearly as awesome if only because the arrangement is rather derivative of the A-side and the songwriting is sloppier but hey, the “Stiletto”-like bass hits at the beginning are pretty cool and yes…more ride cymbal for that ass.

Not sure how long this reissue/bootleg will remain available but for reals: cop it. Groove Merchant still has a few copies, as of this past weekend.