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LP
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WWSLP 069LP
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Wewantsounds 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. Among which the mind-blowing rhythm track for the title "Radio Source", featuring a super funk breakbeat. Remastered for vinyl by Colorsound Studio. 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. 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 favor of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. 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.
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