Brass Roland

Subtitled "The criminal trombone No 2 ½" this is another release by two Swedish musicians, Christian Lindberg and Roland Pöntien. Previously issues by the pair have included "The Criminal Trombone" featuring 'stolen works' with Lindberg as 'defendant' and Pöntinen as 'accomplice'. This CD continues in a similar vein with comic illustrations and a spoof introduction.

Francis Ford Coppola took an inspired gamble in hiring the Polish composer to realise his Gothic stage production made for the cinema screen. Nothing about Kilar conforms to Hollywood. His classical works and earlier European films for the likes of Polanski and Zanussi, show a style based upon a repetitive form that insinuates itself upon the ear until it becomes unforgettable. "Vampire Hunters" is a superb example, being a cyclic string and brass motif that develops an exciting dynamic by revolving between keys. A pounding drum keeps time and rhythm for a flawlessly edited scene of destroying the vampire's lair. There is also the exquisite theme for Mina and Dracula, which in "Love Remembered" is presented on the composer's favoured instrument, flute. Again, it's through instrumental interchange across repetitions of the theme that the piece achieves its effect. A little sound design ("The Ring Of Fire") offers pause before the tender choral dénouement. Despite the tail-end pop song, this was a blockbuster debut without precedent.

It's compilations like this that make one wish she or he lived in some other country where Universal does business because the U.S. gets the last consideration when it comes to reissues. The Japanese and Europeans come first and second, then Brazil and Latin America, then the United States, and this Music Club issue of jazz versions of spy movie music and thriller TV themes is a prime example. Take a gander at the track list: from Basie doing the theme from M-Squad and Lalo Schifrin's original Dirty Harry theme to the James Taylor Quartet's acid jazz reading of the Starsky and Hutch theme, the strange, spacy reading of Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft" by the Alfred Hauser Orchestra, and Sammy Davis, Jr. wailing on "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" for the Baretta TV show, this set is all killer, no filler and highly recommended…

Between 1970 and 1972, Cat Stevens recorded four albums in the same manner, using the same producer and many of the same musicians, painting the album covers, and assigning the records ponderous titles.