French Connection

Don Ellis & Brad Fiedel - The French Connection Collection (2016) {2CD La-La Land LLLCD1408 Limited Collector's Edition rec 1971, 1975}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 766 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 354 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 186 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 1975, 2016 La-La Land Records | LLLCD 1408 | Limited Collector's Edition of 2000 units
Jazz / Stage & Screen / Soundtrack / Avant-Garde Jazz

Great thriller soundtracks back to back on one CD – the soundtracks for both French Connection films, both handled by funky jazzman Don Ellis – plus the even rarer score for the later Popeye Doyle film, by Brad Fiedel – packaged here with other rare bonus tracks too! The music by Don Ellis is really incredible – a real cut above other 70s cop and action soundtracks, with a dark edge that shows that Ellis had been listening to some of the hipper European soundtrack composers of the time, but was still also cool enough to kick in with a badass kind of groove whenever he could! The instrumentation on the tunes is very odd – familiar, yet askew – as trumpet, guitar, and keyboard bits come off with some very weird effects. The sound of Popeye Doyle is a bit different – given that the film was an 80s TV addition to the French Connection narrative – with Ed O'Neil in the lead role that was previously handled by Gene Hackman. But Brad Fiedel's score is still pretty nice – definitely more 80s in its instrumentation, but handled with a mode that echoes the Ellis years, with the flavor of a decade later. This 2CD package has way more material than the previous issue – with a total of 48 tracks from the first two films – and 29 more from Popeye Doyle – a whopping 77 tracks in all, with some great notes too!

Antonio Vivaldi - The French Connection Vol. 2
La Serenissima / Adrian Chandler
EAC+LOG+CUE | WV: 367 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Avie # AV2218 | Country/Year: UK 2011
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

…the concept of this disc, the choice of music and the performances make this an interesting contribution to the growing Vivaldi discography.

Antonio Vivaldi - The French Connection Vol. 1
La Serenissima / Adrian Chandler
EAC+LOG+CUE | WV: 382 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Avie # AV2178 | Country/Year: UK 2009
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

…The orchestral sound, as always with La Serenissima, achieves bright attractiveness and vivacity without feeling the need to pursue the taut energy of some other groups.

Turner due to his immense size, "My French Connection" is the great new CD from this widely respected and admired exponent of the blues. Joe Turner spent eight happy years as bass player and musical director with BB King before launching his own "Memphis Blues Caravan" in the mid nineties with whom he has toured the World playing nearly all of Europes major festivals…

The repertoire for violin and piano is among the richest in the panorama of classical chamber music. History of this repertoire dates back to the origins of the piano in the eighteenth century with its features evolving in parallel with instrumental modifications and aesthetic taste.

Don Ellis - French Connection 1+2. Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1971, 1975) {2003 FilmScore}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 128 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2003 Film Score / 20th Century Fox | FSM 04-06
Jazz / Soundtrack / Pop

Don Ellis was a hot item in 1971. He had done a few big band albums that sounded like Doc Severson plugged into Frank Zappa'a sound system, and was opening a lot of rock shows, back in the era when you could get rock and roll kids to listen to and appreciate jazz. So, Billy Friedkin makes French Connection, and gets Don to score it. Billy must have known he had a hit on his hands, and wanted a big name to put on the composer credit. Ellis does an entire, half hour score for the movie. Not a lot of this music made it into the film: evidently, Billy wanted to have a gritty film with lots of street noises, and, tastefully edited Don's score to bare bones. It works in the movie, but a lot of really good music never saw the light of day.

French Connection is a French-language greatest hits album by Belgian singer Kate Ryan released under ARS Entertainment. This compilation includes all of her French greatest hits, as well as covers (both previously released and unreleased), French singles, French versions of some of her English-language songs, and some new versions of her first hits. Kate's trademark is to remake big French hits from the past. Many of her versions even became bigger hits than the original. French Connection includes the floorfilling "Kate Ryan-treatments" of Voyage, Voyage, Desenchantee and Libertine, but also the worldwide hitsingle Ella Elle L'a and Babacar. The album also features remakes of other well known French tracks such as Les Divas Du Dancing, Sage Comme une Image, Toute Premiere Fois and Kate's breathtaking version of Evidemment.