BY DARREN ALLISON
Henry Mancini – a composer who will be forever linked
with sumptuous film and television music- returns to Vocalion in another CD
containing two classic RCA albums. Both from the early 1970s, Mancini Concert
and Mancini Plays the Theme from Love Story (CDLK 4582) highlight different
facets of his music making. Recorded to tie-in with Mancini’s 1971 American
concert tour, Mancini Concert (originally released 1971) is just that – a
studio recording of the sort of varied programme his audiences had come to
expect. The highlight is undoubtedly Portrait of Simon and Garfunkel, a
heartfelt orchestral rendering of several of the legendary duo’s best-known
melodies. In addition to inventive orchestrations of other contemporary
material including selections from The Who’s rock opera Tommy and the Andrew
Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice opus Jesus Christ Superstar, Mancini looks back to his
swing era roots in Big Band Montage. A Mancini album wouldn’t be complete
without some of his own music, and Mancini Concert addresses that through the inclusion
of March with Mancini, a medley of themes from Peter Gunn and The Great Race.
Mancini Plays the Theme from Love Story album (originally released 1970) capitalised
on his smash-hit arrangement of Francis Lai’s film theme. Indeed, film music is
the album’s cornerstone, and it includes several rare Mancini themes such as
The Night Visitor, The Hawaiians and Theme for Three, the last of these from
the Audrey Hepburn classic Wait until Dark. Remastered by Michael J. Dutton and
using the original analogue tapes, the audio quality, as with all of Vocalion’s
releases, is superb. Vocalion have reverted to just a 2 Panel (4 page) booklet
to accompany their latest Mancini release, but the inclusion of two full albums
manages to tilt the balance rather nicely.
The
albums Classical Concussion / Predictions (CDLK 4582), both originally released
in 1979, represent Vocalion’s latest voyage into the archives of the KPM 1000
Series, one of the world’s leading recorded music libraries and the home of some
superb film and TV music. Featuring the work
of brilliantly gifted composer and keyboardist Francis Monkman (a founder
member of progressive bands Curved Air and Sky), Classical Concussion (originally
KPM 1224) and Predictions (originally KPM 1233) are from the same era as his hugely
popular score for gangland thriller The Long Good Friday (1980). In fact,
Classical Concussion, recorded at Lansdowne Studios in November 1978, seems to
anticipate in places The Long Good Friday’s score. Nowhere is this more
apparent than in the opening track, ‘Release of Energy’, a thrilling title
theme that embedded itself in the consciousness of UK cinemagoers thanks to its
use (in abridged form) as the Rank Cinema chain’s ‘Preview Time’ jingle. The
dramatic ‘Power Games’ also became familiar to British cinemagoers through its
use as the Rank Cinema intermission theme. With its emphasis on electronic
music, Predictions is in the same mould as that of Sky’s debut album from the
same year. The imposing Passajig (a) is an unusual concoction of rhythm
section, synthesizer, church organ and, remarkably, the State Trumpeters of the
Band of The Household Cavalry. The magnificent sound of the State Trumpeters
introduces Prelude (a), a pulsating underscore with synthesizer ostinato that
conjures up visions of a futuristic metropolis. But the album’s best-known
track is Hypercharge, thanks to its inclusion in Arthur Gibson’s award-winning
1981 documentary about the Red Arrows, the aerobatics display team of the Royal
Air Force. Featuring super audio
quality, Vocalion continue to show their commitment regarding the KPM Library series.
Packaging consists of an excellent 6 page booklet with detailed liner notes
provided by Library expert Oliver Lomax. It doesn’t get much better.
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