Lalo Schifrin
★★★★
Man On A Swing
WEWANTSOUNDS. LP
Multi-faceted score for understated 1974 thriller gets vinyl debut, dotted with unreleased outtakes.
Having had every note of his menacing, atonal score for The Exorcist removed by director William Friedkin the previous year, Lalo Schifrin reasserted his chameleonic worth with Man On A Swing. Recorded alongside the Wrecking Crew’s Emil Richards, Bud Shank and Howard Roberts, breakbeat-rich jazzy numbers like Juke Box Source, Factory Vibe and Radio Source marry bossa nova shuffles with easy bass lines, frenzied Hammonds and widdle-tastic wah-wah. And while there’s hints of Herrmann’s Psycho in the squirrelling violins of Rosehaven Motel, it’s Schifrin’s series of avant-garde trance sequences that steal the show, the ideal foil to Joel Grey’s off-kilter turn as flaky clairvoyant Franklin Wills. A smattering of bonus tracks, including a stripped-back Radio Source, reaffirm Schifrin’s status as a master writer and arranger. Andy Cowan