Music to arrest people by
Being a child of the 1970s and a lover of films, it's only natural that soundtracks from cop films and TV series are never too far away from my ears. I think it must've started watching those American Dirty Harry movies back in the days. Lalo Schifrin's soundtrack to Dirty Harry is still one of the greatest of all time. And who could forget De Wolfe? The English labels library music of the 1970s is both prolific and immense, and they also provided the music to The Sweeney, which is the greatest of all Television programmes.
So, many years ago, I started cobbling some playlists with all my favourite funky Cop music. It started way back when, and as of yet will never end!
Magnum Opus (2006)
The first compilation was a labour of love, and mostly focused on American Cop soundtracks and some miscellaneous funk that fit the (old) bill. Lots of Schifrin, and lots of funny dialogue from Clint, all mixed together and that. The original notes are as follows:
Aaah yes, the 1970s. The gritty, whiskey-fuelled revolution to 1960s flower-power naivety. Grit was the name of the game in early 70s Hollywood. 'Dirty' Harry Callaghan was hauling ass in San Francisco, just as Popeye Doyle was shooting frogs in New York City. But beneath the layers of thick ketchup-splattered violence, however, were avant-garde musicians, tearing up the traditional musical score rule-book (A best-seller in the 1950s), and replacing orchestrated banality with experimental jazz-funk inspired groove.
Lalo Schifrin's Music to Dirty Harry is a king hell classic. His time working with Dizzy Gillespie had clearly paid off. Don Ellis was also an accomplished Jazz musician before composing both French Connection soundtracks, and the remarkably similar soundtrack to The Seven Ups.
This CD also features music by Quincy Jones, Willie Hutch, and feature sveral tracks from David Shire's rip-roaring soundtrack to The Taking Of Pelham One, Two, Three.
And where would we be without the tough, MANLY dialogue? Please find tons of sample littered throughout this CD. It's taken me AGES to get this together, and if you don't enjoy it, I'll blow your head 'cleeeean orrrf'.
Amsterdam 2006
***In hindsight, I should've called this 'The Lalo Schifrin & chums'. Perhap.
Full Tracklist:
Prologue/The Swimming Pool - Lalo Schifrin
The Chase (edit) - J W Guercio
Callaghan - Lalo Schifrin
The Streets Of San Francisco - The Pat Williams Orchestra
French Connection Mix / Pelham Blue / Pelham (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - David Shire
Shifting Gears (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - Lalo Schifrin
Ironside (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - Quincy Jones
Potrero Hill - Lalo Schifrin
Starsky & Hutch - Tom Scott
Rehabilitation - Don Ellis
Enforcer The Chase (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - Jerry Fielding
The Chase - Willie Hutch
starting too fast (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - Johnny Pate
Magnum Force (Main Title) - Lalo Schifrin
They Call Me Mister Tibbs (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - Quincy Jones
On The Road to San Mateo - Lalo Schifrin
Money Montage 2 - David Shire
money runner (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix) - Quincy Jones
Dirty Harry (single version) - Lalo Schifrin
Magnum force finale - Lalo Schifrin
Bobbies On The Euro-Beat (um... 2009?)
This one includes samples and music culled from The Long Good Friday and that long lost classic The Squeeze. Other tunes include some De Wolfe library grooves, some of Alan Tew's classic soundtrack to The Hanged Man, which was a Yorkshire TV produced series. I felt the need to put a cheesy 80s track on the compilation somewhere, and Francesco De Masi's theme tune to The New York Ripper couldn't be a more ill-fitting track to one of the most notorious slasher films ever made. Indeed, The New York Ripper is still cut in the UK today!
Looks like I require 'Special Relief'. (If you've seen The Squeeze, you'll know what I'm talking about. Oh, and The Squeeze doesn't refer to that kind of Squeeze). Oh dear.
Full Tracklist:
Op K Oskins - Bixio-Frizzi-Tempera (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix)
La Via Della Droga (Seq.10) - Goblin
Hanged Man - Bullet
Bushmills & Teenage Chase - Keith Mansfield (WorldWideGimp Uber Mix)
Silver Thrust - Peter Reno
On The Brink - Mike Vickers
Mama Elephant - E.Cap
The Professionals - Laurie Johnson
G.B.H. - Bullet
Jazz It Up (MC M4) - Roy Budd
Un Detective - Fred Bongusto
Mark Il Poliziotto - Stelvio Cipriani Mark Il Poliziotto (Mark The Cop)
OK Chicago - Resonnance
New York One More Day - Francesco De Masi
Renegade - Peter Reno
The Snake Pit - Mandingo
Naffin'/Export - Hugh Cortley And Musi Silvio
Funky Beat - Claude Clari
Taken - Francis Monkman
Motives 1 - Simon Park
Kidnapping - Karl Heinz Schafer
Cut And Colour - Lee Mason
Take To The Sky - Alan Parker & Alan Hawkshaw
Dusty Cops (2011)
Click on the image above to listen to Dusty Cops!
Dusty Cops 2 - Eclectic Boogaloo (2015)
Click on the image above to listen to Dusty Cops 2!
