Soundtrack Saturday

1968 film Bullitt is a classic of its kind, a late 60s crime/ detective thriller with a realistic feel, shot almost entirely on location, with gritty characters, violence, a car chase, corrupt city officials, some very natural sounding speech and scriptwriting, some very outdated attitudes towards the female characters, and Steve McQueen as Frank Bullitt. Most films would be improved by Steve McQueen. 

The score by Lalo Schifrin is a massive part of the film too, 60s American jazz that adds an edge to the film but works as a standalone album. Some of the tracks were re- recorded for the album's release, given a more pop feel to aid sales. 

Bullitt (Main Title, Movie Version)

Just Coffee wasn't on the original album release but made it onto the expanded edition, a slow and atmospheric musical backdrop to your Saturday morning espresso while you think about the day ahead. Wear the blue polo neck jumper and the tweed jacket over it. Oh, and the brown suede chukka boots...

Just Coffee

Cathy, played by Jacqueline Bissett, is Frank Bullitt's girlfriend. Cathy is an architect, a world away from Frank's police work. In one scene they find a young woman murdered in a motel bedroom. 'Frank, you work in a sewer', she says to him. But she's still there at the end of the film, asleep in bed when Frank returns from the finale at San Francisco airport having shot a man dead. 

Song For Cathy

Small Axe

I've been watching the Small Axe series of films on BBC, five films by Steve McQueen looking at the experiences and lives of black Britons, especially the West Indian communities of West London. The writing and direction are superb as are the performances of the cast. The first film, Mangrove, over two hours long, tells the story of the Mangrove Nine, racist policing in the late 1960s, institutional racism and the growth of black activism. It's a film that boils the blood in it's portrayal of the police harassment of Mangrove café owner Frank Crichlow and subsequent the court case and it's a visceral and powerful piece of film making.

The second film in the series is Lovers Rock, a different take on the lives of black West Indian immigrants and their children. It's set in Notting Hill, where a blues party unfolds almost in real time, from the removal of carpets and the furniture from the front room to make space for the dancers to the sound system setting up while three of the women cook goat curry in the kitchen while singing Janet Kay's Silly Games. Early on in the evening the front room fills with young women, dressed up and wanting to dance. The dancing to Silly Games and the spontaneous singing of the song by the crowd after the 7" single has finished is superbly done, music (reggae specifically) as a joyous, communal experience. 

The film is a celebration of these people's lives but it doesn't flinch from the racism that's never far away in 1975. Lead character Martha briefly exits the party to follow her friend who's just left but goes only a few yards up the road before being racially abused by a group of young white men. She returns to the blues party, McQueen showing how the black community, excluded from the area's pubs and clubs due to the colour of their skins, are forced to make their own entertainment and run their own parties. 

The second half of the film kicks in after an altercation in the garden between three of the characters. The sound system moves onto harder and tougher tunes and the men crowd the dancefloor. The Revolutionaries 1976 single Kunte Kinte is spun, a rocking dub, and the crowd demand a rewind. McQueen's direction of the dancing is incredible and the intensity of both the scenes involving the sound system and the dancers are incredible. If you haven't already, watch both. 

Kunte Kinte (Version) 

Coffee

I'm a tea drinker. I drink multiple cups of tea a day- since giving up the cigs I think it's only the tea that keeps me going sometimes. But there aren't any songs about tea on my hard drive. Coffee on the other hand is well represented. Coffee is cooler than tea, more sophisticated- to us Brits coffee is the continent, pavement cafes, and frothy milk. Now the high street is littered with coffee shops selling a bewildering array of coffees all served by your expert barista who's happy to stamp your loyalty card. Our first cup is served by Lalo Shifrin, an unsettling instrumental from the film Bullitt (hence the picture of Steve McQueen at the top).

Just Coffee

The caffeine is kicking in now. The Bullitt soundtrack can be a bit jittery even without a shot of the black stuff. In 1994 James Lavelle put out a double vinyl ep called The Time Has Come, a bunch of remixes from Howie B, Portishead and Plaid. Plaid did this, breakbeat- jazz- trip hop that isn't a million miles from Lalo Shifrin..

Coffeehouse Conversation (Plaid Remix)

In 1989 Edwyn Collins released his Hope And Despair album, a lovely collection of songs. This one, drum machine led and with a lovely circular guitar riff, builds for nearly five minutes as Edwyn croons. Gorgeous.

Coffee Table Song

Blur's 1999 album 13 was a reaction to the Britpop thing. Graham Coxon sings and wrote it, describing his battle with alcohol over a chirpy indie-pop tune with a sqwarky, string-bending guitar solo. A bit of an ear worm.

Coffee And TV

To finish before the barista chucks us out for nursing one cup for an hour, here's Wild Billy Childish And The Musicians Of The British Empire, from the magnificent Thatcher's Children album, and a three chord rush tirade sung by Nurse Julie...

Coffee Date

Three Johnnies

Tuesday brings three Johnny songs, none of which I own in any format and all suggested by friends in the comments boxes. Simon went for Lucille #1 by Prefab Sprout and Echorich concurred. It's from that moment in the mid 80s when some of the indie heroes went all sophisticated and adult. This performance is from the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1985.



Very nice. I had the Steve McQueen album on cassette but never replaced it after the tape died out.

Johnny #2 is from Drew and his almost annual pilgrimage to see Stiff Little Fingers at this time of year. Simon loves this one too. SLF do a rip-roaring cover of Bob Marley's Johnny Was. This version from a 1999 tour is seven minutes long and causes punk pandemonium.



Thirdly, Ctel, chronicler of all things dance music related at Acid Ted, requested Motorhead or Hawkwind doing Lost Johnny. The internet is sharply divided into those who favour Motorhead's fast and angry version and those who go for the earlier, trippier and heavier Hawkwind one. Out of the two I prefer Hawkwind's stoner rock, distorted bass and reverb-laden vocals. Lemmy it should be noted played bass and sang on both.

Cargo Culte

I was in Beatnik Shop in Altrincham on Saturday afternoon chatting with one of the men who run it (who it turns out was on the same PGCE course as me, twenty years ago), and a Serge Gainsbourg album was playing (Histoire De Melody Nelson which I haven't heard before, shocking admission I know) and as the final song played out over its seven and a bit minutes I was struck by how much of it David Holmes pilfered for Don't Die Just Yet. I mean, I like David Holmes, a lot of his stuff is great, but there's sampling and there's sampling.

Cargo Culte

Words That Jangle In Your Head

Steve McQueen music part 2, this time from The Thomas Crown Affair film (1968) Noel Harrison's Windmills Of Your Mind, with it's circling chord sequence and unforgetable lyrics. When we were kids we had a dansette in our bedroom and my Mum gave us an album of cover versions of 60s hits (the kind of Top Of The Pops albums that have been featured at Planet Mondo recently, with scantily clad girls on the cover). This song was on it, and it's kind of been stuck in my head ever since, thirty odd years ago.

What was that? Just a Proustian rush mate, get over it.

Noel Harrison - Windmills Of Your Mi.mp3

'Look, You Work Your Side Of The Street, And I'll Work Mine'

There's a bit of a spy movie theme thing going on at a couple of places at the moment, so I'll chuck my tuppence worth in. Besides that, it gives us a chance to admire Steve McQueen's complete coolness.

This is the main title theme from Bullitt (1968), scored by Lalo Schiffrin. The score was reworked from the film for record release and jazzed up a bit (literally) to make it more saleable. The version here is from the cd re-release. On the vinyl version this track is a bit shorter- cd buyers value for money I suppose. The whole album is great and while I don't listen to this sort of thing (jazzy instrumentals or film soundtracks) very often this always sounds good.

Now, where did I put my polo neck jumper?

01 Bullitt, Main Title (Movie Versio.mp3