Someone at Castle deserves a knighthood for releasing this. Perfectly shrouding the ultimate British gangster flick, the soundtrack to the 1971 film "Get Carter" has been talked about in hushed terms for years: a Japanese-only LP release? a British 7" single? copies changing hands for £2000? Portishead basing their entire sound on it, as they'd be the first to admit. Now, in a masterstroke, (re)issued by Cinephile and Castle. Decent job too. Nice heavy vinyl, gatefold sleeve with lovely artwork, liner notes from those involved in the film. Overall, the soundtrack is a game of two halves: the haunting, quite brilliant main theme, written and played by Roy Budd and band; and a series of relatively dated but charming *groovy* northern soul numbers, co-written by Budd and Jack Fishman. The main theme, however, is probably why we're interested - spine-tingling shards of harpsichord, drenched in reverb and echo, casting the film in an oppressive foggy gloom. Britain has never been bleaker than this grim evocation of Newcastle in 1971.
Neglected industrial detritus spilling over the rotting slums and the screaming emptiness of public housing projects, slags and slag heaps, hard men and beaten women. Accordingly, the sounds are sparse, fragile, spiky, almost bitterly cold, framing the harsh clarity of old telephones and seedy conversations, as well as Michael Caine's muted cool, in the generous sections of dialogue included here. Whilst the theme is most popularly interpreted over a bass-driven funk riff with an inspired choice of tablas as percussion, it is at its most effecting as a series of plucked harpsichord notes and swept piano strings, alone in a wash of reverb ('Manhunt'). The jazzy funk of other interludes is excellent however:
'The Girl In The Car' is almost a proto-2-step rhythm(!) before emerging as an impressionistic Jarrettesque piano piece. A fine example of integrating jazz into the soundtrack in the manner of Elmer Bernstein's "The Man With The Golden Arm" say, rather than using jazz as a spot-effect á là Herbie Hancock's "Blow Up". Budd went on to score many other movies, though as that list includes "Wild Geese II" and "Steptoe And Son Ride Again", this was clearly his high-point. A one-off? Whatever, this is a historic soundtrack whose main theme actually lives up to the hype.
A more recent release, to accompany the release of the CD and LP, was a very limted CD with a bonus remix CD which saw many famous DJs play with the work of Mike Hodges and wildly update it! There was also a single release of the remixes on CD and 12" in late 1999, most of which are rather poor. The 'Dope On A Rope' remix ('Yo Carter') is just too mid paced and really doesn't get started. The best remix by far on the CD Single release is the 'Gentlemen Thief remix', which includes the excellent double bass riff of carter 'taking the train'
