It comes as a huge surprise that the soundtrack to the 1971 movie Klute is actually very tricky to lay your hands on. A lot of Michael Small’s scores were issued in small numbers and sometimes never at all. Which is a huge shame as this one, in particular, is just as classic as the movie itself. Copies change hands on auction sites for well over £100, which is why Harkit Records has issued us with a special 5-track 7 inch EP version of the highlights.
Most of the action in the movie takes place on either a swinging ‘100 Club’ style dance floor or in a darkened room with very creepy goings on. This is reflected in the two different styles of the tracks on here. It also made sense to split the two moods over the two different sides of the 7 inch.
Side One opens up with the desolate sounding Main Theme, which if it wasn’t for the visuals already present in the movie would conjure up a long forgotten arctic weather station packed solid with ice and bitter wind. Let’s throw in some John Carpenter thawed-out shape-shifting greenies for good measure (this is STARBURST after all).
Next up is the Love Theme that being quite honest does share way more than just its name with the Vangelis track on the Blade Runner score. Finishing Side One off is Rooftop Intruder, which takes the disturbing piano from the opener and adds a deranged but beautiful female siren call over the top.
Club Scene kicks in with a wallop on Side Two just as it does in the movie. It’s very obvious that this picture came out in 1971 just as the musical landscape of the late ‘60s was changing into a more psychedelic-influenced rock. Heavy and fast distorted guitar licks and drum fills that Roger Taylor could ‘do his beans’ over aplenty. Lastly is Bree’s Abandon (Take it Higher), which has a more funky and soulful sound. Some serious air being pushed in and out of Claudia Lennear’s lungs too at the end of the track make a huge crescendo but then that’s it and at just over six minutes each side it is over way too soon. The addition of the dynamic and anthemic Goldfarb’s Fantasy could have gone some way to fixing this but as it stands this is a great introduction to a bigger iconic soundtrack.
Groovy baby, yeah!
KLUTE / COMPOSER: MICHAEL SMALL / LABEL: HARKIT RECORDS / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 18TH
