I cannot let this discussion on music and noir/crime go without mentioning a
few items.
- We didnıt mention the blues and we should have, from Leadbelly to
Tampa Red, from Billie Holiday to...Otis Redding... many tales are told
there, strong tales, savage tales, fkd-up tales, bar tales, boos tales,
money tales, babes tales, dead ones too...I will give reference to personal
faves: Blues Buster by Buster Benton and Billy Boy Arnold (Checkinı It Out
LP)...
- We didnıt mention reggae...Jimmy Cliff from The Harder They Come, Bob
Marley who shot the sheriff...etc...precursors of many tales leading, much
later, to The City of God in Brazilian favelas...check that soundtrack
too...
- French Sony put out a CD in 2000 called Rock and Polar (Rock and Crime
Fiction): it had L. Cohen: Famous Blue Raincoat, TheByrds: Set You Free This
Time, Van Morrisson: Itıs Allright, Fleetwood Mac: Shake your Moneymaker,
Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Sky is Cryiong, Screaminı Jay Hawkins: I Put A
Sperll On You, Big Brother & the HC: Summertime, Isley Bro.: Ohio, Allman
Bros.:It Ainıt Over yet, Bloos Sweat & Tears: Spinning Wheeel....donıt ask
me what they have all or individually to do with crime/nouar but Philippe
Blanchet, the critic who compiled it and who reviews itı on the inner
sleeve, caracterises all these songs as part of the noir continuum, the
overall noir tale at the end of the sixties...and makes certain to list
realı band members like Peter Greenıs Fleetwood Mac as opposed to the
commercialı version later on...etc...Some are foreignı to my taste, but I
get the drift...
-Arista in 1980 put out an LP called Ran Blake - Film Noir, in which
pianist/composer Ran Blake played with the New England Conservatory some of
the soundtracks for many noir films or in the case of Key Largo composed a
special music (with Benny Carter) inspired by the film...It is a fabulous LP
and Andrew Sarris reviews it on the back of the LP and ends with this
sentence: His music is a fitting, worthy tribute to his very highly
developed cinematic taste...². The LP was reviewed in French monthly music
mag. Rock & Folk (an institution in France like Rolling Stone here...soon to
disappear therefore)...which had noir/crime reviews of anything
(art/books/music/films/faits divers/brief news
stories/fashion/weapons/poisons/people....),connected to noir & crime...and
that is where I picked up the original reference...Excellent LP.
- Elektra put out in 1990 a Cd called Naked Cityı with John Zorn, Billy
Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith, Joey Baron and special guest Y. Eye on
vocals with original music with titles called; Batman, The Sicilian Claqn,
You Will Be Shot, Latin Quarter, Ashot in The Dark, Reanimator, Snaglepuss,
I Want to live, Lonely Woman, Igneous Ejaculation, Blood Duster, Hammerhead,
Demon Sanctuary, Obeah Man, Ujaku, Fuck the Facts, Speedball, Chinatown,
Punk China Doll, NY Flat Top Box, Saigon Pickup, James Bond Theme, Den of
Sins, Contempt, Graveyard Shift, Inside Straight...Excellent Cd whose
reference I also found on French rock mag Rock & Folk...The pix on the CD is
one of those famous crime scene pictures we all know as tabloid NY Daily
News pix from the 20ıs to 50ıs...
-the number of crime relatedı bands from late 60ıs on is incredible and
we could all compare notes for ever...I will leave this discussion with two
names I didnıt mention before...: Blondie (pulp...) and Patti Smith (Hey
Joe...)
Enough with music...and nouar...
Montois
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