Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2020 February 24 • Monday

Happy birthday!

For the 610th Soundtrack of the Week we've got Jonny Keating's music for the movie Robbery.

It starts with a song called "Born To Lose" that has a metronomic pulse running all the way through it even though it's otherwise a swinging '60s pop number sung by Jackie Lee. "When a man treats the world like a toy / Just a plaything / Born to lose!"

A more explicit metronome sound, though probably meant to suggest a ticking clock, comes in and out of the tense and suspenseful "Diamond Robbery", which also features vibes and bongos and horns.

The mood is continued, but with a flute taking over the constant pulse, in "Accident", which adds sounds of danger, via bursting horn lines, to the tension and suspense.

Then there's the lovely, tender "Kate's Theme", no doubt a love them, a very nice melody with harp and a lush and unhurried feel.

"Robbery!" closes Side A and despite the exclamation mark, it's a mostly quiet piece that features the bassoon and has lots of space that's sporadically occupied by snare drume and some other winds and percussion. It eventually builds to an action climax.

The B side kicks off with an uptempo jazzy number in 3/4 called "Breaking into the Mail Van". It's really fast with a lot of tough blaring horns and especially good work from the rhythm section. This tune is reprised soon after as "Passing the Mail Bags".

Beautiful harp playing starts "Robinson—Portrait of a Loser", another break in the action that gets a lot of melodic input from the flute and has a leisurely and pastoral feel.

"Gang's Arrest" is a surprisingly cheerful number, an instrumental version of "Born To Lose", in fact. (Was Born To Lose the original title?) I guess it's a happy ending because the criminals get caught. I've seen this movie but I don't remember.

The record ends with "Paul's Goodbye and Main Theme", reprises of "Kate's Theme" and "Born To Lose".