Lalo Schifrin - Mission: Impossible... And More!

Lalo Schifrin is always a go-to person when I’m trying to write. A lot of these songs inspire me. I find myself lifted and transported.

I’m a huge soundtrack fan obviously. There are so many composers whose work I love, from Quincy Jones to Ennio Morricone to David Shire to John Carpenter. I could have picked the soundtracks to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or Vampyros Lesbos, but I chose this album because it covers so much ground and because Lalo Schifrin has written two of my favourite full scores: Bullitt and Dirty Harry. Even Dirty Harry, which is a tough thriller, he manages to make ridiculously funky. ‘Scorpio’s Theme’ is incredible.

A lot of contemporary film scores are not very tuneful and are more about mood and tone. Back in the 60s and 70s, you’d have someone like Lalo Schifrin making music for TV and film and the songs were almost like singles in their own right. You don’t get scores like this any more.

The key track on Mission: Impossible... And More! is ‘Jim On The Move’, which is from the Mission Impossible TV show. This album also has ‘The Danube Incident’ which Portishead sampled (for ‘Sour Times’). It’s such a lush album. Even his versions of ‘Maria’ and ‘The In-Crowd’ are huge sounding and romantic and fun. ‘Lalo’s Bossa Nova’ – which Quincy Jones did a cover of – is great. Even when you get to ‘Theme From Medical Center’ - which I’ve never seen, but I imagine it’s pretty trashy – it’s a glorious two and a half minutes.

It’s an album that never fails to put a smile on my face.