CD REVIEW - GET CARTER


Get Carter
Music by Roy Budd
Silva Screen Records SILCD1300
28 Tracks 53:56 mins

Silva Screen are embarking on a new reissue series featuring the music of the late Roy Budd. Starting with the Get Carter soundtrack album, the series will include Soldier Blue, Fear is the Key and The Stone Killer.
As Mike Hodges' Get Carter was voted number sixteen in the BFI Favourite British Films of the 20th Century, and number one in the Total Film Greatest British Films Of All Time lists, I am sure that most of you will be familiar with the film, which of course is the original Michael Caine starrer, and not the woeful Sylvester Stallone reimagining.
Budd's music was conceived on a tight budget, featuring himself and two members if the then Dudley Moore Trio, but the gritty realism didn't really suit a traditional underscore in any case. Save for the classic main theme, unfortunately still presented here with intrusive sound effects, although its second incarnation, "Goodbye Carter!" is relatively unhampered, save for some wind effects during the intro, the remainder of the music on the album consists of source numbers in the jazz/pop style of the time, some presented both with vocal and instrumental versions
Interspersed are dialogue excerpts from the film, making this a good audio souvenir of the film if you like that sort of thing. Personally, I have always held the opinion that if I wanted dialogue I would have bought the film, not its soundtrack.
Available from the 23rd of this month, for the first time, the album is available as a digital download from iTunes, Napster and Amazon, but of course you can still download or order your copy on CD from www.silvascreenmusic.com