THE NICE GUYS.

John Ottman is certainly one of the shining stars and talents within the area of film music composition, he is another one of these composers that can turn their hand to almost any scenario musically speaking and create the right solutions for any occurrence that is created by the filmmakers. Ottman’s credits are varied and always entertaining and interesting, one of his most recent scoring assignments is for THE NICE GUYS, now this is movie that is set in Los Angeles in the 1970, s and stars Russel Crowe and Ryan Gosling as two rather unlikely private investigators who go in search of a missing Porn star. Directed by Shane Black whose IRON MAN 3 kind of put the cat amongst the Pidgeon’s with audiences being left not knowing if they liked it or loathed it. (I liked it). The music is suitably seventies in its sound and style and at times even echo’s or gives acknowledgement to such classic scores as BULLIT, DIRTY HARRY and to a degree GET CARTER. Breathy and sensual woods entice the listener into the work, as the composers John Ottman and David Buckley create a veritable smorgasbord of funky and groovy sounds that are far out and totally awesome. It’s a score that entertains and captures one’s attention straight away, right from the off the composers have you hooked on the steamy and jazz infused compositions, THE NICE GUYS THEME is certainly a nod in the direction of the great Lalo Schifrin, and has to it an air of the shifting gears track from that composers BULLIT soundtrack, but it also has to it a highly thematic core performed on horns and other brass which is interspersed and supported by percussion, I would even go as far as to say that it also has certain similarities to Schifrin’s MURDERS ROW and hints of Goldsmith’s FLINT scores. In fact, FLINT type themes just ooze from the proceedings in the cues, TO THE CAR SHOW/AMELIA and KIDS TODAY, tracks 2 and 3 respectively. Track number 5 PORNOCCHIO is one of my personal favourites, it’s a somewhat laid back affair initially that just purveys sleaze somehow, how you define sleaze musically I am not certain but it just conjures up that type of atmosphere. Also take a listen to track number 7, EQUANIMITY, nice vibes being created by woodwind and underlying strings, which suddenly halt in their tracks to segue into a cue that is not tense but certainly more apprehensive sounding than the initial introduction, bass and brushed percussion provide the backing to a short by oh so sweet trumpet solo that could just be from CHINATOWN, this is a polished and precision score which is a collection of themes and sounds that evoke the era of the 1970’s and hats off to both Ottman and Buckley for re-creating the hot, chilled and funky styles that we so readily associate with movies such as SHAFT, TROUBLEMAN, ACROSS 110TH STREET and THEY CALL ME MR TIBBS etc. There is also available a double cd set of songs from the soundtrack, which include numerous hits from the charts of the 1970’s and its well worth acquiring this also as its a great nostalgia trip. Both score and soundtrack are available on lakeshore records. Highly recommended.

Score Track Listing
1.
Theme
 2:01
2.
Kids Today
 3:24
3.
Disco Party Fight
 4:00
4.
To The Car Show / Amelia?
 1:36
5.
Pornocchio
 2:23
6.
A Little Favor
 2:52
7.
Equanimity
 2:01
8.
Chet in the Dumps
 2:04
9.
You Got Her / Easy 20
 1:37
10.
Helping Blue Face / Car Crash
 3:11
11.
Meeting John Boy
 3:26
12.
It’s Not a Flight
 2:01
13.
Cars That Drive Themselves
 1:46
14.
YooHoo Delivery / Breaking In
 2:10
15.
Car Show Shoot Out
 4:42
16.
Follow the Yellow Dick Road
 1:43
17.
P.I. Life
 1:49
18.
BONUS TRACK: Flight of the Bumble Bee / The Right Thing to Do