Mannix

Aleph Records

Music Composed by Lalo Schifrin

Produced by Wolfgang Hirschmann & Lalo Schifrin

Recording and Mixing Engineers: Reinhold Nickel & Wolfgang Hirschmann

Release Date: 1999

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     Following in the spirit of Mission: Impossible, Mannix turned into another Bruce Geller/Lalo Schifrin collaboration. Instead of tense “plot” driven spy music, however, Geller requested Schifrin to compose a syncopated jazz waltz; a “private detective in three-quarter time” as Geller himself put it on the preface to the soundtrack LP. The end result is sometime much more different from Mission: Impossible, and ultimately, will appeal to some listeners while turning others off.

     This CD is an all-new digital recording, and I have never heard even a smidgen of the original music, so I don’t know how close this recreates the original. Each of the tracks represents a small suite of music from different episodes. The music generally follows the jazz approach set forth in the main theme, but it does occasionally break off into more a more exotic realm, such as the Latin-styled Sao Paolo After Dark track. Some of the more rambunctious tracks, such as Hunt Down and Turn Every Stone, are so over-the-top and come so close to being corny that they actually end up being wildly entertaining. The only track I really hated was the last one, Mannix Mixdown, and yes it is exactly what it sounds like. As if the theme from Mission: Impossible wasn’t enough, someone got a hold of this one, drown it in a bunch of synth nonsense, and crank out a horrible “updated” version. I really don’t think Schifrin needs any help in bringing his music into the new millennium, thank you very much.

     If you don’t care for Schifrin’s jazz style, then you’ll want to avoid this CD as the music just wallows in it. On the other hand, for those Schifrin fans out there, the only reason I would not recommend this album would be if you just didn’t like his work for Mannix. The sound is great and unless any of you purists out there happen to find something to object to, it is the best representation you can find of the music from the series. ****

Track Listing

1 - Mannix (title track, short version) (1:31)

2 - Hunt Down (3:28)

3 - The Shadow (3:43)

4 - Sao Paolo After Dark (3:53)

5 - Turn Every Stone (3:46)

6 - Warning: Live Blueberries (4:11)

7 - Beyond the Shadow of Today (2:34)

8 - The Girl Who Came With The Tide (3:09)

9 - The Edge of Night (2:58)

10 - Curtains for a Murder (3:46)

11 - The End of the Rainbow (2:35)

12 - You Should Have Known (3:26)

13 - End Game (2:25)

14 - The Vienna Incident (3:35)

15 - Fear (2:50)

16 - Mannix (long version) (4:17)

17 - Bonus Track: Mannix Mixdown (4:17)

Total Running Time: 56:20