The soundtrack to Get Carter is an integral part of the movie - there’s no doubt about it, especially the main theme, which is both bleak and highly atmospheric. With its staggering bass line and hesitant melody composer Roy Budd wrote a classic of '60s British cinema.

So why is this CD so disappointing?

First, the main theme isn’t presented ‘clean’; it comes complete with train noises as heard during Get Carter’s opening credits. There’s no need for this - it just gets in the way.

Second, the snippets of dialogue between tracks might be fun once but quickly become annoying. If you want dialogue, watch the movie.

And third, aside from the main theme most of the music is wholly disposable second-rate 60s pap. There are some 12-bar workouts - yawn - and a couple of songs; the ‘best’ being 'Love is a Four Letter Word', which is so naff that it could have been written as the closing number for an episode of Spitting Image.

The music, cut loose from the movie visuals, limps along with generic predictability, aside from the main theme. And as that’s ruined by train noises it’s hard to recommend this CD.

Only buy this if you’re a really big fan of the film...

3

Anthony Clark