Press Release from Music Box:
In collaboration with Universal Production Music France, Music Box Records proudly presents the ninth volume of the collection Great Television Soundtracks dedicated to two original television soundtracks composed and conducted by Claude Bolling: Le Clan (1988) and Renseignements généraux (1989/1990). The two mini-series are directed by Claude Barma (Belphégor, Les Rois maudits).
After Jacques Deray’s Borsalino, Le Clan gave Claude Bolling another opportunity to draw inspiration from the atmosphere of Marseille’s underworld, which had undergone changes since WWII. At the end of the 1950s, César Manotte (Victor Lanoux), a respected former mafia godfather, is at the head of a real estate company, a casino and a cabaret. Bolling composed top-notch cabaret songs and dance numbers. Several themes serve both as atmosphere for the club and as support for the dramatic scenes. The album features the premiere release of the four original songs composed by Bolling and performed by American model and singer Jeane Manson, also an actress in the series.
For Renseignements généraux, the character of RG, Roger Goupil (Victor Lanoux once again), a semi-retired top gun cop occasionally works for an intelligence agency in order to thwart the plans of his former rivals. Claude Bolling composed a suspenseful score, relying on a piano in the low register, a flute, a muted trumpet and other brass instruments. His main theme is based on an off-tune waltz, entrusted to a synthesizer and shrouded in mystery by an androgynous voice.
These two OSTs produced at the same period have been selected and remastered from the original master tapes. The CD comes with an 8-page booklet with liner notes by Gilles Loison, discussing the series and the scores. The release is limited to 350 units.
