This is a beautiful bossa-tinged theme with a great blend of strings and brass. The flute/trombone melody is accompanied by an incredibly rich and airy string sound, which swells as the melody builds. The strings alone compel me to listen to this track repeatedly – their remarkably thick, drenched sound recalls some of my favorite Ennio Morricone pieces (particularly those on the fantastic ‘Mondo Morricone’ compilation). Musically, the entire ‘Hammerhead’ score seems to have been influenced by John Barry's Bond scores, and by the less goofy parts of Burt Bacharach's ‘Casino Royale’ score. As well as being a haunting movie theme, this track has elements of that classic loungey film score sound from the mid-sixties.

I'm surprised to find I haven't recommended this song before. An enchanting piece of futuristic pop written by Ennio Morricone, this great tune was part of the score for the wonderfully stylish Mario Bava movie 'Danger: Diabolik'. Christy, who also sung on some Piero Piccioni scores, was (is?) a heartfelt 'belter', and here she sings the italian lyrics, which are peppered with English phrases, especially passionately. There is a cool echoey effect on her voice, giving the whole affair an other-worldly, underwater feel. Musically, it's a very catchy psych-pop track, with a twangy, rocky guitar. It's quite short, but extremely powerful.

A near-perfect take on this classic song. Ronnie dispenses with vocals, instead building a beautiful mood with some great strings, a relentless beat and percussive guitar. The bluesey melody is carried delicately by the piano. I'm not really getting it across here, but the track is astounding - astonishingly addictive and well recorded, building wonderfully to a warm and incredibly groovy climax.

One of two astounding percussive cuts on the soundtrack 'No way to Treat a Lady'. The film is apparently a light-hearted look at murder. This cut has a solid beat, which sits behind a church organ sound. This is soon joined by a dirty-sounding guitar. The effect is trashy, but very cool. This track reminds me of the John Schroeder cut 'Soul Trek' (aka 'Astra Nova Orchestra's 'Soul Sleeper'), with a feel that is slightly 'rock'.

Margo Guryan wrote several quite famous songs in the 60s, the most famous of which are probably 'Sunday Morning' (made famous by Spanky and our Gang; also recorded by Julie London and others) and 'Think of Rain' (recorded by Claudine Longet, among others).

After the incredibly brilliant reissue of Margo's solo LP, 'Take a Picture', Franklin Castle released a compilation of Margo Guryan's demos. This is the standout track on that disc, a very spare and funky number with a cool organ sound, nice drums and catchy vocals. As would be expected from a recording intended only as a demo, this is a little rougher sounding than the studio LP, but it's a brilliant song. I wonder if anyone else ever recorded it...