This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Over the past couple of years, Ryko’s rereleases of classic MGM/UA soundtracks have been one of the coolest reissue series around. You get original poster art, great liner notes, theatrical trailers on the CDs — not to mention the pristine, remastered music itself.
These two latest entries take listeners on a journey through West Coast jazz circa 1960. Billy May’s swinging score on the long-lost ’63 Rat Pack knockoff gangster flick Johnny Cool is red-hot. Dig the hard-driving, four-on-the-floor grooves, the punchy, Peter Gunn horn lines and squealing high notes — and even two finger-popping numbers from Sammy Davis Jr., wailing about a cat who “lived by the gun and by the knife.” Cool, indeed. But no cooler than Johnny Mandel’s score for Susan Hayward’s 1958 death-row drama I Want To Live. Actually, this is two, two, two soundtracks in one. First there are 16 tracks from Mandel that run the gamut from smoky post-bop to propulsive percussion outings. Then you get the companion album — a swingin’ six-pack of tracks by Gerry Mulligan and his band, who played themselves in the film. All soundtracks should be this good.
