Greetings! ScoreKeeper here hanging around gaining altitude atop thermals in order to announce the latest soundtrack release from Aleph Records.

What do you get when the legendary composer Lalo Schifrin scores perennial badass, James Coburn, leading a perilous hang gliding rescue of his ex-wife’s family kidnapped atop a mountain fortress?

You get SKYRIDERS (1976)!

On July 28, 2009, Aleph Records will make available for the very first time Lalo Schifrin’s inventive score for Douglas Hickox’s hang gliding thrill-ride SKYRIDERS.

Starring James Coburn, Robert Culp, Susannah York, and Charles Aznavour, this action-thriller pits Coburn against a band of terrorists who has kidnapped the family of Coburn’s ex-wife living in Greece. The family is barricaded inside a mammoth fortress nesting high upon a Mediterranean plateau with no access except by air. Coburn attempts a daring rescue by hang glider in order to save his former wife and her family.

Lalo Schifrin is operating at peak performance with this relatively unknown score. A quintessential action-thriller score from the 1970’s, Schifrin employs a powerful blend of sultry symphonic sounds with light airy textures formed from a combination of harp and flute. A springy, waltz-like circus tune bookends the score accentuating its moribund playfulness while the employment of indigenous ethnic instruments, like the bouzouki, throughout the most tension-filled moments heightens the Grecian setting.

One of the things striking me while listening to this score is surprise that this had never before been released, not even on LP. True Schifrin fans will instantly fall in love with this signature classic and could sway a few converts hesitant to embrace the Argentinian master.

The soundtrack CD will be available in stores, on the web, and via iTunes.

...and this could be the most awesomely badass movie poster I've ever seen!

ScoreKeeper!!!