One of the most popular and prolific composers of the 1970s, Jerry Fielding is little-known amongst many film music listeners (particularly younger ones) today, no doubt owing to his tragically premature death in 1980 aged just 58.  His distinctive, dynamic orchestral style, containing many of the same elements that made Alex North and Jerry Goldsmith such wonderful film composers, blessed a large number of films during the 1970s, with Fielding most famously collaborating on several occasions with the legendary director Sam Peckinpah.  With work together on (amongst others) The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs already behind them, the pair were set to reunite on Peckinpah's classic 1972 heist movie The Getaway, before disaster struck when the film's star Steve McQueen decided for some reason that he didn't like the music and so he engaged Quincy Jones to write a replacement score.

Peckinpah and Fielding went on to work together several more times afterwards, but the rejection left a very bitter taste in the composer's mouth, unsurprisingly.  Now, amazingly, over thirty years after being rejected, Fielding's score for The Getaway has surfaced on a clean, crisp-sounding CD, issued by Film Score Monthly as part of their Silver Age Classics series, and produced by film score uber-producer Nick Redman (who also happens to be one of the world's foremost Jerry Fielding experts).  It's a wonderful album which comes with a special bonus, in the shape of a thirty-minute documentary about the composer, directed by Redman, concentrating on interviews with the composer's widow, one of his daughters, and Peckinpah's former assistant.  (For all the wonderful insight, the highlight is an anecdote about Peckinpah, walking to Fielding's house for a surprise birthday party, but stopping to relieve himself in the bushes before knocking on the door; unbeknownst to him, dozens of his closest friends were all sat watching him through the front window.)

As for the music, it's a largely taut, gripping thriller score.  Having said that, the disc opens with a piece of country source music, with the delightful "Benyon's World", and it's not until half way through the second cue, "The Water Hole", that Fielding's main theme appears, featuring his trademark edgy, angular string writing.  The eight-minute "The Bank Robbery", featuring martial percussion, clustered brass, jagged winds and (again) those taut strings, is a wonderful highlight, showing a confident and daring composer at the peak of his powers.  I find the cue "Bag Theft" strangely compelling; in the grand scheme of things, it contains nothing especially noteworthy, but it's a great example of a fine composer writing music which remains constantly interesting, never becoming intrusive, but avoiding the temptation to which most composers would have succumbed, of just writing a few minutes of nothing.  The brief "Punch It, Baby" is another highlight, showing off the skilful orchestration very well.  

The Getaway is a terrific album; it's a real boon for Fielding fans, of course, but also a great opportunity for those listeners not familiar with the composer's work to get acquainted.  The notes are detailed and very impressive, the bonus DVD is informative and entertaining and, above all, the music is excellent.  If only all film music releases were like this!