We are in the middle of a heatwave and there are a million things I should be doing that don't involve being in a loft room listening to this, even if it is playing on a really nice stereo - It's like 36 outside or something, I can hardly breathe and I am stuck to my pants. I am dealing with this by pretending to be in SAS extreme weather training.
Released as part of DeathWaltzRecordings big and seemingly failed Record Store Day putsch I initially steered well clear of this due to the weak packaging: A generic factory sleeve isn't always a bad thing but when you have a logo that's as poor as DeathWaltz' you don't really want it emblazoned across the front of anything let alone an album sleeve. Anyway, eventually courtesy of a trip to a record store in Glasgow I did pick this up. Much like the film it's a mixed bag. It plays at 45 in a struggle to fill an entire album's play length. It's duration isn't the only clue to the fact that it was never supposed to be analysed separately from it's role as incidental music to the film - It's full of filler, some of it so utterly dreadful it should never have seen the light of day.
That's the downside out of the way - Apart from the poster which is horrible given the visuals you have to choose from and use here. The big plus is the title theme and 'Bronx Suspense', yes it's wanky jazz fusion but it's good wanky jazz fusion. 'Bronx Traffic' on side 2 is also a hit and if you like your Goblin then it's well worth giving a go for that alone.
For me the greatest thing about this film aside of the bikes, exploding mannequins and choice of fire arms is the scene with the drummer (above). It comes during a meet under the Brooklyn bridge, is literally a couple of minutes long and focuses entirely on the guy smashing out some dirty early 80's New York breaks for no reason what so ever, it's not central or even incidental to the plot. So why is it there? Rumor has it that the guy was using the waste ground as a practice space, they saw him and thought 'fuck it' let's put the kid in the picture because it's cool... And more importantly it adds precious minutes to our running time.
Here he is again from another angle. Guy's a legend and not just because he's playing on disused cinema seats. That all said, he's in the film, not on the soundtrack so back to that. Is it' any good? It's alright. Do I need it? No. Do you need it? Honestly ask yourself do you need 85% of DeathWaltz' output? The real answer is no, of course you don't. If you are one of those new wave of record collectors who chases coloured vinyl(s) or even worse fucking 'wax' then good for you, that's great, really it's so important to have a worth while hobby. But if you are a vinyl speculator, one of these people sucking up multiples the second a record hits you will already be learning an expensive lesson - A reissue is as a reissue does... It get's reissued... In a different coloured 'wax' (fuck off) next month. In the case of Bronx Warriors, this is as far as I am aware the first time it has ever seen the light of day (for a reason) and DW promise it's release is a one time thing. Quite possibly, but you can be sure that Mondo, One Way Static etc will jump on it for US rights the second it looks like selling through (This has yet to happen and if you want a copy they are as of writing marked down on DW's website).
So, to conclude, not bad but utterly un-essential (That's the opposite of Boomkat's favourite word of the month for December 2013). More to follow on DeathWaltz, mainly because at a quick glance I own way more records from that label than I thought I did and I'd like to try get to grips with how and why I got sucked in to the great 'Horror' soundtrack revival of 2012.
Right, now to let my eyesight to adjust to British summertime.
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