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This title is now sold out Music Composed and Conducted by Bill Conti F.I.S.T. (1978) cast Sylvester Stallone as rising labor leader Johnny Kovac, a character that seemed loosely based on Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa. Norman Jewison, a five-time Academy Award nominee (and director of 1967 Best Picture In the Heat of the Night), claims he had signed Stallone before Rocky made the struggling actor/writer an overnight star. Jewison had wanted to make a labor-related film since the early '60s, but could never synchronize the right property with sufficient financing until the F.I.S.T. script came his way. Jewison sought to create an atmosphere of period authenticity for the film, with Dubuque, Iowa standing in for the early Cleveland of the film's first half. He wanted Bill Conti's scoring efforts on F.I.S.T. to echo those sensibilities; a big orchestra producing largely period sounds. "The director, Norman Jewison, wanted the movie to feel like it was the kind of movie made in the 40s that had a big orchestra and a lot of music. But (he emphasized) it was still the story of oppression and that the theme had to reflect on one's striving really hard. But the main view was to try to recreate those movies that we had done in the 40s." Conti rose to Jewison's challenge, and then some. Performed with graceful, yet energetic dignity by the London Symphony Orchestra, in a stunning recording made for the soundtrack album, the composer's cues for F.I.S.T. bristle with a sort of Hollywood Golden Age bravado, yet come often imbued with the composer's own, distinctly modern sensibilities. As a very special bonus for this CD we add another of Conti's 1978 scores, Slow Dancing In The Big City. Director John G. Avildsen's follow-up to his Rocky phenom was a decided left-turn, if one that still revolved around underdog themes. It cast Paul Sorvino as gruff New York newspaperman Lou Friedlander, columnist in the Jimmy Breslin mold, whose tough heart melts when he falls in love with young ballerina Sarah Gantz. Aside from its gorgeously fragile title music and effusively romantic evocations, like the tender, piano seasoned "Rooftop Dancing" and "The Ovation," Slow Dancing afforded Conti the opportunity to indulge his talents in everything from Latin flavored jazz (the frenetic "T.C. Salsa") to the lengthy, classically rooted dance centerpiece Balletto. With so few of his scores ever released as soundtracks, Conti's career is ripe for re-discovery. For our part we revisit F.I.S.T. and Slow Dancing In the Big City, a pair of long lost scores from 1978 representing some of Bill Contis earliest and best work. F.I.S.T. 1. Main Title (Theme from F.I.S.T.) (2:42) 2. F.I.S.T. Is Formed (1:58) 3. Preparing To Strike (1:51) 4. Torching The Tent (1:42) 5. My Friend Abe (1:45) 6. Convention and Election (1:58) 7. Kissing In The Closet (3:06) 8. The Big Strike (2:01) 9. Funeral For Mike (1:40) 10. Enlistment Drive (1:48) 11. Johnny Goes To Washington (2:08) 12. Doyle's Men (1:16) 13. Lights Out (1:43) 14. End Title (4:05) SLOW DANCING IN THE BIG CITY 15. Slow Dancing In The Big City (3:02) 16. Good Night (1:29) 17. You Can't Dance Again (2:24) 18. Alone In Lincoln Center (2:28) 19. Rooftop Dancing (2:14) 20. T.C. Salsa (3:48) 21. Balletto (7:04) 22. The Ovation (4:31) 23. Blue Evening Vocal by Michael Dees (J. Bishop / G. Jenkins) (5:01) Please click the following links to listen to the sound tracks:
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