In recent months, the fine folks at Varese Vintage have been on a roll with a number of soundtrack releases including Foul Play, Roots, The Champ, The Electric Horseman, and most recently for Record Store Day Black Friday, Harry Nilsson's Popeye and Charles Fox and Bob Crewe's Barbarella.  Now, the label has just reissued for the first time on CD the soundtrack to the 1984 crime drama City Heat, featuring music by Lennie Niehaus and performances by Al Jarreau, Eloise Laws, Irene Cara, Joe Williams, and the film's star, Clint Eastwood.

Hopes were high for the Warner Bros. picture pairing Eastwood with another major box office draw, Burt Reynolds.  For the film set in 1933 Prohibition-era Kansas City, Eastwood portrayed Police Lt. Speer, competing with his old friend/former cop Mike Murphy (Reynolds) for the affections of Murphy's secretary Addy (Jane Alexander) even as they team up to take down a nefarious mob boss played by Rip Torn.  Madeline Kahn took the plum role of rich socialite Caroline Howley, another love interest of Murphy's. The road to City Heat was a rocky one, with director Blake Edwards leaving the picture and withdrawing credit for his screenplay, which was rewritten by Joseph C. Stinson.  (The final credit for Edwards, writer-director of the bitter Hollywood satire S.O.B., went to "Sam O. Brown.")  Director Richard Benjamin took over, and Eastwood brought on his friend and old Army buddy Lennie Niehaus to pen the score.  (Had Edwards remained on the project, there's little doubt Henry Mancini would have been the composer.)

Niehaus drew upon his roots as a jazz saxophonist and arranger for the Stan Kenton band to craft the period score.  Though his dramatic cues were left off the Warner Bros. Records soundtrack album, his talent is displayed on lively, jazz-inflected source cues as well as renditions of classic standards which he arranged for a variety of performers.  Hence, the album features Al Jarreau crooning "Million Dollar Baby," soul songstress Eloise Laws doing "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," and Irene Cara placing her stamp on the Gershwins' "Embraceable You" and taking on a song closely associated with Judy Garland via "Get Happy."  Joe Williams performed the title song penned by lyricist Cara and composer Bruce Roberts.  Clint Eastwood himself teamed with pianists Mike Lang and Pete Jolly for the dueling pianos of "Montage Blues."

Though City Heat wasn't the blockbuster it was intended to be, its soundtrack album preserves Lennie Niehaus' fine big-band arrangements, not to mention some fine performances of standards from top-notch artists.  Varese's reissue features an insert with a new essay by Jim Lochner; Chas Ferry and Daren Chadwick have remastered.

We would like City Heat to be YOURS.  To enter to win ONE OF TEN COPIES, simply LIKE our Facebook page, and head over to Varese Sarabande's FB page and do the same! Just leave us a comment on the CITY HEAT post on our FB page.  Let us know: Why would you like to win?  Do you have any favorite memories of any of the artists or stars of the film?  Once you like both pages and comment anything you'd like to share about City Heat, you'll automatically be entered to win!

If you've entered our previous giveaways and have already liked BOTH The Second Disc and Varese's Facebook page, you can still win: simply enter a comment on our thread to be entered! Only one entry per person. Remember, BOTH FB pages must be "LIKED" and a comment left on our page in order to win!

Don't have Facebook?  We're not leaving you out in the cold! Just send an e-mail to theseconddisc AT gmail DOT com with the subject line "CITY HEAT" plus your name and mailing address, and you'll also be entered to win!

The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on the evening of Sunday, December 10, at which time 10 random winners will be selected. Contest open to all. Only one entry per person either via Facebook or email. All winners at sole discretion of The Second Disc. U.S. residents only, please.  This contest is NOT affiliated with or endorsed by Facebook.  Winner will be notified the week of December 11 via Facebook and The Second Disc, so remember to check back!  Good luck!

City Heat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is available now from Varese Vintage at the links below!

Lennie Niehaus, City Heat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Warner Bros. LP 25219, 1984 - reissued Varese Vintage 302 067 441 8, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Million Dollar Baby - Al Jarreau
2. A Rainy Night
3. Montage Blues - Mike Lang, Pete Jolly and Clint Eastwood
4. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Eloise Laws
5. Murf's Turf
6. Diner Fight
7. Get Happy - Irene Cara
8. Embraceable You - Irene Cara
9. A Cold Night
10. Tap Your Feet
11. Speer Head
12. Have a Good One
13. Lieutenant's Stealthy
14. City Heat - Joe Williams