Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygène [1976; Les Disques Motors, Polydor]

With numerous layers of synthesizers droning, sweeping, and warbling over each other, the six-part suite of
Oxygène flows along on gentle energies and light playfulness. Adapting largely the same instrumentation and synth voices to various moods, tempos, and densities of activity, the album proceeds along its course with smooth transitions. Hints of early techno crop up from time to time, usually when the bass-lines are allowed to take hold, while the slips into slow particle washes foreshadow the emergence of dark ambient. Though the conclusion is a bit lacking, with no firm completion of the themes, it’s still an interesting set of compositions, and its anticipation of further developments in electronic music adds some extra spice.

Stanley Turrentine – Everybody Come On Out [1976; Bellaphon, Fantasy]

With a spread of jazz from hard bop to smooth sax, this album shows band-leader Stanley Turrentine and his sizable group of backing musicians (with almost three dozen contributors credited) playing with more of an ear towards experimentation than consistency. That approach, along with the rotation of the band’s line-up and all but one of the songs being covers (the exception being “There Is A Place (Rita’s Theme)“, written by Pamela Turrentine), doesn’t keep the group from maintaining a recognizable character and steady quality to the music, though.

While some of that persistence is attributable to the department-store production, the majority of it is due to the clear skills of the performers, which bring frissons of lively embellishment along with solid foundations to each song. With all of it kept instrumental, the little touches are allowed more clarity, and there’s quite a few passages into the lush details of which a listener can just let themselves pleasantly sink. The occasional chintziness is minor enough as to not impact things too much, and the whole of it comes off well, if a little too wide in scope.

Bernard Herrmann – Taxi Driver [1976; Arista]

Originally issued with just ten of its cues, Bernard Herrmann’s score to Taxi Driver found the long-time composer drawing on smoky jazz for his arrangements, with saxophone featuring in the main theme, and bass, slow horns, and other wind instruments shaping the rest of the pieces. Stings of tension are worked into the more sedate tracks with abruptness that doesn’t quite derail the momentum, and usually with more ‘old Hollywood’ instruments such as the harp providing the interference. The expanded edition, which includes eighteen tracks (though a number of these contain multiple cues flowing into each other) also provides alternate versions of a few pieces, giving some information on Herrmann’s approach to the material, and how he settled on the most suitable forms for the film.

The dreamy atmosphere the score takes on at times evokes Herrmann’s work on Vertigo‘s score, though with less weight placed on motifs, and the stirring slow march pace taken by some of Taxi Driver’s pieces helps separate the hopelessness of the lead characters out into their own individual sorts of anguish. Some uptempo portions towards the end do stand out as odd fits, but the score at large is a fine piece of work, with nuance and care put into the direction of the various players, and considerable success from Herrmann while working in styles infrequent to his catalog.

Here’s the cover art used for the 2008 reissue by Humo.

And Waxwork Records’ 2016 reissue.

Laura Nyro – Smile [1976; CBS, CBS/Sony, Columbia]

Sweet-hearted folk and gentle pop blend with teases of jazz and blues in this album, released almost a decade after Laura Nyro’s debut LP, with a string of others between the two. Nyro’s voice comes off as the strongest part of the songs by far, with a range from clear soprano to deeper huskiness, and the rather generic mid-’70s soft rock instrumentation which surrounds her singing gives it little competition. At the same time, the usual breathiness of her vocal style can leave some of the lyrics indistinct without attentive listening, so while the music is pleasant, it doesn’t go out of its way to grab attention (the use of koto in the closing title track notwithstanding).