This World, Then the Fireworks is the score
Pete Rugolo was born to compose. While overshadowed by the likes of
Henry Mancini and his landmark Peter Gunn soundtrack,
Rugolo was no less critical in establishing the smoky, neon-lit
jazz ambience now synonymous with the thriller genre, and he returns to the world of film noir decades later with an authority and maturity that lends this new music even greater resonance.
Rugolo channels a postwar
bop sensibility well matched to the source material, an early novella by crime fiction demigod
Jim Thompson, coloring the margins with woozy organs and slinky rhythms. His thematic ideas develop and crisscross with novelistic ingenuity, with a sense of danger, sex, or some combination thereof lurking around every dark melodic corner. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
