Originally released in 1976 on the Patchwork label, Racing stands as a landmark work of French library music, meticulously crafted to illustrate sports and action scenes with unprecedented sonic sophistication. This instrumental album channels the raw energy of competition through a masterful blend of jazz-funk propulsion, cutting-edge electronics, and cinematic orchestration, delivering an atmosphere that remains startlingly contemporary. Teddy Lasry, composer and multi-instrumentalist of legendary status, brings his innovative approach to electronic and experimental music into sharp focus here. His melodic sensibility and distinctive sound textures inject a genuinely futuristic dimension into the album, elevating functional music into the realm of pure artistry. Lasry's contributions demonstrate how library music could serve as a laboratory for sonic innovation.
Claude Perraudin, prolific guitarist and composer whose fingerprints appear across countless library music classics, provides the album's rhythmic backbone with remarkable precision. His playing and rhythmic arrangements generate palpable energy and tension that transforms passive listening into visceral experience. Perraudin's guitar work cuts through the mix with surgical accuracy, driving each composition forward with relentless momentum. Racing functions as both sonic documentary and abstract art - capturing the essence of velocity, competition, and human determination while operating as standalone musical experience. These compositions don't merely accompany action; they embody it, translating physical movement into organized sound with remarkable effectiveness.
The album represents library music at its most kinetic and purposeful. Each track bristles with forward motion, whether depicting the thunderous approach of motorsport, the calculated tension of strategic competition, or the euphoric release of victory. Yet beneath this functional surface lies sophisticated composition and arrangement that rewards concentrated listening.
This vinyl reissue presents a rare opportunity to rediscover a cult album that has been cherished by collectors and library music enthusiasts for decades, finally receiving the wider recognition its innovation deserves.