''Dollars'' is the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

album to the 1971 movie of the same name, also known as ''$'', ''Dollar$'', ''$ (Dollars)'' or ''The Heist'' (in the UK), written and directed by

Richard Brooks Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a ...

and starring

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

and

Goldie Hawn Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...

. The soundtrack, originally issued on

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

, is composed and produced by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, and features performances by

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the Billboard Magazine, ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", "Feel Like M ...

and

Doug Kershaw Douglas James Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an extens ...

. Throughout the album, the Don Elliott Voices provide harmony vocal background to otherwise instrumental pieces.The "Don Elliott Voices" were generally Don Elliott, a frequent soundtrack collaborator with Quincy Jones, multitracking his voice. An example is the Roberta Flack version of "When You're Smiling", on the ''Dollar$'' soundtrack. Flack is backed by a twenty voice choir, all created through multitracking the vocals of Don Elliott. See Scooter Pirtie,
"Don Elliott: He was a gentleman, too"
(1994); www.middlehornleader.com.

History

Jones, who was at the time under contract to

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, was given permission by A&M Records to become involved with the soundtrack. Little Richard, Roberta Flack and Doug Kershaw were all artists with the

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

/Reprise group. The film was released in December 1971, followed by the early 1972 release of the soundtrack album. Jones' "Money Runner", was the promoted single from the album, released concurrently with the film, in December 1971. "Money Is", written by Jones and sung by Little Richard, was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

.Particulars of "Money Runner" single
www.discogs.com.Little Richard's performances of "Money Is" and "Do It-To It" were later included in a limited edition collection of Little Richard's recordings for Reprise records, released in 2005 by

Rhino Handmade Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

. See
Particulars of Little Richard, King of Rock and Roll, ''The Complete Reprise Recordings''
www.rock-n-roll.40s-50s.info. The album was released by

on CD in 2001 and then re-released on CD in 2008, coinciding with the DVD release of the film.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Jason Birchmeier said "Jones works with well-known vocalists Little Richard and Roberta Flack, which may interest some listeners. But, ultimately, it's Jones' compositions that carry the most weight on this soundtrack and surely the reason to give this soundtrack a listen. It's not worth going out of your way to get, though. Jones released a lot of phenomenal music in his time, and though this is impressive, it's one of his less interesting projects. It'll be best enjoyed by fanatics and completists". In contrast, ''Score, Baby!'', a website devoted to reviews of "cult soundtracks of the 60s. 70s and beyond" described the ''Dollar$'' soundtrack as "essential", being an "inventive blend of experimental jazz and rhythm & blues". It was further described as being comparable to Jones' score for ''

They Call Me Mr. Tibbs ''They Call Me Mister Tibbs!'' is a 1970 American DeLuxe Color crime drama film directed by Gordon Douglas. The second installment in a trilogy, the release was preceded by '' In the Heat of the Night'' (1967) and followed by '' The Organizatio ...

'', in terms of being among Jones' "best funky soundtrack work".

The Vinyl Factory The Vinyl Factory is a large music company based in London, United Kingdom. It includes a record label, vinyl pressing plant, and a venue space. It also publishes ''Fact'' magazine and owns Phonica Records store. Overview The Vinyl Factory be ...

called it "a slightly ramshackle record, rich with sudden soulful moods and slam-dunk funk. With its Rhodes pianos and wacka-wacka guitars, the album oozes smooth ‘70s". The soundtrack remains of ongoing interest to later artists.

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts rapper Guru. For the entirety of their association, they were based out of Brooklyn, New York. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 20 ...

sampled "Snow Creatures", while

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from New York City. The duo consisted of rappers Prodigy and Havoc. They are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hopEdwards, Paul, 2009, ''How to Rap: The Art & Scien ...

sampled "Kitty With The Bent Frame"

La Mongoose Band LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

, a Spanish

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band, covered "Money Runner". Acid jazz band

Corduroy Corduroy is a textile with a distinctively raised "cord" or wale texture. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between them. Both velvet and corduroy derive from fu ...

covered "Money Is" on their 1992 debut album, ''

Dad Man Cat ''Dad Man Cat'' was the first LP by Corduroy to be released by Acid Jazz Records, in 1992. It is primarily an instrumental album, with what became the classic Corduroy sound. The album was reissued on vinyl by Acid Jazz Records in 2018. Receptio ...

'' and on their 1994 album ''

Quattro - Live In Japan Quattro is Italian for the number four. Quattro may also refer to: People * "Quattro", a nickname of A. J. Foyt IV Fictional characters * Quattro Vageena or Quattro Bageena, an alias of Char Aznable in the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime series ...

''Joshua Rosenstock
Review of Corduroy versions of "Money Is"
at 'Lectric Diaspora; www.joshuarosenstock.com.

Track listing

#Money Is (Vocal by Little Richard) 4:28 #Snow Creatures 3:16 #Rubber Ducky 1:10 #Redeye Runnin' Train (Solo Violin by Doug Kershaw) 2:54 #Shady Lady 1:06 #Money Runner 3:08 #

When You're Smiling "When You're Smiling" is a popular song written by Larry Shay, Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin in 1928. It bears resemblance to the Spanish Canción " Amapola" by José María Lacalle García. Early popular recordings were by Seger Ellis (1928), Lo ...

(The Whole World Smiles With You) (End Title) ( Shay,

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

and Goodwin, arr. Jones) (Vocal by Roberta Flack with the Don Elliott Voices) 1:45 #Do It - To It (Vocal by Little Richard) 2:51 #Candy Man 3:11 #Passin' the Buck 1:36 #Kitty With the Bent Frame 2:13 #Brook's 50 Cent Tour ain Title Collage(Vocal by Little Richard) 9:35

Credits

* Arthur Adams Guitar * Elek Bacsik Guitar *

Paul Beaver Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

Keyboards * Ray Brown Bass *

Larry Bunker Lawrence Benjamin Bunker (November 4, 1928 – March 8, 2005) was an American jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist. A member of the Bill Evans Trio in the mid-1960s, he also played timpani with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra. ...

Percussion *

Don Elliott Don Elliott Helfman (October 21, 1926 – July 5, 1984) was an American jazz trumpeter, vibraphonist, vocalist, and mellophone player. Elliott recorded over 60 albums and 5,000 advertising jingles throughout his career. Career Elliott played m ...

Voices *

Gene Estes The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of Los Angeles-based session musicians whose services were employed for a great number of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly rec ...

Percussion *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

Percussion *

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorate ...

Keyboards *Elliott Fisher Violin *

Vocals, Performer *

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. ''Early life and career'' Born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Gale grew up in a diverse household. His paternal grandfather was from Yorksh ...

Guitar *

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percu ...

Percussion *

Paul Humphrey Paul Nelson Humphrey (October 12, 1935 – January 31, 2014) was an American jazz and R&B drummer. Biography Humphrey was born in Detroit and began playing drums at age 8, taking private lessons in Detroit. In high school he played baritone hor ...

Drums * Anthony Jackson Electric Bass * Tommy Johnson Tuba *

Piano, Trumpet, Composer, Conductor *

Artie Kane Artie Kane (born Aaron Cohen; April 14, 1929 – June 21, 2022) was an American pianist, film score composer, and conductor with a career spanning over six decades. As a pianist in Hollywood studios, Kane worked with artists such as Frank Sina ...

Keyboards *

Violin, Performer * Michael Lang Keyboards *

Piano, Vocals, Performer *Bill Plummer Keyboards, Sitar * Bobbye Porter Percussion *

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

Keyboards *

Chuck Rainey Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,00 ...

Electric Bass *

Jerome Richardson Jerome Richardson (November 15, 1920 – June 23, 2000) was an American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist, and flute player, who also played soprano sax, alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto flute and piccolo. He played with Ch ...

Woodwind *

Ron Tutt Ronald Ellis Tutt (March 12, 1938 – October 16, 2021) was an American drummer who played concerts and recording sessions for Elvis Presley, the Carpenters, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Jerry Garcia. Early life Born in Dallas, Texas, United ...

Drums * David T. Walker Guitar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollars (soundtrack) Quincy Jones soundtracks 1971 soundtrack albums Reprise Records soundtracks Warner Records soundtracks Crime film soundtracks Albums arranged by Quincy Jones Albums conducted by Quincy Jones