Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2026 July 27 • Monday

I haven't seen it, but it seems like King of Thieves is generally considered to be a pretty bad movie. That's too bad, because Benjamin Wallfisch's music for it is really good. It's the 919th Soundtrack of the Week.

This is a gangster movie starring Michael Caine so of course his character's main theme, "Reader's Theme", is very reminiscent of the theme from Get Carter. No tablas but a similar keyboard sound, a groovy rhythm and a similar shape to the melody.

The band bursts into a high-energy backbeat with swinging horns for "The Scheme", another one to get your toes tapping.

There's a Herrmannesque string introduction for "Diamond Education" after which there's a reprise of "Reader's Theme".

"What About My Privacy" is classic upbeat suspense, with ostinati and snippets of grooves slipping in and out of strings and vibes.

The main theme gets another expression in "Load In", which eventually segues into a walking bass section and then a more tense atmosphere for its conclusion.

Insistent keyboard playing, mostly one note, provides the background for "Blinking Red Light", which has instruments making small statements here and there until the band explodes into another swinging, horn-heavy action statement.

After a very dreamy, peaceful start, "Night at Hatton Garden" also shifts suddenly into blazing horn parts and heavy beats, before shifting down into a more relaxed jazz part.

The famous "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" gets a big band swing interpretation in "Sugar Plum Raid", followed by "The Morning after the Night Before", a mostly sparse and sedate suspense cue that has a surprise breakbeat drum feature at the end.

The main theme comes back for the first half of "Train Escape", to be replaced by a kind of electro disco piece. Then we get some more relaxed suspense music with some Mancini-ish stings in "Where's Basil".

The short "Tracking the Lads" cue is keyboard pulses with a bit of embellishment from other instruments while "I'm the Guv Now" is mostly long tones that sound threatening.

"Police Sting" is straight-up fear music. You can practically hear the adrenaline surging. It starts with the bass and then insistent strings give the impression of running for your life. Then it bursts into big-band swing-rock again.

The strings play sad and regretful music for "Reader Arrested", simple but emotional and very effective. Then for the last track, "King of Thieves", we hear the main theme one more time, also with one last swerve into high energy horn-driven swing/funk/rock/whatever.