SIMON HASELY/PETER RENO – GREAT DAY.

dereksmusicblog ♦ November 11, 2026 ♦ Leave a comment

Simon Hasely/Peter Reno – Great Day.

Label: Be With Records.

Format: Vinyl. 

‘Great Day’ was originally released in 1972 on the legendary Music De Wolfe library label, and is undoubtedly one of the holy grails for collectors of seventies production music. So much so, that when copies of ‘Great Day’ come up for sale  they can change hands for upwards of £350.

For those unfamiliar with ‘Great Day,’ the album was composed by Simon Hasely/Peter Reno. These were aliases of three of the leading lights of library music. 

Simon Haseley was the pseudonym of Simon Park, while Peter Reno was the alias of composers Clifford “Cliff” Twemlow, and Peter Taylor. They were responsible for an album of library music that featured cinematic soul-jazz, fusion, orchestral action-funk, and had been inspired by blaxploitation and even big band music. It would become a cult classic amongst collectors of library music.

For many years, ‘Great Day’ was hidden away in  broadcast archives. Sometimes, copies were discovered in record and charity shops and became a favourite of record collectors, DJs, the great and good of hip hop and beat-makers. This includes Madlib, The Alchemist, Sean Price, El-P, and LTJ Bukem. They used  heavy breaks and haunting brass from the album to create modern hip-hop and drum and bass classics.

Recently, ’Great Day’ was reissued by Be With Records. This is a welcome reissue of a library music cult classic.

Side A. 

‘Great Day’ opens with an energetic, brass-laden explosion. Built on tight, snapping drums, driving bass-lines, and punchy horn arrangements, ‘Little Big John’ sets an immediate, suspenseful tone. Haseley balances high-octane brass stabs with melodic movement, establishing the record’s cinematic weight right out of the gate.

Contrasting the aggressive kickoff, ‘Summer Friend’ turns toward warm, breezy soul-jazz. Sweeping orchestral textures, expressive flute melodies, and a relaxed mid-tempo rhythm give the track an evocative, late-afternoon nostalgia. It highlights Reno’s capacity for light-filled arrangements without sacrificing rhythmic structure.

A standout highlight of the first half, is ‘Hammerhead,’ a relentless piece of chase scene funk. Anchored by a heavy, thunderous drum break, brooding bass-lines, and slashing wah-wah guitars, the composition exudes grit and urgency. It serves as a masterclass in tension-building library music.

‘Crimson’ slows the pace into moody noir territory. Rich string passages and subtle percussive details build a haunting tension. It acts as a dramatic palate cleanser, demonstrating how library composers engineered specific visual cues and emotional atmospheres into two and a half minutes. 

The title track is a broad, triumphant suite. Fusing crisp drums with bold, soaring horn lines, Haseley’s composition ‘Great Day’ builds steadily toward an expansive climax. Its infectious mid-tempo groove and uplifting harmonies make it one of the most melodic and complete instrumental pieces in the entire De Wolfe catalog. 

Closing Side A with raw power, ‘Hard Crust’ drops straight into aggressive funk-rock. Heavy drum breaks collide with biting wah wah guitar riffs, organ swells, and dramatic brass hits. It delivers an unvarnished, heavy-hitting groove that leaves an indelible mark.

Side B.

Side B kicks off with a sophisticated, strutting jazz-funk workout. Featuring syncopated percussion, agile bass work, and bright horn riffs, ‘Highball’ captures the slick, uptempo energy of early seventies television themes with precision. 

‘Bora’ shifts focus toward atmospheric exotica and orchestral soul. Shimmering instrumentation, hypnotic rhythm loops, and lush woodwind textures create an expansive spatial feel. The composition showcases Haseley’s sophisticated command of arrangement and dynamic subtlety. 

‘Hold Back’ is, without doubt one of the album’s  most memorable tracks. It provided the foundational sample for hip hop producers including Madlib, The Alchemist, El-P and Sean Price. The track combines haunting orchestral lines with staggering, dramatic drum breaks. This combination creates bristling tension and drama aplenty that results in one of the album’s standout tracks.

A high-octane homage to classic seventies cop-show scoring, ‘Silver Thrust’ pairs breakneck kinetic energy with vintage cinematic swagger. Propelled by rapid percussion, rolling bongos, and fluttering flutes, the track crests on soaring brass flourishes that capture all the grit, tension, and relentless momentum of a classic urban chase sequence. 

A heavy-hitting b-boy break anthem with stadium-sized swagger, ‘Convoy’ fuses raw funk mechanics with explosive big-band jazz orchestration. Driven by punchy drums, gritty funk organs, and towering horn stacks, it’s a high-impact groove built for maximum dancefloor ignition. 

The album’s hypnotic finale, ‘Barracuda’ is a dramatic, brooding gem famously sampled by drum and bass icon LTJ Bukem for his seminal track ‘Sunrain.’ Driven by a syncopated drum groove, fluttering flute solos, and dark guitar chords, it closes the record on an unforgettable, cinematic high. 

Standing as a towering masterwork of seventies library composition, ‘Great Day captures’ an essential chapter in modern music history – a domain once casually dismissed as utilitarian background audio, but now rightfully reevaluated as a golden era of sonic innovation, virtuoso musicianship, and sophisticated arranging prowess. Commissioned during a period when production music houses operated as creative havens for visionary composers, the album transcends its functional origins to deliver a listening experience of rare depth and enduring appeal.

What unequivocally separates this collaborative effort by Simon Haseley and Peter Reno from the vast body of library repertoire produced in its era is its remarkable, end-to-end consistency. Spanning twelve distinct compositions, the album contains no throwaway interludes, generic cues, or superficial filler. Instead, every individual piece is meticulously crafted and fully realised, anchored by sharp thematic hooks, masterclass dynamic control, and an unyielding, pristine rhythm section.

Haseley’s flair for melodic elegance and expansive orchestration provides a perfect counterbalance to Reno’s raw, heavy-hitting funk sensibilities and propulsive breakbeats. Together, they constructed a sonic palette that captured the vibrant, gritty aesthetic of early seventies cinema and television scoring while inadvertently laying the blueprint for hip hop and electronic sampling decades later.

Little did Haseley and Reno realise that their combination of orchestral flair and gritty, head-nodding grooves, would produce a cohesive body of work continues to influence contemporary producers, crate-diggers and film music aficionados alike fifty-four years later.

Whether evaluated as a seminal historical artefact of British broadcast composition, a coveted holy grail among discerning crate-diggers, or a captivating standalone listening experience, ‘Great Day’ remains a timeless, exhilarating testament to orchestral funk-jazz at its absolute zenith.

‘Great Day’ captures a rare moment in mid-century recorded music when production libraries operated with unbridled creative ambition, granting master arrangers and elite studio musicians the freedom to push genre boundaries. Its seamless blend of tight, syncopated rhythm sections, lush string arrangements, and explosive horn dynamics showcases a level of craftsmanship that transcends its original utility. Decades after its initial pressing, the album continues to resonate with equal power – offering contemporary producers an indispensable vault of breaks and textures, while providing listeners with an enduring document of dynamic sophistication, cinematic flair, and raw, infectious groove.

Simon Hasely/Peter Reno – Great Day.