Now Sound — CDs  

Two groovy sets from Paul Mauriat – both recorded in the magic year of 1966! More Mauriat really has Paul opening up with some hipper 60s sounds than usual – taking on a whole bunch of American pop tunes of the time, and retuning a French orchestral approach towards leaner, meaner modes – almost a soulful strings sort of vibe at times – although at others, definitely scored by Mauriat with the kind of French soundtrack styles we love in his music – especially in his great use of electric harpsichord on many of the tunes! Titles include "Bang Bang", "Black Is Black", "Sunny", "Guantanamera", "Lara's Theme", and "Reach Out I'll Be There". Prestige De Paris returns Mauriat to the songs of his homeland – classic French tunes from the more romantic previous generation – often done here with full strings and a relatively florid approach that's a bit different than some or Paul's worldwide hits. Titles include "Sous Le Ponts De Paris", "La Mer", "Moulin Rouge", "Les Feuilles Mortes", "La Seine", and "Fascination".

One of the greatest soundtracks we've ever heard from Piero Umiliani – an incredibly groovy record from the very first note! The score's got a fantastic mix of groovy scoring, jazzy bits, and cool little vocals – spare organ lines that set the tune on most numbers, stepping basslines to set the rhythms, and scatting lyrics from I Cantori Moderni – a group who make the act of counting to 5 sound incredibly cool! The feel is quite similar to Umiliani's sublime Sweden Heaven & Hell soundtrack (and at one point, you even can hear the guy with the funny voice from "Mah Na Mah Na") – and the music is exactly the kind of wonderful stuff that first got us digging Italian film scores so many years ago. This great reissue adds a bunch of previously unreleased tracks to the original – a whopping 34 tracks in all – 14 from the original album, plus 3 stereo bonus cuts, and another 17 mono tunes. Titles include a few versions of the main theme, plus "Titoli Coda", "Luna Di Piero Agosto", "Bambola Omicida", "Interludio Azzurro", "Cinque Bambole", and "Danza Jazz Moon".

This is one of Mort Garson's craziest moog records ever, or as the label says: "Moog Goes Supernatural with Eerie Electronics". Ostensibly a satanic sort of thing, this is actually a wild cool mix of moog and early synthesizer effects, over a bunch of original compositions with no sorts of "hokey" arrangments. Very noisy in parts, and pretty growly with cool cool sounds. Did you expect anything less from Mr. Mort? Titles include "Exorcism", "ESP", "Witch Trial", "Solomon's Ring", and "Black Mass".

An absolute treasure of tripped-out, space age symphonic funk from 101 Strings! On this set the undocumented group of session players run through a whole bunch of spacey cuts, complete with fuzzed out electric guitar and sitar, weird period electronics, and more than a few funky drum breaks. It's the kind of record that could only be born of the late 60s scene – filled with huge, stratospheric string charts that soar with pure classical chops, as filtered through the groovy, anything-goes era of late 60s space age grooves. The tracks are as groovy as the titles, which include "Re-Entry to Mog", "Bad Trip Back to '69", "Trippin On Lunar O7", Where Were You In 1982?" and "A Disappointing Love With A Desensitized Robot".