2 of the greatest soundtracks ever from Francois De Roubaix – both recorded in that magical year of 1967! First up on the set is Les Adventuriers – a mindblowingly wonderful score for a Robert Enrico film, and one that offers a unique blend of jazzy rhythms, western themes, and more – all tied together by an extremely haunting theme! Some tunes have spaghetti western-esque acoustic guitar and whistling, while others have a more Frenchy isolated piano, played with a slightly watery feel – and some others take on a much more driving, almost Francis Lai-like approach. De Roubaix score for Jean Pierre Melville's classic Le Samourai follows in a much darker mode – as moody and solitary as the film's main character, but graced with some warmer touches on piano, flute, and even a bit of organ – none of which are especially jazzy, but which color in the music with extremely evocative tones. Titles include "Laetitia Par Alain Delon", "Journal De Bord", "Enterrement Sous-Marin", "Acrobaties Aeriennes", "Hotel Sandwich", "Martey's", "Valerie", "Le Samourai", and "Le Destin De Costello". CD

A fictitious soundtrack inspired by the likes of Francois de Roubaix and Phil Spector! CD

A great package – one that features some wildly experimental work from French electronics whiz Philippe Besombes! First up is the album Libra – tripped out electronics meet progressive rock jamming – all in a weird and wonderful film score from the early 70s! The record's one of the best by French experimentalist Philippe Besombes from the time – and it's got a style that sort of starts in the territory of Francois De Roubaix similar electronic work for film – but gets a lot darker and noisier right away! There's a textural depth here that's really great – almost a pre-industrial music exploration of sounds – but the work's also not that over-indulgent, either – and Besombes always has a great way of getting back to a tune, especially on the shorter tracks. Titles include "La Plage", "Rugby", "Ceremonie", "Hache 06", "La Ville", "Les Cosmonautes", "Tis A Song", "Boogimmick", and "PJF 261". Next is the record Esombeso – also release as Ceci Est Cela – a strange mix of sound library electronics and much more experimental work from Philippe Besombes – a set that carries echoes of some of the best Italian soundtrack electronics of the 70s, but which also features much darker, more turgid moments as well! The album collects some of Besombes' performances for ballet and other settings – and stands as an even starker document of his talents than some of the other albums issued under his name in the 70s. Titles include "Pawa"," Geant", "Seul", and "Ceci Est Cela". Next are two more albums done under the name Hydravion – both of which show Besombes turning his electronics into tighter, more song-based territory – although not without some noise from time to time – shorter tracks that sometimes get a bit tuneful, but which are still light years from mainstream music of the period. CD set also features bonus tracks for the first two albums – 8 more numbers that include "L'Or Des Fous", "Traversee", "Trio", "Piano Prepare", "Orgue Hache", and "Chocolate Cream". CD

Some of the coolest work we've ever heard from Polish film composer Andrezj Korzynski – material from an important movie from the early 70s, presented here in two different sections of the soundtrack, which were each made for different chapters of the film! The style is wonderfully hard to peg – a mix of orchestrations, Fender Rhodes, stepping basslines, and these light lyrical passages – often wrapped together, but in ways that are quite unconventional – as exotic currents mix with dramatic ones, but often with a slightly offbeat vibe, as you'd find in the music of Francois De Roubaix! And while not entirely like De Roubaix's material of the time, the approach here is similarly unique – very aware of funky elements, yet not overly dressed in them – and instead just used lightly to augment larger musical passages in this really cool way. Book features notes in English and Polish – and titles include "Oaza/Hamis", "Porwanie", "Chora Nel", "Nowa Oboz", "Stasiu Slon", "Pozar", "Smain", "Fatima", "Skorpion", and "Bitwa". CD

Maybe one of the coolest collection of soundtrack work we've ever heard, and maybe one of the most obscure as well – given that the tracks here were all done for Belgian films of the 60s and 70s, and include some rare work from composers you might know from bigger name European movies! There's a very jazzy vibe to many of these numbers – and the set echoes some of the great jazz and funk collections on the same label – with a similarly well-chosen batch of cuts that are balanced out beautifully, and presented in the kind of package with notes that let you know that these guys really know what they're doing! The whole thing's great, and very groovy – and titles include "Les Trucs Du Miroir" by Kryzstof Komeda, "Nach Shift" by Alain Pierre, "Boloero Pour Denise" by Jean Mari Bigman, "Poursuite Sur Les Dunes D'Ostende" by Francois De Roubaix, "Jonny's Theme" by Rocco Granata, "Theme 19" by Pieter Verlinden, "De Discotheek" by Bert Paige, "Courage Fuyons" by Vladimir Cosma, "Dancing" by Martial Solal, and "Tu M'Tapes Sur Les Nerfs. CD