Sounds of now, circa yesterday – a very cool collection of 60s and 70s electronic work from Eric Siday – presented in these great short sound cues! The tracks are pretty brief, but very cool in that respect – and almost work like little electronic poems, or light whimsical melodies – which are sometimes mixed with spookier bits too. The work fits well as themes or commercials – but often has that undercurrent of darkness that we like in Siday's music too. Titles include "Logo Gogo", "Bubbling Under", "Automobile", "Kitchen Concerto", "Christmassy", "Bell Tune", "Helicopter Eyeview", "Winter Sports", "Jazz Cellar", and "Record Club". (Sound Library, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent stuff! This is the great US issue of the fantastic first rare album of funky soundtrack stuff put out by Crippled Dick. In case you haven't heard it, the set's a mix of tracks from the funky scores to three wild lesbian vampire films from the late 60's, and the music is an excellent mix of organ grooves, funky breakbeats, and cool Now Sound sounds – with wild sitar, guitar, and electronics! The package comes with great notes, cool photos from the films, and excellent cuts like "Shindai Lovers", "Kamasutra", "Necromania", "Lions & The Cucumber", and lots lots more. Great stuff, very goofy, and very very funky! This LP copy comes with a cool tri-fold poster that's very very sexy, too! CD

A rare early moment from the legendary Austrian group Paternoster – sounds that predate their one and only cult-status album – originally created for the equally legendary film, Die Ersten Tage! The music here was never issued commercially at the time – and the release of these sounds adds a much-needed page to the slim book of Paternoster – especially since the creative flair of these songs really fleshes out our understanding of the group! As with their vocal music, most of the style here is slow, but jamming – kind of mellow prog, almost – but lighter, too – and with a moodier vibe, given the absence of lyrics – which lets the offbeat guitar parts do most of the speaking for the group. The whole thing's fragile, yet jagged – earthy, but cosmic – and the set features 30 tracks in all, appearing here on record for the first time ever! (Rock, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

A rare early moment from the legendary Austrian group Paternoster – sounds that predate their one and only cult-status album – originally created for the equally legendary film, Die Ersten Tage! The music here was never issued commercially at the time – and the release of these sounds adds a much-needed page to the slim book of Paternoster – especially since the creative flair of these songs really fleshes out our understanding of the group! As with their vocal music, most of the style here is slow, but jamming – kind of mellow prog, almost – but lighter, too – and with a moodier vibe, given the absence of lyrics – which lets the offbeat guitar parts do most of the speaking for the group. The whole thing's fragile, yet jagged – earthy, but cosmic – and the set features 30 tracks in all, appearing here on record for the first time ever! 3CD version features a bonus CD2, with 7 more film cue tracks – and CD3, which features demo versions of the songs "I Wanna Bring You Down", "Not Like You", "Paternoster", "Old Danube", "Mammoth Opus", "The Pope Is Wrong", and "Stop These Lines". (Rock, Soundtracks) CD

One of the greatest soundtracks ever from the mighty Piero Umiliani – sounds initially written for a film that was an international "sexpose" of daily life in Sweden – but which have grown to even greater fame on their own over the years – thanks to the talent of the maestro! The music here is awash in groovy elements – lots of sweet Hammond organ lines, mod basslines, and some especially cool wordless vocals from the choir of Alessandro Alessandroni – scatting away in a great way alongside the instruments, and bringing an added level of breathy eroticism to the whole thing! This special LP version recreates the original Omicron release of the record – with titles that include the two lyrical tracks "You Tried To Warn Me" and "Sleep Now Little One", sung by Lydia McDonald – plus the tracks "Topless Party", "Eva Svedense", "Essere Donna", "La Signora Cameriera", "FotoModelle", and "Le Ragazze Dell'Archipellago". (Note, does not contain the track "Mah Na Mah Na", which is on other versions of the soundtrack – but it appears on the "partner" reissue of Umiliani's Psichedelica from Schema, under the title "Viva La Sauna Svedese".) LP, Vinyl record album

An assortment of tracks from those years when a lovely face on the cinema screen might also lead some work in the recording studio too – served up here in a mix of tracks from female singers you'll know as jazz artists, plus others you'll remember as movie stars too! The sounds are all lovely, certainly deserving of the pin-up promise in the title – and this volume features 20 tracks that include "Why Try To Change Me Now" by Connie Stevens, "Teach Me Tiger" by April Stevens, "Hit The Road To Dreamland" by Betty Hutton, "Let's Do It" by Jayne Mansfield, "The Thrill Is Gone" by Mitzi Gaynor, "Oh Oh Cheri" by Francoise Hardy, "I Used To Be Color Blind" by Ginger Rogers, "Am I That Easy To Forget" by Debbie Reynolds, and "The Party's Over" by Judy Holliday. (Vocalists, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

The sound of industry, circa 1969 Italy – which means that everything sounds a heck of a lot groovier than you might expect! Soundtrack genius Alessandro Alessandroni handled the album – and it's completely fantastic right from the very first note – nothing like an industrial album, nor even some of the peppier "industry themed" sound library sets of the European postwar theme – and instead, the music is full of jazzy elements and cool wordless vocals – especially those scatting styles you'd know from Alessandroni's work with I Cantori Modern! Tremendous throughout – and quite possibly one of the grooviest albums the composer has ever given us. Titles include "Moto Blues", "Dialogando", "Circolazione", "Basso Regime", "Vie Motrici", "Escursione", and "Numero Uno". (Sound Library, Soundtracks) CD

A wild little soundtrack that's equal parts biker and hot rod – a great rocking rarity that really bridges two sub-genres of rockish sounds in the 60s! The set's one of Mike Curb's great soundtracks for AIP – and like some of the others, it features a set of lesser-known talents coming together in a batch of tracks that works equally well as a rock album or a soundtrack! Some cuts have vocals, other feature fuzzy guitars riffing away instrumentally – a bit more surf/hot rod than psych, but still nice and trippy at times – and the lineup features the great "Theme From Thunder Alley" by Band Without A Name –plus "Pete's Orgy" and "Mud Fight" by The Sidewalk Sounds, "Calahan's Theme" by The Lorraine Singers, "When You Get What You Want" by Annette, and "Riot In Thunder Alley" by Eddie Beram – which is an excellent drum and sitar track that is worth the price of the album alone! LP, Vinyl record album

The continuing lost legacy of Patrick Cowley – the San Francisco 80s club maestro who made some famous records with Sylvester – but who also did a huge amount of underground sounds for porno films at the time! This set digs deep into that legacy – by featuring music that Cowley did for the 1982 film Afternooners, as well as a few other tracks from the time – material that's a great 80s extrapolation of the sorts of slinky funk you'd know from 70s porn! The sounds here are heavy on beats and keyboards – a much more slowed-down take on territory that Cowley explored on his club singles of the period – and the basslines are plenty heavy, and very seductive – as you might imagine, given the images they were used with on the screen. We should tell you that the package does include a few nude images inside – so be warned if you're offended by that sort of thing. Titles include "Love Come Set Me Free", "Big Shot", "Surfside Sex", "Hot Beach", "The Runner", "One Hot Afternoon", "Leather Bound", and "Bore & Stroke". LP, Vinyl record album

A really rare chapter of the soundtrack legacy of Italian giants Guido & Maurizio DeAngelis – a pair who are best known for their crime/cop movie work of the 70s, but who step out here in a whole host of different TV projects instead! There's definitely some music here that resonates with that famous legacy, but there's also projects with different scenes and stories too – and which provide a much richer palette of sounds than you might expect – as the DeAngelis brothers move effortlessly between contemporary 70s settings and more historical ones, depending on the program! There's a total of 69 tracks in the big 3CD set – which features many tracks each from programs that include Dedicato A Una Coppia, Guaranta Giorni Di Liberta, I Marsigliese, Sul Filo Della Memoria, Delitto Di Regime, and Ipotesi Sulla Scomparsa Di Un Fisco Atomico. CD

A really unusual project from electronic music legend Delia Derbyshire – sounds that were created for a film of abstract photographic images, but which work beautifully here on their own! Partner Elsa Stansfield contributes a lot of core elements to the music – Derbyshire works in sounds that are even more abstract and beautiful than her better-known music for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – and together, they create something that we'd be more likely to call a "sonic painting" than just an ordinary record album! The set also features a bit of spoken introduction by Pamela Bone – whose photographs formed the core of the images – but overall, most of the proceedings are instrumental, and come from the team of Derbyshire and Stansfield. (Sound Library, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

It's hard to stop the Blastfighter when he's got music like this to back him up – an assortment of sounds served up by Fabio Frizzi – in a style that uses some of the instrumentation of his better-known horror work, but in a very different way! The buzzword here is "action" – and the best cuts have a throbbing rhythm driven by drum machines, and washes of 80s keyboards over the top – then guitars, basslines, and whatever touches are needed to move things forward – with an occasional rest on a cut that's a bit more mellow, but never sleepy at all! If you dig 80s action scores, you'll find plenty to love here – and there's a lean, compact vibe that gives the whole record a very unified feel. CD

It's hard to stop the Blastfighter when he's got music like this to back him up – an assortment of sounds served up by Fabio Frizzi – in a style that uses some of the instrumentation of his better-known horror work, but in a very different way! The buzzword here is "action" – and the best cuts have a throbbing rhythm driven by drum machines, and washes of 80s keyboards over the top – then guitars, basslines, and whatever touches are needed to move things forward – with an occasional rest on a cut that's a bit more mellow, but never sleepy at all! If you dig 80s action scores, you'll find plenty to love here – and there's a lean, compact vibe that gives the whole record a very unified feel. LP, Vinyl record album

A biker soundtrack to end all biker soundtracks – one that shares plenty of elements with better-known entries in the genre, but which also has some really wild and offbeat moments! As with most of the short-lived motorcycle soundtrack era, the vibe here is much more rock than other film scores of the time – written and performed by Don Gere, with a variety of styles that echo some of the fake groups that were often thrown together for bigger biker films – but sometimes with looser, weirder elements that really deliver the kind of sounds that we always expected on other biker soundtracks, but which were instead buried under piles of b and c-grade psych. Instead, Don really serves up the goods here – especially on some of the more fuzzy Satanic ritual tracks, which also have some great sound effects – and which then have you embracing some of the straighter rock tracks, almost as a relief. Titles include "Werewolves On Wheels (Main Theme)", "Mount Shasta Home", "Ritual", "Ritual 2", "The Devil's Advocates", "One Foot In Heaven", "Burning Grass", "Tarot", "Tarot Trail", "Dust Bowl", "Ritual 3", and "Werewolves On Wheels (End Theme)". LP, Vinyl record album

Two very groovy soundtracks from UK great Basil Kirchin – an artist who's sometimes known for darker, moodier music – but who serves up some great 60s work here! The first half of hte set features tunes from the spy film Assignment K – which Kirchin scores with styles that borrow a bit from Italian modes of the period, mixed with some of the more sensitive sounds of British scoring from a few years before – all wrapped up with a wonderful sense of sound that brings out the best of instruments that include piano, vibes, and saxes. Work for the film Strange Affair follows – which is maybe even more in that sense of texture and tone that marks some of the more complex sides of the Basil Kirchin spectrum – especially his way of taking familiar instruments and making them sound very strange and offbeat – often light woodwind elements mixed with a bit of guitar, the produced with these very hip effects! LP, Vinyl record album

Weird and wild sounds from 60s/70s composer Andrzej Korzynski – an artist we mostly know from soundtrack material, but represented here by a rich array of rare material from his personal archives! The scope of styles is really wonderful – as the set steps between funky numbers and very offbeat instrumentals – kind of the full range of sound library elements you might get from the hippest European scenes of the 70s – no surprise, given that this material was recorded in France, Italy, and Poland! Some tunes are heavy on electronics, others use a mix of acoustic and electric instruments together – and almost all the tracks are relatively short, and work together as this shifting palette of musical statements from Korzynski – almost a mini-movie in sound, with all the vivid qualities that reference implies. Titles include "Third Part Of The Night Main Theme)", "Diabel", "La Grabuge", "Roza Roza", "Bossa Nova", "Saved From Oblivion", "Trying To Catch A Fly", "Agent No 1", "Tajemnica Enigmy", and "W Instyucie". LP, Vinyl record album

Daisaku Kume did a fantastic job with the music for this excellent film from Takeshi Kitano – serving up a fair bit of the keyboard sounds that you'd know from his work in the famous fusion group T-Square, but in a way that's nicely different than those records too! There's definitely lots of 80s elements in the production, yet the sound is often nice and spare – matching the directorial genius of Kitano – with slow-moving drum machine rhythms, nicely chromatic keyboards, and a glow in the overall sound that's mighty nice. A few passages have lead tenor solos, and there's also two takes on work from Erik Satie – which might stand as a good inspiration for Kume's direction with the music. LP, Vinyl record album

A sleazy film, but one with some really great music from Francis Lai – the composer better known for his mainstream contributions to classics like A Man & A Woman and Live For Life! In any setting, Lai displays an amazing genius for spare tunes that hit a lyrical chord and a warmly sentimental mode – never one that's sleepy or drippy, but just the right balance of sounds and rhythms to convey a tremendous amount with very little. Lai plays a fair bit of keyboards here, lightly electric, and relatively spare – but not as much so as on some of his other 70s soundtracks. Titles include "Une Soiree Orientale", "La Vierge Anna Marie", "Emmanuelle Au Hong Kong", "Le Theme D'Emmanuelle", and "La Maison De Rendez-Vous". LP, Vinyl record album

Really funky sounds from Maurice Lecoeur – an overlooked French soundtrack genius of the 70s – and one who worked in territory that was way past familiar standards for film! If you know the music of Francois DeRoubaix, you'll find plenty here to love – because like DeRoubaix, Lecoeur effortlessly mixes acoustic and electric, groovy and laidback, funky and jazzy – all with styles that move from full instrumentation to much sparer moments – at a level that matches if not beats some of the coolest sound library material of the time! Each track seems to have a very different vibe, which really keeps things interesting – and plenty funky too – and the package features 22 rare nuggets that include "Le Ballet Inacheve", "Sans Premeditation", "Baoou", "Safari Au Kivu Theme 1", "Faux Suspense", "Le Soleil Qui Rit Rouge", "Les Petites Filles Modeles", "Donne Moi La Terre", "Tartares", and "Chili". (Sound Library, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Striking sounds from Michel Magne – an artist who's best known for his groovy soundtracks of the 60s – but who steps out here with a rare experimental set from the late 50s! The style is very much in keeping with the most compelling of the postwar generation in France – as Magne mixes together electronic and acoustic sounds with amazing power – modes that are sometimes as spacious as Pierre Henry, other times as sonically powerful as Xenakis – yet always very much Michel's own unique musical vision! Instrumentation includes some great cymbalum, plus piano, violin, vibes, and percussion – as well as some amzing vocalizations from Jaqueline Dano and Christiane Legrand. Titles include "Memoire D'Un Trou", "Self Service", "Concertino Triple", "Meta Mecanique Saccadee", "Larmes En Sol Pleureur", and "Pointes De Feu Amorties Au Dolsal". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the rarest work ever from composer Graeme Miller – tracks done for continued episodes of the Moomin animated series he scored with Steve Shill, but which were unused at the time, due to a shift in presentation of the series! The music here as all the charm of the other Moomins releases, and is maybe even more personal too – an odd mix of spare themes and light, lovely melodies – created by Miller on unusual instruments that include ocarina, kalimba, squeak box, shakers, and a whole host of other homemade instruments and lo-fi techniques! If you've seen the animation, you'll know how much these sounds match the warmth and intimacy of those images – on titles that include "Raft Journey", "The Cave", "Climbing The Lonely Mountain", "Indigenous Woodland Bird", "The Tornado", and "Locusts". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite soundtracks ever from the legendary Ennio Morricone – a sublime set that's a perfect summation of all his best jazz, bossa, and mod elements – served up in one sparkling set that's gotten countless play on our turntable over the years! The main theme is a classic – a haunting, drifting track that really illustrates Morricone's capacity for warmer elements – something that some folks forget, if they only know his horror music and more ambitious work. Other tunes follow with a similar vibe – each a fresh change, but still awash in sweet and dreamy sounds, but with this great undercurrent of groove as well. Titles include "Metti, Una Sera A Cena", "Sauna", "Nina", "Ric Happening", "Croce D'Amore", and "Terrazza Vuota". Also features the bonus track "Hurry To Me"! LP, Vinyl record album

A killer Morricone soundtrack from the late 60s – filled with sweet tunes and moodier numbers – all served up with cool orchestrations, and some sweet work on electric harpsichord too! The score's lesser-known than some of the maestro's best from the time – but is equally great, and one we're very happy to discover – caught at a mode that still has Morricone using some of his best mod elements from the 60s, yet also beginning to explore the darker sounds that would unfurl even more strongly in the 70s! Bruno Nicolai conducts the group, and the set features a few great vocal moments from I Cantori Moderni – on titles that include "Scherzo Da Guerra", "Scherzo Da Baffone", "Filastrocca Per Cretini", and "Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne A Stalin". CD

A killer Morricone soundtrack from the late 60s – filled with sweet tunes and moodier numbers – all served up with cool orchestrations, and some sweet work on electric harpsichord too! The score's lesser-known than some of the maestro's best from the time – but is equally great, and one we're very happy to discover – caught at a mode that still has Morricone using some of his best mod elements from the 60s, yet also beginning to explore the darker sounds that would unfurl even more strongly in the 70s! Bruno Nicolai conducts the group, and the set features a few great vocal moments from I Cantori Moderni – on titles that include "Scherzo Da Guerra", "Scherzo Da Baffone", "Filastrocca Per Cretini", and "Lo Sai Che Cosa Facevano Le Donne A Stalin". CD

Rare soundtrack material from Waldemar Parzynski – maybe best known as the music director for the groundbreaking vocal group Novi Singers, but even more stunning here in an instrumental setting for an obscure documentary! The tracks are all very long – more musical suites than shorter cues for a film – and the album's awash in amazing sounds that range from modern orchestrations to unusual keyboard passages, and even some funky fusion touches too – all done in these great ways that shift effortlessly over the course of the extended tunes on the set – one of which stretches out well past the 20 minute mark! Titles include "Huta Katowice", "Wszystkie Moje Dzieci", and "Do Dnia". CD

One of the boldest scores we've ever heard from Andre Previn – presented here with both the film music, and the original LP version – plus bonus tracks as well! Previn's usually known for lusher, warmer sounds – and some more playful soundtrack moments, too – but this score is very serious, dramatic, and deep – a full orchestral mode on most numbers, without any traces of Previn's jazzier roots. The music makes for a great accompaniment to Burt Lancaster's role as the title character – and this CD features 12 tracks from the original album, plus 5 bonus tracks. CD