Christian Gaubert, Part 1: 1975 Une Ville, Une Vie, 1977 The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane OST

 

Three posts about this wonderful and unknown (outside his home country presumably) French ssw / film composer.

Christian Gaubert:

French composer, pianist, arranger and band leader. Collaborations include Charles Aznavour, Mireille Mathieu, Gilbert Bécaud, Johnny Hallyday, Serge Gainsbourg, Pascal Auriat, and Gérard Lenorman among others.

Note he has been releasing albums since 1969, but those earlier ones didn't seem so interesting to me. Some are LPs of presumably easy listening cover versions, eg this 1972 album.

On the other hand on the 1975 album called Une Ville... Une Vie, the songwriting is just genius. It's like my old favourites, Dromadaire, and Le Loup des Steppes by Pisani, or the wonderful Xavier Gernet. In other words, 1970s French pop songwriting (not really chanson as such) with original melodies, chords, and nice hooks. On top of that, it features guitarist Claude Engel, and Magma drummer Jannick Top, though these guys remain quite in the background, playing quite unobtrusively, no zeuhl here.

The title track gives you a clear idea of what I mean in terms of original chord changes and interesting melodies:

And the rest of the album keeps up the high level of songwriting, with very few, if any, throwaways.

For a whole different genre, the OST of the 1976 Franco-Canadian movie The Little Girl who Lives down the Lane which starred Jodie Foster has some wonderful music written for it.  We have here a mix of Francis Lai / Morricone tender orchestral themes in the standard 1970s Euro-style and melancholy patterns with some fusion passages.  The theme from the movie carries hints of Francis Lai, Nina Rota, etc. and then suddenly picks up to an uptempo 16-beat groove in the rhythm section with a flute solo:

Those once exposed in childhood to those old movies and themes will feel some intense nostalgia upon hearing those classic musical lines.

On the other hand, Mystery of the Basement, with its fusion element, again, the electric piano plus strings is so classic:

For those interested, like me, the story is a disturbing one, really typical of those long ago days, and as usual you can read about it on wikipedia.  Note the following:

The production later became the subject of controversy over reports that [13-year-old at the time] Jodie Foster had conflicts with producers over the filming and inclusion of a nude scene, but a 21-year-old body double (Foster's sister) was used. After a screening at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, a court challenge was launched regarding distribution, and a general release followed in 1977.

I have two versions of this OST and I included both (CD and LP).  I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too. Kind of like Yuji Ohno's wonderful amalgam of tender themes with funky fusion parts, almost like his gorgeous Jimmy Dean.

French Library Composer George Rodi: 1974 Electronic Sounds, 1975 Actual, 1977 Actual II, 1979 Space, 1980 Sound Power [all FLACs limited time]

 

A lot of this library is difficult to slog through, like so much in this genre.  So for ex. the Actual albums, from 1975 and 1977, have no titles to the tracks, they're just numbered, making it effortful to hold on to something definite.

But first of all, George Rodi:

Profile: French composer and keyboards player.

In Groups: Arpadys [disco], Georges Raudi Et Son Orchestre [1970 single], Les Schtroumpfs [space rock], Rosebud [disco], Sandrose, Les Sparks [1966 single]

Obviously everyone is familiar with Sandrose, and their 1972 classic.  Subsequently Rodi went on to make all these library records.

From 1979, Space's Moonshine Magic just hits me in the soul every time, it's so transcendently beautiful, ethereal, spacey, like the best of Alan Hawkshaw, our old fave library composer:

Listening to this, it amazes me how music can so transport you to other places, other times, other lives, as if it's a direct connection into the deepest heart, or as I always say, it's the closest we'll ever get to heaven on this dirty old planet.

I quite enjoy the advanced complexity of the Actual 13 track:

Note the astonishingly beautiful cover photo of the 1980 Sound Power. Almost the best thing about this LP actually.  Nonetheless, here's a sample track called Gliding:

Crazy Dog, USA 1979

Only one release from these guys, a nice non-generic minimally bluesy hard rock band from St. Georges Delaware, discogged here.  However, a bunch of singles followed into the 1980s.  The style is quite typical of the late 1970s.

Opener, about the Star Fighter ("a mission of mercy, somewhere in space") recalling this was shortly after the first Star Wars, which was such a cultural sensation:

Nice enjoyable basic hard rock, but with some interesting compositions, not the usual 1-4-5 chords with excessive guitar soloing-- I mean, there's a bit of that, as there always is, but minimal.  For ex., Love me and you leave me:

At last the often requested Tiefland Sinfonie Orchester's 1988 Time Trip

Information on the release can be located here.  Artist page here. Pretty sparse in general, as well as over on the rym basement dwellers website. Not that the record is very rare, but looks like many are afraid to purchase it out of fear of disappointment, not entirely unjustified.  Anyways you needn't consider this now since you can take a listen to the rip here and judge for yourself.

In terms of music this is basically entirely synthesizer plus guitar plus percussion and all instrumental giving the illusion of a full orchestra. The second side is mostly devoted to what sounds like a fully composed neoprog classical symphony but played of course on digital keyboards ('Forgotten Symphony').  I might add that here, the classical influence is quite strong (eg, sounding like Richard Strauss).  So a lot of your enjoyment of this depends on your tolerance of classical music's approaches to chords and melodies.  While the first side is called 'Time Trip: Symphony for Drums and Orchestra,' and is more straight up electronic. Nonetheless, it's interesting and well written, never drony, similar to a lot of the recent electronica posted here, like the OC requests, Cybernation Dark Plane, and Horwitz' The Planets.

The track called Lost in Ancient Dreams (from the first side) gives you an idea of the style here:

Conversely, the finale of the second side's symphony:

The keyboardist / composer is Rainer Struck btw. He was in symphonic prog band Norwind previously, looks like they only had single releases, no LP, and the hard rock band Separate Reality. He has two guitarists and a drummer accompanying him.

The following introductory poem appears on the verso:

My dreams were too real to stand
my desires too strong to hold
What I had done is too ridiculous to justify
The time ran backwards
the dimensions became strange and boundless.
It was a mistake to be so careless
but it was my fate to make this Time Trip!

Also check out the magnificent mullet of the guy on the cover, and the boobage of the female.

But it was necessary to bring this rarity to the light of day and sounds of air, given how frequently it's requested.

S.J.C. Powell - Celestial Madness, Australia 1975

 

Discogged here.

Born in Sydney in 1951. He was guitarist and vocalist in Australian band, "The Mint", who released 4 singles between 1969 and 1971 on the 'Ramrod' label. After securing a major recording contract with an Australian recording company, he recorded his first solo LP entitled: 'Celestial Madness', which was released throughout the world in 1974. Soon after this, Powell went totally deaf and was unable to record again. Since then, and the arrival of state of the art digital hearing aids, he has been able to record again. He was also the manager of a theatre for fifteen years and has written two plays and a musical comedy. He has also written a book, 'FAME OR INFAMY: The true story behind the Jack the Ripper diary', tells the story of just how the infamous diary of Jack the Ripper came to be written and how it has affected the literary world.

Note there is a copy of the vinyl for sale for 347 dollars!

Basically guitar folk, with I think 2 or 3 electric tracks.  The usual over-earnest naive singer songwriter folk stuff, but with interesting spacey, scifi lyrics, so common for the times.  Here and there I've posted some LPs in this genre, which tend to be, as we all know, quite similar. to each other.  An exception was the outstanding Aussie Graham Lowndes, who should've been a star back in the day with those beautiful compositions of his. Here's a rym review that overstates the case a little:

S.J.C. Powell started recording singles in Australia in the late 60s and finally landed a full length record deal in 1974. Celestial Madness was the fantastic result, a solid mix of psych pop and cosmic folk that follows a mellow and hazy pace that changes directions and offers a few dramatic peaks. This is optimistic weed smoking music for positive vibes and summer evenings when the first stars start to appear in the sky.

Highlights include the ultra laid back "When You Make the Other Side," the sunshiny "Green Hills of Earth" and the wicked synth on "Say Hello." There's plenty of nice touches like the brief cosmic interlude "supernova" and quality production that still allows the folk core to hit home alongside a variety of instruments....

For ex., Governor Lane:

Note that the instrumentation actually is quite interesting, not the pared-down basic 'acid folk' style of acoustic guitar plus vocals.  And open chord guitar tuning, with its jangly resonance, is used frequently here (think Led Zep's That's the Way it's Gonna Be).

Or consider the Green Fields of Earth:

A few great songs, quite enjoyable though, all in all.