Jean Schultheis' Hot Time 1976

 

Drummer Schultheis appeared on the Christian Gaubert album, this is his contribution to the library music library.  He was also on the Chez Jean-Claude Petit 1974 library posted back here.

Databased here.  It presents a nice mix of fusion and library tracks.

African Reverie:

Cosmic Labyrinthe:

Some Claude Engel: 1972 99% Pop, 1973 More Creative Pop, 1976 Fantasmagory

 

Claude Engel is of course a French guitarist who was involved in Omega Plus, Magma briefly, Troc, and Univeria Zekt.  I posted the Lubat Louiss Engel Live in Montreaux back here.

Aside from those groups outings, he made the library records 99% Pop and More Creative Pop, plus an ST 1973 and then notably the 1976 Fantasmagory, the most progressive of the bunch.  That first solo 1973 one was more chanson and therefore I didn't include it here in this package.

As an ex. of the library styles, Ralentissimo A from 1972's Pop library:

I posted Teddy Lasry here and there in the past, with whom he collaborates (along with Lubat) on 1973's More Creative Pop.  Teddy's stunning Fiction Melody, obviously is a masterpiece of the prog genre, pretty much a textbook lesson in how to write creative and intense prog rock:

From the wonderful Fantasmagory which is all written by him, very much an acoustic guitar-based work, but with interesting chords, harmonies, and some funky passages (the second side's Martian Suite), plus ethnic importations, the title track feat. vocals:

Less electric than Alain Renaud but similar.  The beautiful solo guitar piece called Improvisation sur Colchique sur les Pres, sounds very much like classic Larry Coryell, which is a wonderful thing always:

I was not a little surprised I had never heard that album before, but happy to discover it now.

April Orchestra 48: Francis Rimbert + Frederick Rousseau

 

The music here is almost as good as the old classic AO's I collected way back when, see search function here.  This one I skipped over at the time.  And what a surprise to be back here with these guys and their seemingly endless library tracks.  Looking over the whole series, it's truly amazing how much great music there was on offer there in that little quiet and neglected local library.

This one came out in 1982, and it seems all the compositions are cowritten by the two artists.

Francis Rimbert:

Keyboardist and composer born at the 3rd of October 1953 in Val D'Oise (France). At an age of 5 he started to play piano and later accordion. At the age of 7 he started to play harmonium in the church. He studied at the Paris Conservatory (Paris, France) but didn't like the classical music ambiance. At the age of 14 he started his first band, which he didn't like, so he stopped this band. Later he founded FanChris together with a folk singer/songwriter.

In 1978 he start working at a music shop specialized in synthesizers in Paris where he start rehearsing on those synths. There his career started when his boss offered him to record an album: "Bionic Orchestra" and he quit FanChris. Some later he met Jean-Michel Jarre with who he works often.

And Rousseau, briefly:

French keyboardist and synthesizer player, sound engineer and composer.

Quai de L'enigme:

Marguerite Degarne:

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:

Rubba with Ratledge, Jenkins, Giordano, et al., Library albums [Push Button 1979, In Motion 1980, Electra 1982, Movement 1982] -- ALL FLAC

 

I mentioned just recently how much I love Karl Jenkins.  Therefore it made sense to root around the landscape to see if he made more unknown or lost music somewhere, like that Linda Hoyle LP.

I guess him and famed Soft Machine Keyboardist Ratledge made some library stuff too. Some of it under this band's monikor, discogged here.  Note the impt. proviso there: 

Library act with different people involved depending on the record. Not a side project of Jenkins & Ratledge per se.

Looks like there are 5 LPs total, of which I post the first 4, leaving out the 1983 one.

From Push Button, Pop Stuff

From Giordano's In Motion, which rehashes earlier tracks from him that appeared elsewhere, the gorgeous So Softly:

From Electra, Lizard:

From Movement, Circles:

Alan Parker's Hot Ice, 1974 [FLAC limited time only]

 

One of the few Parker or Hawkshaw's I haven't yet posted, info here. Cover again by Nick Bantock.

Here are a few sample tracks, to give you an idea. His lovely Legend composition:

Hi-Jinks:

Best Friend:

Overall very pleasant music.

https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/9770e98d-45a8-4aa5-8d7f-202c354fbda2

new up of osamu shoji jataka

https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/7f1f5ccf-7703-4af2-a9a1-25dd3adb89e4

Chez Jean-Claude Petit, from 1974 (Library)

 

A library from him which is exactly as you'd expect, that is, more along the same lines as the ST J-C Petit from 1975 just posted, perhaps not quite as strong in the compositional sphere.

Databased here.  The track called Guitar's Revolution has such an utterly bizarre riff it's difficult for me to say if I like it or not, and that's almost never happened before:

What do you think of it?

La  religieuse d'Haiphong reminds me so much of the early 1970s April Orchestra French compositions posted so long ago now:

If you listen closely note that combination of synthesizer oboe melody, digital strings, and digital horn later on over an odd piano chord progression at the halfway mark, followed by the solo grand piano.  This one really foreshadows the brilliance of his 1980 masterwork.  At once bizarre and enthralling I'd say.

Sergio Otanazetra with Patrice Gelsi in Afro-Brasilian music, 1983

 

I'll post this one too, since Patrice Gelsi's piano is so similar here to the previous one. Here, it's more like the library music we'd expect from the above Canopo cover.  Very similar to the other album, Ailleurs, is a track called Gislaine:

Info here. Otanazetra is the drummer, obviously.

Some Requests: Vingioi - Very Well, from 1979 Italia

 Artist information here (real name with too many i's is Vincenzo Gioieni. Note that the earlier 1976 library album is unavailable digitally (so far).  Anyone have it too though to share?  Presumably the same style, of mixed library music but nicely performed and very typical, dare I say generic, for ex., Septic:

KPM 1226 - Dennis Farnon & Dick Walter - A Fear Of The Dark (1979) (FLAC)

 

As mentioned in the last post, the two collaborated for this dramatically different album, with Farnon occupying side one, and Walter the second side.  From the former, the quite impressively composed and dramatic Regression:

And then, the more agreeable harmonies of  Memories:

From side 2's Walter, one version of the polytonal dissonant classical Lonely Sunday:

Better than the average horror movie soundtrack without a doubt.

BMLP 114 - Dennis Farnon, Dick Walter & Otto Sieben - Soft Sounds & Gentle Movements (1974) (FLAC)

 

Continuing on with the gentle atmospheric library stuff, which seems never-ending from this period in time.

Dennis Farnon on discogs:

Dennis Farnon (born August 13, 1923, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Died May 21, 2019 in Aalst, Buren, Netherlands) is a Canadian composer, arranger and conductor. Brother of Brian Farnon and Robert Farnon.

Like so many of these guys his output is insanely large.  On this album he wrote most of the first side, as you can see here.  The second side is by Dick or Richard Walter.

Dick Walter's beautifully arranged Gentle Wave:

The third composer is Gerhard Narholtz / Otto Sieben' and this is his Sailing Dreams:

Collaborators Dick Walter and Dennis Farnon reappear in the next post which is dramatic horror movie music, completely opposite to this one.

Alan Parker aka Grant Lane, in Bright Spark's Natural Break, 1976 [FLAC limited time]

 

Library composer Alan Parker/Grant Lane's information is here.  I posted his side b (with Hawkshaw on a) for Black Pearl just recently here.  He wrote all of this one.  Appearing as a 'group' called Bright Spark, this 'their' only LP release has wonderfully gentle sounds on it, like the last library posted, and like Black Pearl too.  The unbearably cute cover is again by Nick Bantock, as in some of the preceding libraries.  Samples, Cedar Tree:

Country Lane:

Some very pleasant instrumentals altogether.

Tilsley - Haseley - Flick in Byways, from 1976

 

Information here, mostly composed by Reginald Tilsley.  You can see from his discography he led an orchestra and / or composed orchestral music, then made some libraries in the 1970s.

The description is quite appropriate: 

light group sounds featuring keyboards

I was struck by how lovely his composition called Clarissa is, with the different keyboards recalling our beloved Hawkshaw:

Porcelain, also by Tilsley:

Simon Haseley and Paul Kass in Prototype from 1972

 

Information here. 

Simon Haseley was another highly prolific library composer.  Paul Kass was less so, discographed here.

A note about the cute graphic for the cover.  This is from Nick Bantock, who made some absolutely gorgeous cover graphics (for various LPs mostly library ones) back in the day, then in the early1990s became hugely successful with the 'mixed-media' picture book called Griffin and Sabine.  If you take a look at those album covers, there are some really mind-blowing ones among the pages and pages to look through.  Rubber Riff, with members of Soft Machine, is one of the more famous ones.  I posted Simon Park's Stretch not long ago.  He was also responsible for the cover of Chatton's Vapour Trails. His prolific output continues all the way until 1991 when, presumably, his success with the aforementioned publication overtook this accessory endeavour.

Back to the music though.  Overall, it's light and gentle and infinitely agreeable, all instrumental of course. Sample tracks, Propshaft:

And Sunlight:

Powerhouse 5 + 4; 1975 [FLAC limited time only]

Needless to indicate there are many artists called Powerhouse, but this particular formation's info can be found here.  Description therein:

Collection of tracks originally composed by Al Newman and performed by Powerhouse in 1975. Peer International Library was part of the Standard Music Library organization and was responsible for 45 releases between 1969 and 1980...

Apart from this, I don't see a lot of credits for the composer Al Newman.  That's unfortunate because this particular library release has quite a few gems on it.  Overall the music is nice and funky uptempo rocking energetic instrumentals, similar in sound to the Rock Machine by Hawkshaw once posted.

Late Summer has such a great groove, and the arrangement is so perfectly done too:

Almost as groovy is Injury Time:

VA OMN 009 - Various Artists - Fusion [Compilation, FLAC]

 

This is a very pleasant library compilation of later Omnimusic stuff I take it, many different composers.  It all hails from the early eighties period as you can tell from the jumpy synthwork, that I suppose recalls computers, binary code, digital music, etc., and that of course was one of the big hallmarks of that decade along with neon green shorts and silly dance styles.

With regards to the Omnimusic label:

American library music label based in Port Washington, New York; founded in 1976 by Doug and Patti Wood. In April 2019, Omnimusic was acquired by EMI Production Music in London. The library is now distributed exclusively in the United States by APM Music in Los Angeles.

Compositions are well chosen though and worth hearing for the most part.  Specific information for this one can be found on this page. Note the original release year of 1986 listed there.  It could be there are other good composers in that mix, I would never know, they are all unfamiliar to me.

Kerry Beaumont's Illusion:

Brave New World by John Manchester:

Some LPs from library composer Douglas Wood

 

Sparse Info:

Real Name: Douglas A. Wood

Profile: Composer/arranger of library music, soundtracks and TV recordings.

You can see from the above listings he was massively prolific after 1976.

All of the music that I've heard can be appropriately described as library music, I will avoid the use of the word 'generic' as it leads to assumptions about quality that are perhaps unjustified, depending on opinions and tastes.

An idea of his style of composition from the People's Progress Suite, called Feeling Fine:

Quiet Zone, with its amazing Hammond organ:

I have these two in flac, Pastoral and Light Activity Rock and Jazz, and Peoples Progress Positive Charge (with Joe Antel).  Then in mp3, Synthesizer (more of the same), and Panorama from Omnimusic (orchestral soundtrack music) instead.  So four in total.

A request was made for the work with Lee Greenblat called Edge of the World / Rainy Days, anyone can share for us?

Brian Chatton's Vapour Trails (1980) [NO FLAC]

 

Brian Chatton:

Real Name: Brian Charles Chatton

Profile: born 19 July 1948, in Bolton, Lancashire.

In Groups: Boys Don't Cry, Flaming Youth, Hickory (4), Jackson Heights, Snafu (6), The Warriors (3)

I found this record while I was checking the artists behind the relatively unknown band, Jackson Heights, who I will likely also post soon.

Info on this particular album here.

Again, typical library music, example, Smooth Touch; note the lovely development of the basic theme:

Alan Parker & Alan Hawkshaw - Black Pearl (1973)(FLAC)

 

Album info here.

From the first side called Modern Orchestral Themes, Alan Hawkshaw's Collect:

All composed by him on that side.  

The second side is Moody Group Sounds, all by Alan Parker.  His Melody and Lace is great:

VA - Hogan, The Hawk And Dirty John Crown from 1972 [FLAC limited time]

 

A mixed bag with a great title of course, sounding quite a bit like the soundtrack of a blaxploitation movie from the early 1970s with the funky fusion and smoother orchestral numbers.  Information can be found here.

Gordon Grant's great Scorch:

For a lighter number, Simon Haseley's Hogan Baby sounds more than a little indebted to B. Bacharach to my ears (he appeared on the Electric Bird album too):

Alan Parker appears here too, remember he made the brilliant Rock Machine (with Hawkshaw) I posted here.