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MASAHIKO SATO – BELLADONNA
an absolute unique ‚ghost' soundtrack and practically unobtainable, taken from a Japanese animation movie from 1973 directed by Eiichi Yamamoto. ‚Belladonna of Sadness' (so its english working title) is an incredible psychedelic experience crossing the genres from Avantgarde, Experimental to Sexploitation. ‚Loosely based on the 19th-century classic ‚The Witch' by historian Jules Michelet, ‚Belladonna' tells the story of a young ‚everywoman' in a brutally repressive and exploitative feudal society; in her powerlessness she is gradually driven to ancient superstitions and satanic practices, and then accused, tortured and executed for witchcraft. this storyline provides for a pageantry of sado-erotic scenes. ‚Belladonna' hovers uncomfortably on the edge of pornography but the film is saved, and viewer bewitched, by the incredible wealth of imaginative visual flourishes. Yamamoto's style in this medieval story hovers between classical Japanese landscape painting and 20th-century underground comics (western style and manga), conjuring up, with accomplished technique, his dark fantasies. think of Disney's Fantasia, but with more visual variation of style, and dedicated to the themes of lust and cruelty. ‚Belladonna' is a very early masterpiece of Japanese anime, anticipating Miyazaki by more than two decades.' (review by a movie fan from Amsterdam featured on the Imdb site)
inseparably connected with the splendid visuals is Masahiko Sato's abstract and very progressive Jazz Funk Rock score including female vocals in Japanese by Mayumi Tachibana. we pick up the instrumental breaks starting with the opener ‚Andy Warhol', a terrific Blaxploitation chaser and a fine example of how to build up dramatic suspense: after a long, dark hammond intro suddenly a furious break cuts in, driven only by drum and bass and ultra-speedy, hypnotic riffs on electric harpischord. the vocal titletrack ‚Belladonna' ends in a dreamy interlude introduced by bell effects and features a moody e-guitar in exchange with electric piano chords. ‚Funny Feeling' is a four minute psychedelic incidental piece underlaid with percussive conga backbeats and trumpet, fender rhodes and e-guitar dissonantly wailing on top of it. the vocal ‚Mr. London' and ‚Little Flower' are psychy variations of the main theme based on an uptempo bass / drum / wahwah backbeat and again showcase a razorsharp, menacing fuzz guitar playing the leads. and finally the six minute long psyched out Funk Rock anthem ‚Take It Easy', which was used to underscore one of the film's highlights, an extensively surreal, trippy and colorful scene built upon hyperfast, successive sequences of animated 60s motifs: a totally freaked out instrumental underpinned with a bouncy drum beat, funky bass, distorted trumpets, raging fuzz guitars and electronic keyboard effects, best to be enjoyed in stoned condition. a must see and must hear, definetly nothing for weakhearted natures! Masahiko Sato is probably best known to Progressive collectors for his 1971 released album ‚Amalgamation' including the track ‚A White Dove In Disguise', which comes close to the overall sound of this soundtrack. strangely enough, his ‚Belladonna' score was originally available in Italy only released by the wellknown Cinevox label and pressed in very small quantities. due to its mega rare factor it definetly falls into the category ‚ remortgage the house, sell the car and cash in your stocks' (to quote blaxploitation.com) (Cinevox 1973)
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STANLEY MYERS – TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU
a british love drama from 1970 starring Oliver Reed. not really a soundtrack on which you'd expect useful breaks or funky moments, especially after skipping through the uninteresting Pop contributions by The Foundations, Ram Jam Holder and Harmony Grass. but wait until the needle drops on the last track on side one entitled ‚Organ Fantasia in D Minor'! what you get is totally freaked out instrumental Hammond Funk like nothing ever heard before! composer Stanley Myers delivers 5.30 minutes of pure listening pleasure, incredible powerful and deep. on the left speaker a heavy organ deliriously whirling and glugging, on the right hard guitar licks, all backed by rocky drums and a fat electric bass-line! Deep Purple meets Alan Hawkshaw! a one track score, but what a track!!! (Pye 1970)
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LES BAXTER - THE DUNWICH HORROR
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GORDON N ROGERS THE INTER-URBAN ELECTRIC A&E PIT CREW AND RHYTHM BAND – BUG IN!
Kelly Gordon and Shorty Rogers collaborated on a couple of funky rarities in the late sixties. Gordon's 1969 masterpiece ‘Defunked’ is oneand this wild obscurity credited to the ‘Inter-Urban Electric A&E Pit Crew And Rhythm Band’ is the other. jumping on the Califor-nia dune buggie wave of the 60's, the chicks-cars-surf-gogo themed gatefold cover gives a first hint of the treasure inside. the funk is really tuned up to the max here on this action packed studio session! the stricly instrumental tracks have 'a groove that is impossible to stop, add fluid scorching solo horns against firecracker chunk-a-funk electric guitar, fender bass, electric piano, drums, funky reverberated flutes and I think even some conga drum.' (Jack Diamond) the excellent, tight horn section delivers infectious, ultra-funky rhythms with a sleazy, very early 70s sound, strongly reminding of some Tom Scott & the L.A. express session from the same time. in between mixed you can hear roaring motor sounds (just like Michel Legrand's 'Le Mans' OST) producing incredibly funky effects you can almost see the buggys wheelin' and jumpin' over sand dunes. a highly recommended and throughout consistent Capitol release, and a rare one too as it’s not listed in any soundtrack guide. the all killer, no filler-tracklist includes titles like 'Glitterbag', 'Spyder Bug', 'The Manx Meets The Bronco', 'Boss Bug', 'Wampuskitty' or 'Mini T'. all that's left to say is: bug in!, turn on!, drop out! and get down! to the inter-urban electric grooves of Gordon N Rogers! (Capitol STAO-276 1969)
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JACQUES DENJEAN – MORBO
another fine example for the composing and performing facilities of Jacques Denjean, who was an important exponent of the French Freakbeat scene in the 60s. his score for the Spanish Sexploitation movie ‚Morbo' from 1972 was available in its origin country only in LP and 45 format and features some groovy psyched-out downtempo moments. the dreamy, repetitive theme of ‚Tema Del Voyeur' is driven by excellent riffs on a moody piano creating an incredibly intense and dramatic atmosphere as the track progresses. rare, still yet uncompiled and fine food for beat-hungry cratediggers as well as hip hop producers and funky soundtrack collectors. (Boccacio 1972/LP & 45)
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ZZEBRA – ZARDOZ
Zzebra were a british Jazz Rock formation in the early 70s masterminded by Gus Eadon and have done a pretty funky selftitled debut album. in 1974, the band also scored a composition for ‚Zardoz', John Boorman's mythical Science Fiction movie starring Charlotte Rampling and Sean Connery in his most bizzare role, a raping and killing savage warrier getting captured and examined by a superior, hedonistic race. ‚Beethoven Opus 92' is an reworked arrangement of the first half of the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th and a trippy piece of Psychedelic Jazz Funk featuring voice effects, cool fender rhodes work and groovy chorus. oddly enough, it was actually not used in the film and has only been available in 45 format as a promotional copy aqlong with ‚Amusofi' on the B-side, a track from their first LP recorded in a different version and produced by Roger Chapman. the single has been issued in England , France and Japan with different sleeves, some of them with the original poster artwork on the front sleeve. rare and highly recommended! (Polydor 1974 / 45)
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