Playlist: Far Out Vibes 2
Vol. 2 (Night Trips)
1. “Contact” (Brigitte Bardot)
Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris. She was an actress in many famous French films and became an internationally renowned sex symbol in the 1950s-1960s. During her fleeting love affair with Serge Gainsbourg (1967-1968), she also briefly began a career as a singer. The most beautifully bizarre of their collaborations was this science fiction track surrounded with bass, ondioline, oscillators, and zithers as Bardot’s echoing voice sounds like an alien transmitting interstellar messages from the furthest reaches of the Milky Way galaxy. In the music video, Bardot’s blank eyes and metallic outfit resemble a sex doll robot in a swingin’ ‘60s space station.
2. “Cantata Per Maryam” (Piero Umiliani)
La Ragazza Fuori Strada (another 1970s erotic film directed by Luigi Scattini and starring Eritrean actress Zeudi Araya) features another soundtrack from Piero Umiliani. Umiliani could summon a seductive and sultry vibe. “Cantata Per Maryam” sets the mood with its libido stroking bass, irresistibly mysterious organ, and Edda Dell’Orso’s erotic echoing vocals in a melody that is vaguely reminiscent of Pink Floyd. (Edda Dell’Orso was the muse of maestro Ennio Morricone in his monumental soundtrack for Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West.)
3. “Soft Wind” (Gary Pacific Orchestra)
This library music record is a collector’s (and stoner’s) delight and is appropriately named. “Soft Wind” contains breezy strings, jazzy horns, and laidback rhythms on bass, drums, and guitar.
4. “The Enchanted Sea” (Martin Denny)
Martin Denny was born on April 10, 1911 in New York City and is, alongside Les Baxter, considered the pioneer of the exotica genre. His travels during the 1930s-1940s in South America and Hawaii and his absorbing of their musical styles led to his own musical success in the 1950s-1960s with records such as Exotica (1957)(and its hit “Quiet Village”), Forbidden Island (1958), Hypnotique (1959), The Enchanted Sea (1960), A Taste of Honey (1962), and Paradise Moods (1966). In 1969, Martin Denny experimented with the newly built Moog synthesizer and this track sounds like moonlight shimmering on a silvery ocean.
5. “Strait-Jacket” (Giuliano Sorgini)
Jorge Grau’s 1974 zombie horror movie Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (a.k.a. Don’t Open the Window, Do Not Profane the Sleep of the Dead, The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue) is a bad horror movie. But Giuliano Sorgini’s score is atmospheric, creepy, and toe-tapping, especially “Strait-Jacket”.
6. “Ophis Le Serpentaire” (Vincent Gemignani)
Vincent Gemignani was born in 1939 in Paris. This 1970s exploration by Vincent Gemignani is the definition of cinematic and is a quintessential night driving track meant to be listened to with your car windows rolled down cruising through the city lights. The deep bassline, elegant flutes, horns, and strings, and choir of female vocals are enthralling.
7. “Wave” (Gianni Mazza)
Gianna Mazza was born on October 5, 1944 in Rome. His talent at musical compositions is highly evident in his recordings from the 1960s-1970s. “Wave” is a late night library music hidden gem. Its piano, organ, and somnambulistic, stoned vocalizing create a hypnotizing nocturnal mood.
8. “Tanz Der Vampire” (The Vampires of Dartmoore)
Dracula’s Music Cabinet is a 1969 horror novelty record by the Vampires of Dartmoore. “Tanz Der Vampires” opens with a strange “sproing” sound like all those monster cartoon you watched when you were a kid with a big bowl of super sugary Count Chocula. The hallucinogenic weirdness continues from there with asylum mumblings and mutterings, oddball electronics, and vibraphones for added effects.
9. “Stormy” (The Meters)
The Meters are the absolute masters of rhythm thanks to the amazing combo of George Porter Jr. on bass and Ziggy Modeliste on drums. Their earthy groove is the core of this heavy-lidded head nod from their 1969 self-titled debut. Art Neville on organ and Leo Nocentelli on guitar add their atmosphere to the late night mood.
10. “Indian Dream” (Brian Green & Saul Nathan)
This obscure library music record is a mesmerizing, middle of the night, stoned track. Native American flute and percussion and a lonesome steel guitar take you on a trip through the ancient lands of the tribes that have disappeared and vanished.
11. “Sexopolis” (Jean-Pierre Mirouze)
From Jean-Pierre Mirouze’s soundtrack to the 1971 French film Le Mariage Collectif, the aptly named “Sexopolis” sounds like a psychedelic porn score. However, if this was the score to a porno, it would be the most artful and aristocratic pornography. Turn the lights low and get lost in the melange of guitars, organ, percussion, and strings.
12. “Ninna Nanna Per Adulteri” (Ennio Morricone)
Ennio Morricone was born on November 10, 1928 in Rome and is most famous for his Spaghetti Western soundtracks, such as his collaborations with Sergio Leone (For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West) and Sergio Corbucci (The Great Silence). He has been one of the most dazzling, evocative, experimental, incredibly prolific, and versatile of composers, as he has also created music for every genre (comedy, crime, drama, historical epic, horror, etc.) His score for the 1969 forgotten film Cuore di Mamma is yet another example of the soundtrack being superior to the film. “Ninna Nanna Per Adulteri” is an ethereal, fragile lullaby. Close your eyes and go to sleep.
by Mark Lager