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May 9, 2023 - 5:18PM

Late 60s/Early 70s UK library Recordings and soundtracks on cd.

Good evening squires,i hope you are all doing well and keeping well,and it's great to see people in discusson,so i thought i'd put my pennys worth in.

I personally think that library recordings are a rather untouched source for groovy sounds from the later 60s and early 70s,where musicians and arrangers would record music that could be used in movies,adverts and the growing TV industry of the time,they really weren't made for public consumption as such,but they recorded music that was deemed"trendy"of that time,and could be used in party scenes like Electric Banana(The Pretty Things)in a film like "What's Good For The Goose"with Norman Wisdom,just as an example,or a song being played on a radio in the background in a movie scene......you get the picture.

Companies like KPM,Bruton,Bosworth and Chappell Music in the UK,but places like Italy with Nelson and Flipper,and other European countries too of course had their library music companies,all very much in the same game with the same purpose!!

Big names recorded for those companies as a sideline,to earn extra money,but they also had their session regulars,the same group of players who would play what has been arranged,and many albums where recorded in the process through the years,but my interest covers the years 66-74,ya know stuff with hammond organ,fuzzed up guitar groovers,or sitar laced hammond a go go movers,along with electric guitar rockers,and psyched up and juiced up sessions to be used in whay would be modern movies at that time with the latest sound.Also nice folk rock,or acoustic niceness,with gentler hippie type sounds.ALL was covered by those library music companies,in this 66-74 time period.

Unbelievably in the UK at that time,the trade unions ruled the roost,and those doing Library music Sessions had to record on mainland Europe as they where not meant to do it in the UK,as there was some type of agreement made by the musicians unions to protect the musical services or some bloody reason i can't fathom,so clandestine sessions where recorded in the UK,like a SAS secret mission.Eventually this agreeement/rule was resinded by the union.

My interest in this side of the UK music biz,started around 10 years ago,as my search for UK psych and its off shoots,was becoming threadbare,as most of it had been issued or reissued or comped,BUT the library recordings from that period where little known to me.

I had the Electric Banana DeWolfe sessions by The Pretty Things on cd,which really whetted my appetite,as there MUST be more in a similar vein,and my searching continued with reading books,finding websites on the subject which gave me pointers,and the discovery of the 4 volumes of the "Blow Up"cd comp series,ALL library Recordings mainly for the dancefloor,particuarly from the KPM 1000 Green phase of recordings.

It WAS wonderful to hear those late 60s and early 70s library recordings,and they literally blew my mind.I thought HALLELUJAH a new source of psych orientated material was found and MUST be mined further to quench my musical appetite.

Those"Blow Up"comps gave me big pointers,but it was proving to be a bit more difficult in practice to find those groovy library recordings,as MANY had never been released to the public,never mind on cd.

I DID pick up on cd the likes of THE BIG BEAT(69) by Keith Mansfield and Alan Hawkshaw/AFRO ROCK(73) by Alan Parker and John Cameron/THE BIG BEAT VOLUME 2(70)by Alan Moorhouse/THE KPM 1000 SERIES VOLUME 2 COMPILATION,which is full of fab groovy sounds by the likes of Keith Mansfield,Johnny Dankworth,Johnny Pearson,Syd Dale,Laurie Johnson,Alan Hawkshaw,Alan Parker,Tony Kinsey,,but i've never been able to find VOLUME 1 on cd.

So my thirst for more UK library music made between 66-74 became a bit of a obsession for a while,but it was also very frustrating,as there IS some absolute crud,that was NOT groovy or psyched up,but horrible easy listening that women with pink rinses would love,but it was the same dudes who had also recorded some fabulous groovy and psyched up material,so it was kind of like buying blind at that time,as the amount of times i got home,put the cd on,and it was awful muzak,the type that gets called elevator music.......lol...

In the days of cdr trading,i did receive a cdr of a Dewolfe album by THE LEMON DIPS titled"Who's Gonna Buy"which to my ears was excellent dayglo territory with organ,guitar and psychedelia coming from my speakers,i waso happy to have got that,and i still play that cdr to this day,one side had vocals,the other side was instrumentals of the same tracks,common in library albums
I would LOVE to find more UK Library Recordings/Soundtracks in that heavy hammond,fuzzed guitar mod sound and more psychedelic,funky wah wah type stuff,but also the gentler side of things,kind of summerry harmony driven pop and soft acoustic folk and folk rock on cd.

Can ANYONE recommend any titles that would fit those descriptions that ARE available on cd??

I'm not interested in 1975 and onwards,as unfortunately i've bought library music cds that unbeknown to me featured the years 75 to the 80s,and there was just too much disco like stuff,synthesiser sounds and soundscapes etc...which is definitely NOT my thing,but it WILL be someones!!

I recently picked up a series of cds titled "MUSIC FOR DANCEFLOORS"one cd each committed to KPM,CHAPPELL MUSIC sand BOSWORTH.I've NOT ventured into them yet,but i have a slight suspicion there are later 70s material included on one or two of them.......buyt mucgh of this music hasc been sampled and used by hip hop artists etc becaise of some of the drum beatrs and patterns,so some off it has become more known.

I have expanded my hunt to European Library Music,in particular from Italy,there was some tremendous Library music made in Italy by labels like Flipper,Canopo,Flirt,Deneb and Octopus that will be right up everyones street who frequents here,made by famous maestros like Ennio Morricone,Allessandro Alessandrino,Piero Ulimiani and i Marc 4 among many others,and fortunately there is much available on cd comps,like the 10 volume Easy Tempo series,the 3 cds of Sonorissima series and the 3 cd Stroboscopcia comps and the 2 excellent comps from Vampisoul Records "NELSON PSYCHOUT"and"FLIPPER PSYCHOUT".

AGAIN it can be hit or miss when buying Italian movie soundtracks from the late 60s and early 70s,but there IS much to enjoy,to psych out or groove too....there IS nio doubt about that.

ANY RECOMMENDATIONS WELCOME THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON CD.
THANK YOU.

May 9th, 2023 - 5:18 PM

Wallace

May 10, 2023 - 6:16AM