‘Bumper Bundle’, De Wolfe Library (DW/LP 3185, UK, 1971)

Great little record from the hugely productive Wardour Street music library, De Wolfe. They’re still going actually, and if a recent article in free rag ‘Metro’ is on the money, they were recently advertising for people who could break wind impressively enough to be recorded for library use. Quick, apply now. Think of the pride you will feel when, watching a film or TV programme, the sound of escaping gas reduces a hapless audience to tears; and it’s yours!

Anyway, back to Bumper Bundle. It’s a bold, brassy affair with The London Studio Group performing fourteen swinging, mod flavoured big band numbers by De Wolfe regulars Reg Tilsley and Peter Milray (AKA Jack Trombey, real name Jan Stoeckart). It’s the kind of record that drains the hatred for my fellow humans right out of me, so I tested it on headphones whilst visiting the supermarket today. Result? Despite a very full car park, and crowded isles, I succeeded in having an extremely pleasant shopping experience that even included a little shoulder swaying, sauntering and head nodding. I probably looked like an arse, but at least I didn’t get trolley rage.

Listen to selected tracks from ‘Contemporary Sounds And Movements Vol 1’ by The Sammy Burdson Group (Sonoton Recorded Music Library, SON 104, Germany).

I picked this shiny little beast up in my local record shop for a fiver, which was nice, as these things rarely turn up in the real world of an actual retail setting. It’s all online, innit?

Percussive and electronic, sparse and bathed in a bleak blanket of echo, this German library LP from Gerhard Narholz’s Munich label Sonoton hails from an era that I generally avoid. My fear is that library records from the late 1970s and 1980s will turn out to be horrible affairs that resemble the worst of the electronic synth pop of the time, minus the vocals. On the strength of this recording however, maybe I should stick my neck out a little more. At least as far as Vol 2 anyway.

Listen to ‘Here and Now 1’ by Lesiman (Vedette, VSM 38559, Italy, 1973).

Ok, yes, I’m showing off a bit here, but after a long quest I have finally acquired the first volume of Paolo Renosto’s breathtaking two part library classic that he recorded for Vedette records under the pseudonym Lesiman, and I’m chuffed to bits. 

Press ‘play’ and hear for yourself how Renosto creates an edgy, sinister soundscape of hypnotic grooves, shot through with deep, intense repetitive melodic patterns played on pianos, organs, harpsichords and no doubt a few other keyboard instruments that I’ve failed to notice.

I don’t claim by any means to have an exhaustive collection, or knowledge of library music, but along with this record’s companion, ‘Here and Now 2’ (see August 2010), it sounds unique.

Listen to ‘Ciao Italia’ by Bruno Nicolai (Edi-Pan, Italy, 1976).

Everyone likes a bit of Italian library music from time to time, and I’m no exception. Trouble is, it’s often silly money, and then you need to pay the Italian postman to boot. Happily, this particular record was offered to the entire world on ebay but nobody wanted it except me, so it cost a fiver (and I only had to pay that lovely English postie). At such a low price I was expecting a load of old rubbish, but as you will hear in the sound clip, it’s a satisfying hotch-potch of spikey jazz, cheap sounding electronic drum patterns, funky riffs that suddenly wander off down ‘jaunty street’, fuzzy guitar pop/rock instrumentals and sunny bossa. Not to mention the wonderful spoken word interludes that serve as postcards home throughout the record. There is also a smooth vocal number sung by Fred Bongusto. (I wish ‘Bongusto’ was my surname).

‘Ciao Italia’ was released on Bruno Nicolai’s own library label, Edi-Pan, but it appears to be an original soundtrack to a film of the same name that I know nothing about.

Ciao, for now.

Listen to bits of ‘Voices In Harmony’ (KPM 1125, UK, 1973).

Yes, more from the dirty box of slightly soiled KPM library records that came my way a month or so ago. This is the album immediately before the KPM release featured in my last post, and the chaps down in Denmark St, London, WC2 were obviously going through a bit of a lovely-girls-singing-lovely-tunes phase at the time. So yes, another large helping of dreamy wordless voices dominate the fifteen tunes found here, composed by well known library favourites Keith Mansfield and John Cameron.

The soundclip contains just three tunes from the LP, and I have omitted perhaps the most well known title simply because it can be heard on youtube. So, if you want to go weak at the knees and marvel at the sublime beauty of ‘Half Forgotten Daydreams’ by John Cameron, then visit the post above this one. The kind up-loader has even slipped in a few minutes of the 1968 film ‘Duffy’ to accompany the music, which works remarkably well.

Listen to tunes from ‘Summer Songbirds’ (KPM 1126, 1973, UK).

I was fortunate enough recently to find myself in front of a box of around twenty KPM Library records. This is fortunate indeed, as one only usually comes across these LPs in the realms of the online sales lists or auctions. They also happened to be mostly very good; a small collection, mercifully free from Scottish reels, ragtime piano, nationalistic themes from around the world and novelty comedy pieces. The man selling them came complete with a greengrocer’s demeanor, a fine set of butcher’s fingers and a desire to pile it high and sell it cheap (well, not that cheap, but hey, record dealers aren’t stupid).

On ‘Summer Songbirds’ we get to spend a side each with Tony Kinsey and Pete Winslow, during which we enjoy ‘warm vocals in harmony’ and ‘solo girl voice features’. I for one can listen to almost limitless amounts of ‘la la la lee’, ‘do do do dooo do do dooo’, ‘li li li lee lee li li’, ‘die dee die shoo dup ‘n’ day’, especially if it is pleasantly accompanied by swinging bossa and samba played by top London session musicians in shirt sleeves and pressed flannel trousers.

And hey, what a perfect soundtrack to what appears to be a glimmer of summer finally gracing the UK. Quick! Grab your sunniest records, get outside and have a scat picnic before the return of graphite skies and several months of on/off precipitation.