There is definitely a long, strange trip that leads up to the release of
this CD. It’s certainly worth relating. It begins in the 1960’s with a
then young musician named Bobby Beausoleil and his psychedelic chamber
music group called The Orkustra. Avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger
chanced upon a performance of The Orkustra at the legendary San
Francisco happening known as The Invisible Circus. Impressed more with
Beausoleil’s magnetic stage presence than the music itself, he asked the
young musician to play the title role in his next planned film, Lucifer
Rising. Beausoleil agreed, as long as his band could perform the music
for the film. Throwing himself deep into the project, he ended up
alienating his other band members, who left. Undaunted, Beausoleil
formed a new band, The Magick Powerhouse of Oz. Unfortunately, after the
first live performance of the new band, Beausoleil and Anger had a
falling out. Anger moved to England, while Beausoleil drifted down to
southern California, where he met a young man named Charles Manson.
Although Beausoleil was only involved on the periphery of Manson’s
circle, he did get involved with some of the biker gangs that frequented
the Spahn Ranch where Manson and his group hung out, and ended up being
involved in the murder of a double-crossing drug dealer. After his
arrest, and while Beausoleil awaited trial, Manson and his cult
committed their now infamous helter skelter murders. Linked to Manson’s
group at his trial, Beausoleil was given the maximum sentence.
Meanwhile,
Anger commissioned Jimmy Page to score the still only partially shot
Lucifer Rising. Page produced about 28-minutes worth of music,
but the project seemed to be going nowhere. Back in California,
Beausoleil refused to let the oppressive Tracy State Prison surroundings
squash his spirit, and instead formed a band within the walls of the
institution, made up of inmates. When he heard that Anger was still
working on the Lucifer Rising project, he pulled his group of inmate
musicians together and recorded demos for the film director. Anger was
so impressed, he reportedly gave Page his walking papers and
commissioned Beausoleil to once again score Lucifer Rising. With the
approval of a cooperative prison warden, but on an extremely limited
budget, Beausoleil built a small recording studio from scratch within
the walls of the prison, and slowly over the next few years, with the
help of his fellow inmate musicians, now dubbed The Freedom Orchestra,
he recorded the soundtrack to Lucifer Rising.
Over 35 years after
being originally incarcerated, Beausoleil still resides in Tracy State
Prison. From behind those walls, he continues his recording career,
having released several albums. He is also the facilitator for the Los
Hermanos Youth Intervention Program, and has directed a series of videos
called A Framework for Breaking Barriers, a cognitive skills
development program designed to provide prisoners with tools that can
help them break free of the cycle of recidivism. Many people feel it is
about time Bobby Beausoleil was freed from prison.
Beausoleil’s
remarkable soundtrack is finally available on CD through Arcanum
records. The double disc CD includes extensive liner notes, the entire
original 45-minute score for Lucifer Rising performed by The Freedom
Orchestra on one disc, and a collection of rarities on the second disc
which include a couple of short recordings by Beausoleil’s original band
The Orkustra, 25-minutes of the original Magic Powerhouse of Oz
soundtrack sessions recorded in 1967, and 28-minutes of early Freedom
Orchestra rehearsals.
That’s the official story, now how’s the
music? It could be easy for the fascinating story behind the music to
overshadow the final production, but in this case, I’m happy to report
that the music is just as interesting as the story.
The
soundtrack on disc one walks the often dark and shadowy realms between
orchestral music, experimental electronic music, and exploratory
psychedelic rock. Imagine Walter Carlos jamming with the late 60’s Pink
Floyd and a small rag tag orchestra and you might have an idea of what
it sounds like. This is evocative, brilliant stuff that doesn’t need a
film to go with it to be enjoyed (I myself have not seen the Kenneth
Anger film). What it does need is a willingness to lay back, close your
eyes and float into a lost past that had its roots in the Summer of
Love, when everything was about freedom, and ended in a place where
freedom was at a premium. This lost past was a time when experimenting
was part of the very fabric of youthful life, and music was one thread
in that vast fabric. Beausoleil’s soundtrack, with its washes of
primitive electronics, raucous percussion, whooping horns, bluesy
guitar, and hypnotizing organ seems both earthy and cosmic at the same
time. There’s not much more that I can say about it, because no
description would really accurately capture the nature of the music.
This needs to be heard.
Disc two kicks off with two vintage
tracks of Beausoleil’s original band, The Orkustra. The first of these
recordings, Punjab’s Barber, sounds somewhat as if Sun Ra had decided to
play rock music instead of jazz, still with lots of horns and a
classical influence, belied only by the electric guitar snaking through
the mix. The second of these, Flash Gordon, is more of an electric romp,
with a touch of hoedown twang to the avant-classical rock sound. From
there, we move onto The Magic Powerhouse of Oz, with their original
recordings for the Lucifer Rising soundtrack from 1967. This is
different music altogether from the soundtrack Beausoleil would
eventually produce. This is much rougher, and doesn’t display the
electronic experimentation that would form the backbone of the eventual
soundtrack. Still, it’s a fascinating listen; a great, big, loud stew of
rock and experimental jazz. Chaotic, almost orchestral style drumming
propels 60’s electric guitar jamming while horns and a flute punch their
way through the mix. Again, the avant-jazz, Sun Ra influence can be
heard as the band stretches out, exploring the possibilities. This is a
true and unique time capsule; a glimpse into the wild experimentation
that was going on in the Summer of Love; a glorious and somewhat dark
celebration of sound, freed from the constraints of rock, classical, and
jazz, yet incorporating all three.
The early Freedom Orchestra
sessions show considerable advancement in an early approach to the final
soundtrack. The electronics are here now, and Beausoliel has taken a
more dynamic and planned out approach to the sound, as it careens back
and forth between minimalist electronic soundscapes to full out rock
jams. The roots of the final soundtrack can be heard in this more
primitive, rougher version. Still, it’s intriguing to think that inmates
in a prison performed this. Beausoleil either lucked out in finding a
group of prison inmates who all happened to be into taking such an
way-out approach to music, or his vision truly inspired them. Either
way, it makes for a fascinating trip into something almost impossible to
imagine.
I might point out, as I suggested before, that these
original efforts are really completely different compositions from the
final soundtrack. Although you can hear some of the ideas in the early
Freedom Orchestra sessions that would become parts of the final effort,
each is it’s own unique creation.
Lucifer Rising: The Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack is nearly two hours of vintage, experimental
rock that steps beyond the boundaries of what we know, and touches
something that is both comforting and terrifying. Highly recommended!
Tracklist:
Lucifer Rising
1-1 The Freedom Orchestra Part I
1-2 The Freedom Orchestra Part II
1-3 The Freedom Orchestra Part III
1-4 The Freedom Orchestra Part IV
1-5 The Freedom Orchestra Part V
1-6 The Freedom Orchestra Part VI
Lucifer Rising Sessions
2-1 The Orkustra,The Punjab's Barber (Excerpt)
2-2 The Orkustra,The Flash Gordon (Excerpt)
2-3 The Magick Powerhouse Of Oz
2-4 The Freedom Orchestra
Download:
https://mega.co.nz/#!5sMRlQYY!z7w-hLGnWtwtBHl4LBYg07LBJEgrH0-3ulvNHrgo0SM
but the project seemed to be going nowhere. Back in California,
Beausoleil refused to let the oppressive Tracy State Prison surroundings
squash his spirit, and instead formed a band within the walls of the
institution, made up of inmates. When he heard that Anger was still
working on the Lucifer Rising project, he pulled his group of inmate
musicians together and recorded demos for the film director. Anger was
so impressed, he reportedly gave Page his walking papers and
commissioned Beausoleil to once again score Lucifer Rising. With the
approval of a cooperative prison warden, but on an extremely limited
budget, Beausoleil built a small recording studio from scratch within
the walls of the prison, and slowly over the next few years, with the
help of his fellow inmate musicians, now dubbed The Freedom Orchestra,
he recorded the soundtrack to Lucifer Rising.