Thursday, July 3, 2008

Library Funk



Here is some music I've been wanting to post for a long time! Music that was recorded back in the days by super talented musicians, most of them completely unheard of at the time, music never made commercially available to the public! This music called "production music" or "library music", was produced by production companies who owned 100% of the licensing rights to these tracks - allowing them to license the music for usage in Film, TV, Radio, commercials, etc. The musicians were paid for their studio time, and the licensing companies then owned the music and all the rights to it. The largest production music libraries owned hundreds of thousands of tracks that were classified by genre, and licensed as "musical illustrations" for other media productions. The customers browse through music catalog until they find something thet fits their need (western, jungle, car chase... you name it!)

Many artists, arrangers, studio engineers, talented sidemen and band leaders worked for these libraries at the time to make a living. The production of library music was especially fertile between the end of the 60s and 1976-77, until the advent of the Disco Era, when musicians became aware that they could become commercially successful with a single hit - and commercial music as we know it now was born...

This selection comprises ONLY European artists, all of which recorded for French, English and Italian libraries, the countries which produced and licensed most of the production music at the time. De Wolfe (England), Telemusic (France) were two of the largest and most prolific libraries, and the list would be too long to name them all.

In this selection, you will here some very rare, groovy, mind-expanding funk, that would probably been long forgotten about, had it not been for the record collecting community - and I think we should be thankful!


Janko Nilovic, is once again featured - so is Jean Claude Pierric, who was one of the driving forces in French Funk in the 70's producing library records and albums that have become classics, and are sought after all over the world. He is behind: "Les Wanted", Godchild, JM Lorgere, Harlem Pop Trotters, and many more. The man is a greatly under-appreciated genius, and is still around - ripping his own productions and posting them to his blog!

Other French Maestros include Guy Pedersen, Nino Nardini & Roger Roger, Bernad Lubat, Claude Bolling (Full Speed is actually a film soundtrack, but it's one that will drive you insane) & Ivan Jullien.

Then come the Italians! Stefano Torossi, Remigio Ducros, Puccio Roelens. Funky Italian wah-wah madness... & please check out the Fender Rhodes solo in "Running Fast".

All the other artists recorded in the U.K.: Reg Wale, Roger Webb, David Snell, Pete Moore, Piet Van Meren, Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett.

Big Bass, funky flute work, killer Rhodes solos, sensational Moog experimentations, jazzy horns and up-tempo drum-breaks all over the place. You don't have to thank me...
Although you can if you want :)

Tracklist is:

01. Janko Nilovic - Scratching Machine, 1970
02. Reg Wale - Bright Spark, 1970s
03. Bernad Lubat - Bahia Bossa Nova, 1970s
04. David Snell - International Flight, 1960s
05. Les Wanted - O Sabia, 1977
06. Nino Nardini & Roger Roger - Shere Khan, 1971
07. Stefano Torossi - Running Fast, 1976
08. Roland Vincent - L.S.D. Party, 1970
09. Pete Moore - Shady Blues, 1974
10. Big Jullien & his All-Star - Crescendo, 1970
11. J.M. Lorgère - Wrong, 1970s
12. Guy Pedersen - Les Copains de la Basse, 1970
13. Claude Bolling - Full Speed, 1970
14. D. Janin & J.C. Pierric - Move Man, 1970s
15. Godchild - Chut bebe dort, 1975
16. Roger Webb - Grey Sigh, 1971
17. Piet Van Meren - Soul Punch, 1973
18. Puccio Roelens - Northern Light, 1977
19. Remigio Ducros - Discoteca, 1970
20. Alan Hawkshaw & Brian Bennett - Oddball, 1974


Get this here, and believe me, you won't ever look at a 70s Italian TV show the same way.

8 comments:

thisistomorrow said...

hey there, just discovered your blog today. great selections! i have added your link to my blogroll.
are you interested in doing a mix for my blog? would be great. just let me know! mike

http://www.thisistomorrow.blogspot.com

Economiewurm said...

What a wonderful compliation. You were right, the rhodes on "Runnig fast" is magnificent. Also, "Soul Punch" is quite cool.

You have a real talent in picking groovy songs. Your compilations are greatly appreciated!

Unknown said...

Thank you for youpost.Is it possible to have a reference for the picture?
M

la prayve said...

It's a picture of Robert Moog - inventor of the Moog Synthesizer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moog

edub said...

LSD party is KILLIN iT!

Anonymous said...

can you please find some more tracks to make another library album. my god i have just loved the 2 library music albums. rock on man!

Hrangue said...

Where has "O Sabia" been all my life? Thanks for introducing us. You have excellent taste. Your mixes are similar to mine. Check me out @ http://hatembargo.blogspot.com/

Max said...

anyone knows who sampled alan hawkshaw's Oddball ?
been thinking about it for weeks, can't find it nowhere !

help me out !