Free Radicals

You will be led into an hour full of stories in a minimalistic way. The oboe isn’t a everyday instrument in pop/jazz music but pops up noticeably every now and then. Karl Jenkins of the umpteenth Soft Machine edition uses it on the track ‘Chloe and the Pirates’; not really a soundtrack but the virtual movie with the title is good for couples. ‘Flute for Thought’, the record with ‘Cabbage & Roti’ from 1967 is a tribute to Deepak’s mother. It was too cold to play outside and mum had lovingly put ‘cabbage & roti’ in the lunchbox of the primary school child. Made and eaten with love, while the rain kept pouring outside.
Bob Stohl and Kat Epple both played the flute; they became man and wife and made lots of electronic cassettes, LPs, soundtracks and films for shows and TV series. Their happiness came to an end when Bob Stohl suddenly died at the age of 34. Serge Blenner is French, but lives in Germany. He mostly experimented with electronic music and describes his expressions as ‘philosophic music’ but besides that ‘Euroville’ is also kind of suggestive because of the whispering in the background.
Dr. John the Nighttripper, alias Mac Rebennack, alias Dr. John Creaux. With his first album ‘Gris-Gris’ he brought voodoo in pop music and on stage. The music was hypnotizing, just like the painted, naked dancers ‘on stage’. ‘I walk on guilded splinters’ is a dangerous, magic song…. once, that song was suck in my mind and on my way to the record shop I kept repeating it. When I entered the record shop ’I walk on guilded splinters’ was on. Almost scary.
Morphine was a special trio with the double-stringed bass of founder and singer Mark Sandman and the baritone sax of Dana Colley and a drummer, who doesn’t play the lead. In 1999 the band suddenly stopped after Sandman had a hearth attack on stage and died. The movie ‘Wild Orchid’ contains a high level of voodoo and rain. The boundaries of the female lead are being stretched, whether or not accompanied by drumming film music. That is not always very surprising, but this track – ‘love theme’ stands out.
We know John Barry as composer of many soundtracks, from James Bond to Out of Africa and Dancing with Wolves. One of his best pieces is ‘The girl with the sun in her hair’; music for a Sunsilk shampoo commercial from the sixties. Erotic as she, with her waving hair, ties up her little boat on his island. 
Debussy and Satie were friends for life. Debussy only adapted music for Satie, the Gymnopédies. But because he always worked very slow and precise he only got two out of three done. He first finished the third and named it number one. Confusion everywhere: Gymnopédie 1 is number 2 of Debussy and Gymnopédie 3 is number 1 of Debussy. And number 2, he never got to that. 
Jazz musician Yusef Lateef was born as William Huddleston. He brought all kinds of exotic instruments into music and was highly praised for that. The ‘Love Theme from Spartacus’ is a wonderful drama in four minutes in which the oboe is used again.
In 2001 Tom Barman made clear with his single that nothing is finite and with that it is one of the best dEUS tracks. The vibraphone sets in and later a cloud of violins. Shivers!
The Soundcarriers are from Robin Hood’s Nottingham. The three gentlemen and one lady are ‘sound collectors’ and that can be heard on their three CDs. Influences come from Can, Neu, Amon Düül, ballroomjazz, music from the sixties and the previously mentioned John Barry. Remarkable: all four members play the flute….Jessica is the last and youngest track of tonight (2013).
1.   Soft Machine “Chloe and the Pirates” (Mike Ratledge)
cd: Six Album –  Columbia Japan MHCP 1296
2.   Deepak Ram “Cabbage and Roti” (Deepak Ram)
cd: Flute for Thought – Melt 2000 BW104
3.   Emerald Webb “Rainforest” (Kat Epple en Bob Stohl)
cd: The Stargate Tapes – Finder Keepers Records FKR068CD
4.   Serge Blenner “Euroville” (Serge Blenner)
cd: La Dimension Prochaine – Lifestyle LSCD 3101
5.   Dr. John“I Walk on Guilded Splinters” (Dr. John Creaux-the Night Tripper)
cd: Gris Gris – Atlantic/Repertoire RR 4130-WZ
6.   Morphine “You Look like Rain” (Mark Sandman)
cd: The Best of Morphine – Ryko RCD 10635
7.   Paradise “Love Them from O.S.T. Wild Orchid” (Geoff MacCormack/Simon Goldenberg)
cd: O.S.T. Wild Orchid – Sire 7599-26127-2
8.   John Barry “The Girl with the Sun in her Hair” (John Barry)
cd: Themeology-the best of John Barry – Columbia 488582
9.   Erik Satie/Claude Debussy “Gymnopédie Nr. 1” (Erik Satie/orchestration Claude Debussy) 
cd: Parade/Relache/Mercure/Gymnopédies/Gnossiennes-New London Orchestra-Ronald Corp – Hyperion CDA66365
10.  Yusef Lateef “Love Them from Spartacus” (Alfred Newman)
cd: Eastern Sounds – Prestige OJC20 612-2
11.  dEUS “Nothing Really Ends” (Tom Barman)
cd: Pocket Revolution – V2 Records VVR 1034712
12.  The Soundcarriers “Jessica” (Adam Cann/Paul Isherwood)
lp-rip: The other World of the Soundcarriers – The Great Pop Supplement GPS 103