Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Music From Star Wars: Performed by the Electric Moog Orchestra


Music From Star Wars: Performed by the Electric Moog Orchestra - 1977


This a pretty terrible record. It pretty much nearly made Sara cry. I kind of like the fact that it sounds a little like early video game music with better drums, but generally, it is the piece de regurge. So why review such a lousy record? Well, besides the fact that it only ran me a buck at CD/Game Exchange in Silver Spring, I have to also give a shout to one particular track. On a whole, the album is lame bleeps and bloops, which really drains the joy out of John WIlliam's superb original soundtrack. One track in which this actually complements the original source material is the music from the Cantina Band. You know, that scene in the first movie with all of the fun oddball creatures getting their drink on whilst networking for space related job activity? Well, the band in the futuristic space dive bar is busting out some serious space funk. It's easy to picture the moog version fitting right into the movie, it's so shitty/futuristic. The moog version has a lot less jazz and swing, it fills in with a bitchin' drum solo, manic crackhead tempo, and it even gets kind of dark and psych-rock towards the end. It's the kind of track that will turn your head because it actually one-ups the original in a dirty kind of ham fisted way. Is this enough to recommend seeking out the entire album? No, not by a long shot. Nice to know it happened though. The decision to green light this project must have been made around the same time George Lucas approved the Star Wars Holiday Special. Also bad, but some parts just work and are kind of revolutionary in they're own freakish way.

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