As I've been working through re-ups, so I decided to drop all the Libaek in a handy mega-post, so here you go. I don't have to tell you how much I love this man's work. Everything here is utterly essential.
Put these on some tapes. Put a tape in a waterproofed portable cassette player. Take a small boat or aquatic car out upon the water. Or embark on a desert stroll-- if you have no water-bodies in your region-- or a dune buggy ride. Either way, the adventure shall unfold, with delight and discovery, with the aid of these perfect sounds. Good luck to you.
White Horse and Walkabout are surfing and nature documentary soundtracks, respectively. Full of discovery. Two of the consistently best, most necessary records in his catalog-- masterpieces, really. Both 192.
Inner Space is a shark documentary soundtrack, and it's a giant masterpiece. Some tracks from here notably used for The Life Aquatic. This is the king of underwater music records.
It should be noted that this is not the retrospective comp of the same name (with "Lost Film Music of Sven Libaek" appended to the title)-- this is the original soundtrack album. Also, this is not the original Aussie Festival release with the William Shatner narration included, which is cool too-- you can grab that here, and I highly recommend that you do-- although this one is probably your #1 choice. This rip is courtesy of Owl, from the Holy Warbles days. 320, of course.
INNER SPACE
Sven's audacious symphonic concept piece, thematically focused on the Norwegian's adopted home. Longer compositions, grander ideas, sweeping and epic-- but still the same glorious composer. Truly, he is a god damn secret genius.
AUSTRALIAN SUITE (320)
Soundtrack to an Australian television series. Very similar to White Horse and Walkabout, with a little more in the way of "action" horns-- but still mostly the Libaek signature sound of outback contemplation and wide-eyed exploration. Used to be hard to find, this one. Really really good.
BONEY (192)
Although perhaps not his most consistent album, this little treasure nonetheless contains some of his best & coolest tracks, including the superb "Misty Canyon", which is an absolute must-hear.
MY THING (224)
Ostensibly a space-themed Library record, the mood here is actually just as underwater-y as his best work. A lot of great sounding old electronics on here too. Includes "Meteoric Rain," one of his all-time greatest tracks, and many more gorgeous jaw-droppers. 256.
SOLAR FLARES
Certainly this is a hit-or-miss effort from Libaek-- there's a lot of vocal tracks, though they aren't bad at all-- but it still has some really cool stuff. One of his best pieces ever is here, the amazing "News From the Exchange." Try it.
Rip originally uploaded by Digital Meltd0wn, check him out and say thanks. You can also check out a longer post on this LP, by me, here.
NICKEL QUEEN (320)
Another great soundtrack, this one to a sort of Australian counterculture film. A surprisingly wide range of emotions and evocations of scene and mood can be found within these 19 selections, all delivered in a warm, jazzy, smoky sound. Velvety, even. Marvellously sophisticated stuff, even for Libaek. Fuckin' fabulous.
Again, I've written a bit more on this one here.
THE SET (192)
Mr. Libaek's phenomenal first record, available over at Urban Bowerbird, a fantastic Australian music blog. This one is rare as hen's teeth and utterly sublime to boot-- a real holy grail. Go there, thank the man, and check out his other treasures.
SVEN LIBAEK at URBAN BOWERBIRD
There's a few other Libaek and Libaek-related things there, including these items:
14 comments:
you're missing the link for "the set"
Fixed it
Thanks very much for r-eupping! Great Stuff!!!!
Nick
Ooops no new new link for Inner Space.
Best,
Nick
dammit
inner space link is fixed
big ups!
Thanks for the plug Flash, and thanks for keeping Sven accessible! B the W, I just found an old Standard Library record rip which has a couple of tracks from both Sven and John Sangster from their golden-era in the mid-seventies.
Check it out here: http://djmarselluswallace.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/standard-music-library-esl-126.html
I haven't listened to these tracks much, but on initial listening it sounds like good stuff. Also, I just recently bought 'Seasons Of Love' - an interesting Libaek record which features some of his original compositions accompanying REALLY bad Rod McKuen-esque poetry read by a guy named Gerard Kennedy - which I will be ripping and uploading soon.
Thanks for the tip, Rohan! I must have seen that LP over at Marsellus' place and totally whooshed by it like a fool... good Libaek tracks and really good Sangsters, as well.
I'll be interested to hear "Seasons of Love"-- I've rarely been let down by Mr. Libaek. Though I have to say, "Bill Collin's Favorite Movie Themes" is a bit of a snooze. And I've never heard "Grass"
Nice post. Keep it up.
As much as I love Libaek, there is definitely a clearly defined time period of quality output and it stops pretty much at the end of the final track of 'Solar Flares'. After that he got into easy listening covers and muzak and it's just not the same. Although, I do have a record of his called 'I Love Australian Movies' which I'm interested to hear as it has one of his later, original compositions on it amongst the covers. Haven't actually listened to it though, despite it sitting in my cabinet for months.
'Seasons Of Love' is... interesting. Libaek's music is good, as good as you would expect for his output in 1972 (one year before Inner Space). However, the accompanying poetry read by Gerard Kennedy is APPALLING. It is, in all seriousness, what must be the worst poetry I have ever heard. So that makes for one interesting, at times laugh out loud, strange listening experience.
Hahahaha I can't wait hear this poetastrophe! Sounds as though it could be sublime in its awfulness.
This is brilliant thank you. Only discovered Libaek's music recently through the excellent Night Air Podcast. Sven Libaek is interviewed on the podcast and comes across as a really friendly unassuming guy, very passionate about his music and very complimentary to the musicians he worked with and their contribution.
Here is the link: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/nightair/library-music/4110132
I now have the aforementioned Libaek oddity 'Seasons Of Love' up on Urban Bowerbird - http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au - for those interested.
just found your blog, i'd never heard of it before but i really dig what you're up to.
Just wanted to say thanks a lot, i have a hard time finding some of the stuff i found here.
p.s. - sorry for the poor grammar, english is not my mother tongue.
Post a Comment