Back catalogue: Library/Archive

Review: A new spate of Tele Music library classics reissues from the 70s houses this one from 1976. Once more, legendary composer and drummer Pierre Alain Dahan hears his timely work reissued - this time in collaboration with his eternal guitar colleague Slim Pezin, a many-timed collaborator with Dahan. Contrasting to Dahan's many more experimental works, such as the prototypical 'Rhythmiques' album (which is far more out-there, almost primordial-sounding) 'Neo Rhythmiques' is an absolute killer of scorching, uptempo jazzy soul-funk, demonstrating what humanity as whole has achieved since, by harnessing said rhythmic primordium for its own funky ends.

Review: Continuing Be With's library music reissues series is this latest callback to the rare 1979 album French composer and producer Michael Gonet, who, like many of his contemporaries, created futuristic and experimental sounds for TV, radio and film, working at the precipice of a new, transitional media age. Dripping from this bleeding edge comes twelve strange tracks for timpani, synth and odd time signature, occasionally dipping into styles ranging from synthpop, minimalism and funk. Choice weirdo segments include the forbidden-planetary 'Phasing Percussions' tracks and the dastardly instrumental-fonky 'Devil Dances'.

Review: For their latest deep dive into the world of library music, Be With Records has plundered the catalogue of German outlet Selected Sound. Comprising cuts in a variety of related styles recorded by a string of in-house outfits, 'Blue Butterfly' was originally mailed to subscribers in the film, television and advertising industries way back in 1971. It has largely stood the test of time brilliantly, with our picks of a very strong bunch including the fuzz-fuelled, flute-sporting car-chase heaviness of Hardy Jet Band's 'Sorry, Doc!', the 'Relight My Fire'-inspired big band funk-rock of 'Safari Track' by the same combo, the spaghetti western-on-the-moon flex of 'Lady In Space' by Orchestra Klaus Wuestoff' and the appallingly titled but utterly joyous 'Pop Happening' by the Jan Troysen Band.

Review: Yet more Italian soundtracks and music libraries are adoringly looked pined over. But this time - unlike the simple reissues that have come out so far this year - Frank Maston's Panorama LP seeks to emulate the era's best qualities with his own original music. Following on from similar endeavours such as 'Tulips' and its follow-up 'Darkland', Maston show off his to-a-T compositional chops, emulating only the best Italian session sounds via a commission from British library KPM.

Review: Originally produced in 1973 as a split LP by guitarist Alan Parker on the first side, and composer John Cameron on the second, this album is one of the KPM 1000 Series twelve inch long playing transcription discs - produced especially for the film, television and radio industries to the highest standards. Eloquently described as "hard afro pop featuring a large percussive rhythm section and front line", it was recorded at Morgan Studios by the pair as a collection of stripped-down African rhythms, virtuoso jazz instrumentation, fuzzed up wah wah guitars and spaced out library breaks. As Cameron himself described it in Unusual Sounds, this is "heavy duty drum-and-bass salsa music".

Review: The first fruits of Be With Records' recently announced partnership with Tele Music is a reissue of one of the legendary library music label's most far-sighted and sought-after releases: Tonio Rubio's 1972 collection 'Rhythms'. Offering the best in deep disco-breaks, laidback Blaxploitation funk and killer groove-based instrumentals, the album now comes accompanied by extensive new liner notes from Rubio and many of the crate-digging DJs who have been inspired by the album. Highlights include - but are in no way limited to - the wonderfully cosmic and otherworldly 'Dead Slow', the low-slung delights of 'Bass In Action' parts one and two, and the Pierre Henry-esque brilliance of 'Latin Leitmotiv'.

Review: Alan Tew's driving jazz-rock, sleuth-funk masterpiece, Drama Suite Part I, is finally reissued to sate your appetites for arguably the very best library two-parter in existence. If you don't know, get to know. Originally released in 1976 but wonderfully timeless, this one's at the top of every library funk collectors' list. It's easy to see why. Racing out of the gate, the gritty crime funk of 'The Detectives' makes for a thrilling ride. A dramatic action theme, it's packed with strident playing and bags of attitude; and thereafter, we get ten drama-tinged, horn-heavy, wah-wah-laced, conga-enhanced, synth-riddled tracks built for maximum funk fever. 'Helicop' is one such fast paced and energetic dramatic action background, while 'The Big One (Prelude)' brings with it an ace bassline and creeps along superbly, adding tension with an amazing rolling piano loop stopping us dead in our tracks. It's all building to 'The Big One', a driving, dramatic, full-band action with fantastic funk breaks, heavy horns and *that* piano refrain. Notably, the track was sampled by Jay-Z; and you can't really blame him, can you?

Review: British library musician and composer Alan Tew has one of his many magnum opuses, Drama Suite Part II, reissued by KPM. With the label keen to flaunt its first edition's going rate on Discogs, Tew's follow-up to the first part is a holy grail for library music collectors, owing to its performative subtlety, breadth of mood, and doubtless bottling of several modish styles of the time: noir, dark jazz, explotiation theme music. The track 'Stonechange' in particular hears many coded rerubs, with many versions and sub-versions, as was of the factual, rationalistic and methodical approach to the library music of the 1970s and early 80s. It's also got an indelibly clean sound: as with all KPM reissues, the audio for Drama Suite Part II comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis.

Review: Infamous for being sampled by Chance The Rapper, Sven Torstenson's library music classic, Drugs, has since enjoyed a resurgence in demand, resulting in its reissue here via Be With. Notorious as a loopdigga's fever dream, bursting with breaks for days and featuring possibly the most iconic cover of all library music's cult classics. First released in 1980, it's now a hyper-rare and seriously sought-after electronic album full of experimental soundscapes and samples just waiting to be flipped. It's both terrifying and terrifyingly good.

Review: Not to be confused with Klaus WeiB, the East Germany-born handball hero of the Summer Olympics 1972, although born in the same era, this Klaus Weiss is in fact the man who started out as a jazz drummer before expanding his remit to other instruments and genres, winding up pretty prolific in the world of movie and TV scores. As can be heard here.

While not directly linked to, taken from, or inspired by screen work, Open Space underscores (ahem) many of the same totems. It's un-rushed, yet tracks are relatively brief, not much more than interludes. Each feels similar to the next, but they clearly invoke very different emotional responses. Somewhere between synth-laden fantasy soundtracks of yore, and medieval court music, it's like going into the future only to realise civilisation has gone backwards while retaining some of its tech prowess.