Bill Stafford - Addison store
Bobby Beausoleil - "Lucifer Rising" (Original Soundtrack plus)

Bobby Beausoleil is not primarily known as a musician - his fame springs from a darker well, coming from a brief (and disastrous) association with notorious cult-leader Charles Manson. But, prior to his involvement with the Southern California death cult led by Manson, Beausoleil had resided in San Francisco and fronted several groups of progressive/art musicians, the Orkustra, and the Magic Powerhouse of OZ.

His musical interest had attracted the attention of Kenneth Anger, the celebrated occultist and underground filmmaker, who wanted Bobby to not only score his latest epic, but to star as the titular light-bringer. Unfortunately, an artistic falling out led to the project being shelved and sparked Beausoleil's flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he would encounter someone else with much darker ideas of invoking Lucifer.

In the early Seventies, years after Beausoleil's death sentence was commuted to life in prison, Anger and Beausoleil re-established their friendship and their intention of bringing to life the long-buried idea of Lucifer Rising. By this point Anger had contacted Jimmy Page, disciple of the teachings of Aleister Crowley and guitarist for Led Zeppelin, to score his film. Page, however, was only able to complete a fraction of the required music, and so, after hearing Beausoleil's demo tape, he was fired by Anger and replaced with Bobby and his all-prisoner band, christened, with suitable irony, the Freedom Orchestra.

Through a prison work program, and donations of such necessities as a multi-track tape recorder from Anger, Beausoleil was able to score the entire film while behind bars, and after only seeing a partial rough-cut of the film. The results, considering the years of difficulty surrounding the work, are impressive. Beausoleil is an accomplished composer, and innovative musician (his early bands include his playing of an electric bouzouki, and in the Freedom Orchestra he plays a hand-built double-neck guitar/bass) and the album is a highly skilled prog-rock piece that doesn't need to be connected to Anger's film (or its composers notoriety) to be worthy of attention. Sounding like a jazzed/orchestral prog band (think of Mahavishnu Orchestra or some of Hawkwind's less psychotic jams) the score is both heavy, in the sense of intensity, and light, in that it is a work of spirituality devoted to the "Bearer of Lights" re-ascension into Heaven.

The works is also much more thoroughly thought-out and mature than the original score ideas that Beausoleil had written in 1967, portions of which are included on a bonus disc included in the package. These tracks are closer to some of the more clichéd hippy meanderings so popular during the Summer of Love, but they do little but wallow about, more directionless than controlled (an interesting idea if viewed as a metaphor for their composers life, but hardly a stunning listening experience - fortunately, imprisonment and sobriety seem to have helped BeauSoleil composing).

The bonus material includes portions of one of the only live performances by the Magick Powerhouse of OZ, and also a live interpretation of the Lucifer Rising score performed by the Freedom Orchestra in a concert for other inmates. Rounding out the package is a beautifully designed gate-fold digipack and liner notes by Anger, Beausoleil and several of the people who helped to acquire and remaster these tapes.

All in all, a lovely piece of work that should intrigue aficionados of prog-rock, those who love film scores, and even those with a macabre interest in the Manson Family associates.

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