round and round. king of the jungle in a sidecar.
A little heavy on the saxophone - in the long run - perhaps, but why quibble ?
From the soundtrack to Jérôme Laperroussaz's esotric cinematic ode to European bike racing and the crashing independent. Recorded in the spring of 1971, like "Pink Floyd, live at Pompeii" without Pink Floyd. Or a volcano.
Reissued fairly recently on CD, but once again out of print.
Christian Tritsch: bass;
Pip Pyle: drums;
Didier Malherbe: saxophone, flute;
Gilli Smyth: space whisper;
Daevid Allen: guitar, vocals.
▼ GONG: WHAT DO YOU WANT ? from "Continental Circus (Original Soundtrack)" LP (Philips) 1971 (France)
7 comments:
Racing on the boards may have been the most extreme sport ever invented - for fans and racers alike.
Thespians without a safety net ; treading the boards of death. Evel Knievel was on a "Top Gear" special on British TV fairly recently. On loan from the Rest Home I assume he tyrannizes. All those metal pins in his limbs and joints, and it would appear he has fared no worse than the average cantankerous old buzzard with no family loyalty and fewer friends and allies. A control freak in life and living death.
The last time I was at a dirt track event (it's been a while) the mud was allowed to build up into a nifty ramp along the wall at which point a car would end up sliding along the wall within a foot or two of the spectators, or better yet, sliding over the wall to land amongst us. It was, all things considered, "fun". The cars were home built and most of the racers were working class dudes. They often had their trades, along with their names hand painted on the sides of their cars: "The Lucky Lineman, The Flying Weldor."
This was, as I mentioned, a while ago. Many of the racers, along with the spectators were Viet Nam vets with a post-traumatic sense of "fun". I wonder if it would have been even funner with say, a mountain lion in the car.
And yes, I did see "Talladega Nights" and laugh my ass off.
The first thing I thought when I saw this picture was, "What the fuck did the lion think of all of this?" Great picture.
Ib, dude, share your thoughts on the soundtrack thing. You seem to like a lot of music that sounds "cinematic". I don't dislike it, but it's a kind of music that I almost never listen to. Not a bad song at all, but it never would have crossed my mind to listen to it. The sax player reminds me of Blodwyn Pig by the way.
"The Flying Weldor". Great sense of colour.
I am unconvinced with regard to the lion's seeming enjoyment, but who knows ? Dogs love sticking their face into the wind out of car windows, so why not big cats ?
I do like soundtracks. I can lose myself in them for hours. My fascination for cinematic incidental music predates my admiration for a lot of other kinds of stuff. It goes right back to watching "films" on a black and white tv as a kid. An early form of escapism, probably.
that's a fine photo, it's amazing all the stuff they'd do for an extra draw on those walls, as if the basic premise wasn't amazing looking enough.
Sadly, I've never seen one in the flesh, always wanted to after a lengthy piece in one of the bike magazines (1980'ish) about the last surviving one in England, all timber & two guys on old Indians with non-tele forks which were easier to stand on when riding the bikes facing backwards.
There's a guy on youtube built one out of old pallets & shuttering; rough as hell, but it worked.
My dad told me about going along to the wall of death and seeing the various antics, but when I confronted him about his own encounter on the boards he clammed up in an awkward smirk saying oh we don't want to talk about that dangerous nonsense or some such excuse.
Have a good weekend ib, hope all is well in your wee corner of Caledonia
Your dad rode the wall of death, Löst Jimmy ? Kudos!
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