From 1967-1978, the British band the Pretty Things recorded five albums under an alias, though none were sold in stores. Amongst the tracks they put to tape is an apocalyptic acid rocker, and it’s one of the finest psychedelic songs laid down in the 1960s.

Library music is ready-made soundtracks for film, TV, and radio productions. Until the mid ‘60s, instrumental background music was what was commonly needed, but then pop and rock tunes started to become in demand, as well. De Wolfe, a library music company, began looking for an actual band to provide genuine pop/rock songs, and found one in the Pretty Things. Recording under the fictitious, psychedelia-inspired name Electric Banana, the group produced a self-titled record in 1967, the first in a series of late ‘60s albums for De Wolfe. The general format of these records was to have songs with vocals on Side A, and instrumental versions of the same tracks on Side B. More Electric Banana (1968) was album #2, followed by—wait for it—Even More Electric Banana (1969). The latter release was unique, in that the material was destined for a specific project.
 

 
The 1969 film What’s Good for the Goose is very much of its time. Several scenes are set in a swinging, mod discotheque, in which the Pretty Things are seen performing Electric Banana songs from the third EB album. One of those tunes is the stupendous psych rock number, “Blow Your Mind.” After the initial burst of excitement, the song changes course, shifting into a swirling, dramatic instrumental rave-up that never looks back. It’s quite the head trip, and lives up to its title.

Get your mind blown, after the jump….

 
What’s library music, you ask? Library music is ready-made soundtracks for film, TV, and radio productions on a budget, who couldn’t afford to hire a composer. The tracks commissioned by music libraries circulated the recordings to just those working within those industries, but eventually these discs ended up in used record stores, and were subsequently picked up by intrigued collectors.

My first inkling that library music—which experienced its heyday from the 1960s through the 1980s—was a genre unto itself, came via the 2000 compilation, Cinemaphonic: Electro Soul. I fell for the sounds heard on the collection, which ranged from jazz-funk to the avant-garde. A track like “Creepy Street” was designed to elicit a certain mood—and did just that. The comp was curated by record collector David Hollander, and was the first such collection of American library music to be widely distributed.
 

 
Earlier this year, a book Hollander penned concerning the subject was published. Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music is packed with awesome images and rarely told stories. One such tale comes from Keith Mansfield, who’s amongst the composers who elevated what was considered a lower form of scoring into an art form. An excerpt from his late 1960s piece, “Funky Fanfare,” will be recognizable to many as the music that was once used in American movie theaters in association with trailers and the feature presentation. This edit was later heard multiple times in the 2007 salute to exploitation cinema, Grindhouse, which was the work of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.

“Funky Fanfare” appeared on a 1969 collection put together by the KPM music library, but this well-known library music number didn’t actually begin as such. Here’s Mansfield detailing how “Funky Fanfare”—which was originally recorded during a session for Decca Records signee Tony Newman—came to be:

We spent two hours [at Decca] doing the A-side, had a break, then we did the B-side and I left. It turned out, of course, that they turned the record over and the B-side became the A-side. But before the session started I said to the producer, “Oh by the way, I didn’t have time to write a new piece of music, I’ve had to write [adapt] one of those that I’ve written for KPM.” Of course, he thought that was fine. And then of course it became the A-side, but it wasn’t called “Funky Fanfare,” it was called “Soul Thing.” So the first recording of “Funky Fanfare” is called “Soul Thing,” and it’s a Tony Newman record, a proper produced commercial recording done at Decca studios. Ten days later I record the same piece of music in Cologne for Robin [Phillips, who ran KPM] and we called it “Funky Fanfare.” (excerpted from Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music)

 

Images of Keith Mansfield conducting an orchestra during a KPM recording session.

You may only know the brief, famous excerpt of “Funky Fanfare,” but the entire track is fantastic. The song has the opening slot on the upcoming Unusual Sounds compilation, which is due November 9th.

Dangerous Minds has the remastered premiere of “Funky Fanfare”:
 

 
The collection will be released by Anthology Recordings; pre-order yours here. The label’s publishing arm, Anthology Editions, put out the Unusual Sounds book; get it here.

Some striking library music cover art from years past, courtesy of Anthology:
 

 

 
Much more after the jump…