CD REVIEW - THE EROTIC AND PAINFUL OBSESSIONS OF JESS FRANCO


The Erotic and Painful Obsessions of Jess Franco
3 Scores by Gerhard Heinz
Allscore Media ASM 028 (Germany)
23 Tracks 56:22 mins

King of European exploitation films Jess Franco has a body of work totalling more than 170 films, most of these representing an addiction to sex and violence. Despite this, he has won the prestigious Spanish film award "Goya" for his life work.
Though they never met, Austrian composer Gerhard Heinz, himself with a body of work totalling more than 100 film scores, many of which were for softcore sex films of the '60s, was given the opportunity (by distribution company Lisa Film) to write the scores for three of Franco's films of the early '80s, two of them erotic, Linda and Eugenie, the other a slasher movie Bloody Moon, starring cult actress Olivia Pascal. This CD presents selections from all three scores, opening with 9 tracks from Eugenie, with its disco-styled main theme; the loungy "Wiederam Swimmingpool;"the easy-going groove of "Alba und Lolita;" the somewhat trippy "Lolita und der Teddybaer" and "Gespraech am Vorhangand; the romantic-strings of "Alberto und Alba;" the erotic sounding "Der Traum zweite Phase;" the somewhat abrasive moog of "Versuchung auf der Terasse; and the pacy "Schlussmusik."
Next up are 8 selections from Bloody Moon which, after a mysterious "Intro," gets into the disco groove with "Holiday Feeling," "Disco Nights," "Disko Alternativ"and "Samba Tropical." All this merriment is balanced out by "Die Sage des Todes Suite," "Bungalow 13" and "Schock," which present the more menacing and suspenseful elements of the score, many of which would not have been out of place in Italian genre films of the period and older.
It's a return to the erotic sound scape for the 6 tracks from Linda, including the sunny, easy-going "Titelmusic Rio Amore," "Im Strandcafe" and "Panorama;" the more dramatic, bongos-driven "Verfolgung am Strand;" the romantic piano of "Betsy und Ron;" and the purposeful and erotic mix of "Die Maedchen im Kloster - Filmversion," with it's lovely, but also weird vocalisations.
The CD comes with notes in German and English, including an interview with the composer.
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