Library music
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Currently listening to my four albums of library music composed by Nick Glennie-Smith for the KPM label in the 80s, before he hit it big as a film composer. Such great stuff — synths, disco, jazz, ambient, classical pastiche, pop, what-have-you. They include NOW AND THEN (1981), DESTINATIONS (1985) and FIRST GENERATION (1986) on vinyl, and AHEAD OF THE GAME (1992) on CD.
But the topic of library music has always intrigued me. Such a vast catalogue of great music, with each track being a self-contained piece rather than adhering to all the film-specific shenanigans of “proper” film music. I know there are fan communities dedicated solely to this artform.
Any others share this interest, or have any recommendations to share? I have a few more beyond the NGS albums, but I’ll wait to hear if you have any first.
Sadly cannot contribute to this. WOnder if those still are made. Probably soon everyone will use AI to generate some “faceless backgroundn noise”…
They’re still being made, but far more generic and boring. Most of the ones I’ve heard sound like that cheap trailer music that is all the rage these days. Could just as well have been produced by an A.I., yes.
The best library music was composed between the 60s and 90s.
I should indeed have explored those Nick GS albums further.
My favourite Jonathan Elias has done tons of library albums (mostly with a co-composer) on download after he wrote his final film score in 2011, but I still haven’t looked into it much. It’s a bit too overwhelming.
I’d be interested to check out some of that Elias stuff. But yes, some of these projects can be massive to get through. Same with Chris Franke’s library music catalogue.
Alan Hawkshaw, who died in 2021, is probably the greatest “superstar” of library music, but as with Elias and Franke, his catalogue is huge. It’s hard to know where to start. But there’s plenty to explore on Spotify and YouTube. I know that he particularly liked funk, so there’s a 2018 repackaging of some of these tracks I’ve heard good things about, named FULL CIRCLE. Taglined “tranquil funk for laidback, panoramic journeys”, it’s exactly that. Here’s an example (a little bit of crime jazz thrown in):
Cool, I love such “crime funk”. I think I may have one or two tracks of him somewhere buried in other funk tracks possibly.
There is the wonderful “Dimensioni Sonore” (Sound Dimensions) by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, which covers a wide range of moods in many self contained pieces. Really good stuff. As noted, library music tends to be more like an “etude”, usually they are self contained miniature compositions rather than developed scores, so listening to this stuff is like eating Potatoes chips… you can have one or two or three or a whole bag. 🙂
Composing library music allows the composer to explore ideas or techniques in short form, without having to conform and commit the material to a larger scale composition.I didn’t know Jonathan Elias wrote that much library music… I will certainly look (or better hear) into that.
Another artist worth mentioning is Francis Rimbert. He is mostly known for being a keyboard player in Jean Michel Jarre’s band, but he’s done some solo stuff too (a bit like Nick Glennie-Smith to Hans Zimmer, I just realized now), including a number of tracks and albums with April Orchestra, which wasn’t an orchestra, but a label for library music composed for CBS. His album APRIL ORCHESTRA 51 is a lot of fun – cheesy as hell, but also smooth easy listening. There are other bits and bobs out there too.
There is the wonderful “Dimensioni Sonore” (Sound Dimensions) by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai,
Yes, I sampled that awhile back. Totally weird stuff.
As alluded to in the rock/pop/electronic thread, Anne Dudley did some library music in the early 80s, while she was still with Art of Noise. Some of it is disco-ish, but a lot of interesting electronic elements as well. VERY catchy stuff. The library music company was Amphonic Music Ltd., and she did four albums for them – SOUND STAGE 6, SOUND STAGE 11, SOUND STAGE 18 and SOUND STAGE 27. They’re all on YouTube, the complete vinyl played as one continous file.
Hard to pick a favourite among them, they’re all fine. Pretty heavy on Fairlight CMI. But it’s a toss-up between 18 and 27, I think.
Did you know that Elliot Goldenthal wrote some library music in the early 80s? It sounds nothing like his later film music, it’s easy listening disco, jazz, pop, what-have-you. But a fascinating glimpse into the work life of a young composer.
I’ve just learned that Daniel Pemberton – Kev’s favourite composer – apparently wrote a lot of library music. Count me intrigued!
With Nick Glennie-Smith’s death recently, I find myself re-listening to his library albums that I mentioned in the first post. From that vintage NOW AND THEN album in 1981 (where he gets to channel his inner Wendy Carlos in certain tracks, synth versions of classical pieces) to the more poppy stuff in the other three.
Difficult question. There are some excellent tracks in each (and some not so much) that together would form a top album. I have a soft spot for the slick and “fat” early 90s production values in AHEAD OF THE GAME, though. But “Aztec Gold” from DESTINATIONS is hard to beat, it’s both lean and epic at the same time.
As I said, I was going to take a break in my collection walkthrough to explore some Fenton now, afted he died. And lo and behold — appears he wrote quite a bit of library music in the late 70s. Some of it isn’t very interesting — very authentic folk music for France, Greece etc. But there are also two electronic albums that showcase a different side of him. Here are two examples:
This one, from 1978, clearly wears its Mike Oldfield on its sleeve:
I like this dreamy one, from 1980:
Several more interesting cues from these library albums. One could probably make a ‘best of’.
“I’ve just learned that Daniel Pemberton – Kev’s favourite composer – apparently wrote a lot of library music. Count me intrigued!”
Funnily enough, I haven’t stopped playing PROJECT HAIL MARY since I got the 2CD edition. I absolutely love it.
I even like his MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE score, although the Abba lift distracts me every time!!
He was never a composer I disliked. It was more that I just didn’t ‘get’ him.
And I actually have 3 Library Music CDs by Pembers, which I picked up in a London Music Exchange shop for £2 each a while back. I’m not sure I’ve played them yet?
PHM has compelled me to explore his work a bit more.
I was surprised to find I already owned quite a few of his CDs, many picked up in sales for 1 or 2 quid.
I’ll have to re-listen to them with my new found ears 😉I have a great many Film Music Library CDs in my collection, cos a good mate used to work for a trailer production company house and he’d send me discs all the time.
My favourite (and most played) ones are the 10(?) Frederic Talgorn/DeWolfe CDs he sent me, which are absolutely brilliant.
But overall, the nature of the albums mean I don’t play them very often.
I prefer a score listen to tell a story and create an enveloping mood, and the eclectic nature of these albums make the listening experience a bit too hectic and disparate.
I had a load of those Media Ventures ones in (admittedly very cool) clapper board packaging, but sold them off (for great prices) way back when.I disovered the Fenton library tracks as well as my libary streaming service has several of these KMP albums to my surprise. And some Fentons. I will work to my own short list of albums first though.
I think I alrady recommended Pemberton’s early video game soundtrack THE MOVIES which was my first encounter with him. It does not have an actual relaease but I got a 2CD rip of it back then. Haven’t listened for it a while but remember some nice pastiches here: It’s on Youtube.
I have a great many Film Music Library CDs in my collection, cos a good mate used to work for a trailer production company house and he’d send me discs all the time.
Envious!
I wasn’t really into library music up until just a few years ago, for many of the reasons you cite. But I’ve become enamoured with it in recent years, and totally understand why people obsess over it. Not sure I own anything in physical format, though…would have loved to own some of those KPM or April Orchestra discs, for example.
I disovered the Fenton library tracks as well as my libary streaming service has several of these KMP albums to my surprise. And some Fentons. I will work to my own short list of albums first though.
I think there are about 9-10 albums or so, just by Fenton (and often a collaborator or two). So plenty to discover!
I think there are about 9-10 albums or so, just by Fenton (and often a collaborator or two). So plenty to discover!
As if there wasn’t enough to discover already 😉
Lots of 1970s (and earlier) library stuff was being commercially released in the 1990s and early ‘OOs. So many great series – Easy Tempo, Stroboscopica, Mo’ Plen, Beat at Cinecitta, Pop Boutique, Sound Gallery. Mostly Italian but not exclusively. I would find cheap promos from retailers who didn’t know what they were. I snapped up as many as I could.
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