Wednesday 17 July 2019

Bobby Beausoleil & The Freedom Orchestra ‎– "Lucifer Rising" (Magick Theatre Productions ‎– ACR 8031) 1980




Currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Gary Hinman during his involvement with the Manson family.Bobby Beausoleil received permission to compose and record the soundtrack for Kenneth Anger's movie Lucifer Rising.A project he began in 1967 with his group, The Magick Powerhouse Of Oz.
Then finished off with 'The Freedom Orchestra',A group of inmates at Tracy Prison assembled by Bobby to record the rest of his composition for the movie.
The Freedom Orchestra, bizarrely also included another Manson associate also serving life for murder, Steve Grogan on Guitar,after Beausoleil had convinced Grogan to begin playing again and even made him a guitar!?
To this date, Grogan is the only Manson Murders convictee to have been released on parole,as early as 1985. Apparently the judge said that he was so off his tits ,permanently,and far too dumb that he doubted he could have decided to do anything. Apparently during the murder of Donald Shea,Manson gave him a knife and told him to stab the victim. He just kinda stood there holding the knife and did nothing,completely off his face on drugs.For proof,look at his police mugshot:
Non-Lucid (fer) Rising guitarist Steve Grogan  at time of arrest for murder.
Beausoleil,was actually a very competent musician, and was in various Psychedelic groups around California, including an early incarnation of Arthur Lee's Love, and David LaFlamme of Hippie godz 'It's a Beautiful Day' was in 'Orkustra' with Bobby, before hitting the 'big' time.
The music he made for the Anger movie, would not have been out of place among the minimalist avant garde scene in New York at the time he began it around 1967.A Californian Angus MacLise who went very wrong,or maybe just fell in with the wrong crowd.Instead of making music in his prison cell, he could have been doing that under the Beau Soleil for real.I'm almost sad for him?

Tracklist:

Disc 1:
1 Part I
2 Part II
3 Part III
4 Part IV
5 Part V
6 Part VI

Disc 2:
7 Punjabs Barber (extract)
8 Flash Gordon (extract)
9 Lucifer Rising Session 1967 (*)
10 Lucifer Rising Sessions 1977-78 (#) 

* recorded with The Magick Powerhouse Of Oz 1967 at the Straight Theater, San Francisco.)
 # recorded with The Freedom Orchestra late '70s at Tracy State Prison.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you Jonny for exposing us to all this mad music. fuck the haters

Jonny Zchivago said...

Cheers Anon.
I welcome the Haters.We need the ying to our yang,if only for the entertainment value?