Genre:  Experimental / Avant-Folk

Track Listing:

01 Theme from 'A Summer Place'
02 True Love from 'High Society'
03 An Affair To Remember
04 Moonglow from 'Picnic'
05 You Were Meant For Me
06 Gigi
07 Theme from 'A Love Story'
08 Friendly Persuasion
09 Laura
10 The Man I Love
11 Bewitched
12 Tara's theme from 'Gone With The Wind'
13-79 untitled

So, Das and the BCO crew have been at so much for so long that I honestly have not kept up with any consistency over the years. I do check in every now again on the bounty of recordings and radio exploits spewing forth from this veritable institution of California Bay-area audio artists. At least enough to know that this is not their first attempt at a 'concept record.' Anyone familiar with 'Beatlerape' knows what I'm talking about. The story behind this puppy is quite different however. A fan of sorts found an LP of muzak versions of crappy film tunes by a group calling themselves THE Big City Orchestra and mailed it to Das who enlisted a host of beautiful people to reinterpret the tracks in the exact sequence that they appear on said record. Yes, they are actually playing the tunes (for the most part) and not merely engaging in some juvenile plunderphonics, which is what I probably would have done. We're treated to 'see what differences the word 'the' can contribute,' so hold on boys and girls. Cancel your DisneyWorld trips via Regis and Kelly and make way for Das and Ninah, et.al. and the California trip of a lifetime. By the way, is that some sort of pygmy pony following the couple on the cover? And wha't up with that guy's posture? Don't reckon we're in Texarcana anymore Clem...glory be.

The theme from 'A Summer Place' strikes a frighteningly resemblance to the original with the added bonus of some real summer sounds courtesy of tree frogs and other indigenous fauna. Anyone who has been in an elevator before should recognize the tune and some disturbing version of justice is done here in a most brilliant fashion, especially in the extended coda. Cole Porter gets his chops busted on the brief but potent Residents-esque second track. This is true love gone downright horrifyingly wrong, thanks especially to the string work assumedly performed by Cheryl Leonard and Jonathan Segel (of Camper Van Beethoven/Chadbourne fame). Scary shit. 'An Affair To Remember' sounds like a Casio keyboard demo in a shopping mall performed by a group of miscreants on LSD. Gil Ashley's sax work adds a gritty candy-coated weirdness that only heightens the perversity of the whole thing. Ninah Pixie's toy-piano bit and the sombre synth-work on 'Moonglow' bring The Residents back to mind. Is it inevitable to take on a project that draws from some the most banal aspects of American popular culture and not evoke these guys? The harp-like Koto playing doesn't help either, but makes for some choice timbral blending. A quartet of eyeballs loom very present on the fifth track too, like a cicrus-workers after-hours party. Lord help us, carnys are scary enough without any augmentation, eh?

One of my all-time-least-favorite movies is 'Gigi'...sorry mom. What this track has to do with the actual music from the film is thankfully lost on me. Field recordings of a rain storm provide the backdrop for a lethargic melody piped through some accordion patches. The best thing about it is that the rain sounds dominate throughout the brief track and make for some nice listening. And, ah 'A Love Story.' Who doesn't have some nostalgic recollections of this film and it's unforgettably godawful music? I sure as hell don't and apparently neither do BCO. A lovely buzzing drone occupies the first two minutes until a single-note figure is pried from a guitar ad nauseum over a ground bass keyboard line. Then the supposed theme emerges amidst some shimmering eerieness that brings it all back home. Whose damn love story is it anyway? 'Friendly Persuasion' evokes a sense of Brian Wilson in Hawaii on a hashish binge. It's smartly executed and sickly sweet, drum progarmming, gratutitous reverb and all. This is the sort of track that you should be able to fall asleep except for the fact that it's only about four minutes long.

As for 'Laura,' I'm bowled over by the way they execute the melody. Again, if you've ever been in an elevator...but this one takes the cake, and damn if they don't include the vocal line on this one. The synth-work gets the real kudos here as it never distracts too much...I am laughing aloud. The Gershwin brothers' classic gets it's millionth treatment that may very well upstage some previous attempts. The samples, voice work and flute playing are especially on point. It has both a haunting and reverent quality simultaneously; in other words, beautiful. For the next number Rodgers and Hart get sandwiched somewhere between 'Little Pad' and 'Blue Rosebuds' in only two and a half minutes. That's a compliment, y'all. As for 'Tara's Theme,' I never really noticed the music in 'Gone With The Wind' and have always ranked that movie somewhere in the neighborhood of 'Gigi.' At any rate, this is a nicely orchestrated bit of melodic keyboard work that is ironically sour.

What follows sre sixty-seven tracks of noisy sound bites in the form of audio verite that I won't bother to comment on, but hope that some of you folks will take the initiative to fuck with. Regarding the first twleve tracks, I have nothing but praise. This is a brilliant release, not just in concept but in execution as well. Knowing the conceptual premise, it's hard to be completely objective but such is life. Roil Noise has done a fine job packaging the thing in a jewel-case with professional on-disk printing and a tray card that could pass for, well you know...'Love Film Greats.'