five star records

During the fifties and sixties, exotica pioneer Les Baxter spent fifteen years working in the music department at American International Pictures, scoring dozens of low-budget flicks and making a name for himself as the go-to guy when it came to delivering soundtrack music ahead of schedule. As Roger Corman was to the direction of the B-movies, Baxter was to the music, grinding out themes and cues faster than anybody else could, sometimes composing and recording entire film scores in just a matter of days.

Today's LP, 'Barbarian' did double duty as both a Les Baxter album and as the soundtrack to the film 'Goliath and the Barbarians', which starred famous muscle-man Steve Reeves. By 1959 - the year this movie was released, Baxter had already landed a handful of pop hits on the charts, while developing a solid following for his brand of exotic, bachelor-pad type music through a series of successful LPs on the Capitol label.

Among his other early achievements are the 'Music Out of the Moon' LP (a 1947 recording that featured compositions by Harry Revel with the theremin as principal instrument), session work for Nat King Cole and musical direction for Yma Sumac's most commercially successful LP 'Voice of the Xtabay' (1950). Baxter also wrote the familiar opening whistle theme for the 'Lassie' television show and worked as musical director of Abbott and Costello's radio program.

Highlights from his other soundtrack assignments at AIP include 'Master of the World' (1961), 'The Pit and the Pendulum' (1961), 'Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs' (1966), 'Cry of the Banshee' (1970), and one of my all-time drive-in favorites - 'The Dunwich Horror' (1971), which starred sexy Sandra Dee.

Baxter's first film score was for 'Tanga Tika' in 1953, and his sound track for the low-budget western 'The Yellow Tomahawk' from 1954 was rumored to have been composed, arranged and recorded in only three hours.

Baxter's blue-collar work ethic emphasized perspiration over inspiration, and his willingness to accept any assignment kept him busy throughout his career, eventually landing him jobs writing music for Sea World and other theme parks long after rock and roll had killed his brand of pop music and the film score work began to dry up.

The credits on 'Barbarian' list the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Muir Mathieson, and according to a 1981 interview with Baxter it was because of strict union rules in England (where the feature was shot) that he didn't conduct the session himself.

I'm not going to lie to you, though... The music you'll find on this LP isn't as good as some of Baxter's other stuff, and I would never have bought this if I'd had to pay the catalog price of thirty bucks. But I happened to find this copy at one of my favorite local stores just a week ago for only $4.50, and in spite of side two being scarred (the clerk used the term 'bruised' in describing it) with several visible scuffs that run throughout, I decided I had to have it, mostly for the extremely cool cover. As a bonus, it happens to play perfectly fine with nary a pop or hiss.

I've never seen this flick but from what I've been able to ascertain through the few reviews I've read, it wasn't exactly Oscar-worthy. Reeves, a bodybuilder and former Mr. Universe, got a lot of mileage out of his limited acting ability, cashing in on his physique to become an international star in the Italian production of 'Hercules' in 1958. That appearance led to a string of similar roles including a sequel called 'Hercules Unchained' the following year, and being cast as Goliath in this stinker.

Reeves also appeared in Ed Wood's 'Jail Bait' (1954) and, in probably one of the worst moves of his career, infamously declined the Clint Eastwood role in Sergio Leone's 'Fistful of Dollars' (1964).

Reeves died in 2000 at the age of 74 after retiring to southern California in the eighties.

Les Baxter, who's best-known composition continues to be 'Quiet Village' (ironically, a bigger hit for exotica music rival Martin Denny than it was for Baxter himself), died in 1996. He was 73.

Sadly, with the advent of digital technology and the invention of the compact disc, the vinyl LP continues to die a slow and lingering death in 2008.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in the ongoing eulogy...