The Lucifer Rising Suite

The soundtrack of my Christmas 2015 has undoubtedly been Bobby Beausoleil’s Lucifer Rising score which I listened to throughout the holidays and I expect will usher in the new year. Beausoleil’s score made a welcome return to circulation last year, the long out of print 2004 CD expanded to a 4CD set as The Lucifer Rising Suite which gathers together chronologically all the music Bobby composed for Kenneth Anger’s film(s) – the lost first draft of Lucifer Rising from 1967 and the completed 1980 film. It’s a weighty collection, the entire suite adds up to about 3 hours of music but it’s a terrific listen, from free-form avant-rock jams and electronic soundscapes, to tough blues workouts and beautiful space-rock. The 4CD set comes in a smart clamshell box and contains two posters and some excellent revelatory liner notes covering the entire history of the project. The liners are particularly rewarding with regard to the music Beausoleil recorded whilst incarcerated at Tracy, composed and realized against a backdrop of riots, lockdowns, and the difficulties of holding together a prison band in the face of inmate transfers, releases and so on. Truly remarkable stuff and absolutely essential listening.