Tuesday 30 December 2008

Peter Thomas - FBI Man Jerry Cotton





Caught At Midnight


Party Is Over


PETER THOMAS
FBI Man Jerry Cotton
1967

77 MB
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Polydor 249 145


Here's another rare soundtrack for your aural enjoyment. I snapped this one up in the late 80s and
often grooved to it but never knew anything about it or Jerry Cotton or Peter Thomas. Then the lounge fad of the mid-to-late-90s struck and I recognised Thomas' name on some comps and picked up a bit of info thanks to liner notes. What with the advance of the intertubes at the turn of the century, I finally learned a lot about the man and also found out this is a highly collectible piece of vinyl and seems to sell for at least $100. Although there have been many reissues of Thomas material, contrary to the claims of Crippled Dick Hotwax for their 100% Cotton compilation, the track "Manhattan Inn" on this LP does not appear anywhere else so it's another Soundological exclusive.


Wikipedia bio
Peter Thomas is a German composer/arranger. He was born in Breslau (Silesia) on December 1st, 1925, and his active career spanned more than 50 years between 1955 and 2006. He is known for his TV and film soundtracks (such as 'Raumpatrouille', the Edgar Wallace movies film series, and the Jerry Cotton film series). The restored Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was re-opened in 2002 with a live version of the main theme of the "Raumpatrouille" soundtrack. In the first direction of actor George Clooney, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), he used three tracks of Peter Thomas' music for German Edgar Wallace movies of the 1960s in their original mono versions. For some of his exceptional scores Thomas used a self-developed musical instrument called "ThoWiephon," (Ed: according to the liner notes for Futuremusik -
available over at The Deuce Project: Science Fiction Radio - the CIA adopted some of Thomas' design principles for sub-sonic weaponry use) today being exhibited in the "Deutsche Museum" in Munich, standing near the famous Theremin, also being used in many movies.

AMG Bio by John Bush
Practically uncontested as the original German electro-lounge pioneer, Peter Thomas fused the spy-string paranoia of John Barry with Carnaby Street go-go music and lounge on his recordings for several German sci-fi series of the 1960s, including Raumpatrouille (Space Patrol) and Der Bann von dem Sinister (The Spell of the Sinister One). His Sound Orchestra was also the beginning for another notable producer, Giorgio Moroder. Long neglected during the 1970s, '80s and '90s, Thomas experienced a revival of sorts in the late '90s. After Bungalow Records and City Slang reissued a Raumpatrouille collection in 1996, Pulp sampled a track to create the title song for their album 1997 This Is Hardcore. Two Thomas collections appeared in 1998, Tanzmusik of general interest and 100% Cotton which recycled Thomas' soundtrack material for the series of Jerry Cotton films (Cotton was the German equivalent of James Bond). The inevitable remix album Warp Back to Earth appeared in early 1999.


As well as the two collections linked to in the above bio, the inimitable It's Coming Out Of Your Speaker also has Moonflowers & Miniskirts up for your listening pleasure.


1 Caught at Midnight
2 My Friend Phil
3 French Girl in Manhattan
4 Party Is Over
5 Super Man
6 Jewellery Party
7 Crime Doesn't Pay
8 Jerry Cotton March
9 Love Is Swingin' In The Air
10 Jerry 1967
11 Two Voices Blues
12 Take It Jerry!
13 Manhattan Inn*
14 Big Troubles
15 Cotton Beat


*From "Der Mörderclub von Brooklyn" soundtrack; not included in the 100% Cotton collection released by Crippled Dick Hotwax in 1998.


Soundological has some Cotton pickin's for you HERE or HERE.

3 comments:

Arkadin said...

Thanks for this one, Cheeba!

As a German I'm quite familiar with all these TV-Series Thomas produced music for. Most of this stuff is supposed to be cult nowadays. Well, Thomas' music certainly is cult. Do you know David Holmes' "Come Get It I Got It"? He makes use of Thomas' "Stars And Rockets". Interesting album (if you don't already know it).

Wish you a happy new year - it was a pleasure working with you on your Mainstream-Blog! :-)

cheeba said...

You're more than welcome Arkadin!

I haven't heard that particular Holmes album. Not counting straight-up soundtracks, "Let's Get Killed" was the last one I picked up. I always enjoyed Holmes so I'll check it out!

Your collaboration on the shad shack was greatly appreciated as well!

Happy New Year!

Julian said...

thx for the share, excited to check this out. Also loved the last soundtrack you posted, the Paul Baillargeon LP.

I really love the Spiritual South redo of Peter Thomas' Stars and Rockets, appears on the Ubiquity comp rewind vol. 3