LUCIFER TRIPPING
golgotha.gov | Texas | 04/03/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"LUCIFER RISING SOUNDTRACK
by Bobby Beausoleil
This CD contains the soundtrack to Kenneth Anger's strangely influential occult film of the same name.
Mr. Anger is a devotee of the British occultist/spy Aleister Crowley and LUCIFER RISING is a series of grandiose vignettes related to various rituals, creation epics and "magickal" themes. The film is available on the Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. 2.
The soundtrack has a sordid past due to its creator Bobby Beausoleil. It is true that Beausoleil was a member of the Charles Manson family, however he had no involvement in the Tate-LaBianca murders. Nevertheless he is serving time in a west coast prison due to a drug-related murder that took place a few weeks before Sharon Tate's death. While incarcerated he reconnected with Mr. Anger and was able to record this soundtrack with other inmates.
The soundtrack consists mostly of psychedelic guitar work with epic buildups and tempo changes. There are also some horns and chimes, but very little rock percussion. A lot of people describe the music as "haunting"; I disagree with this. There are some sections where the music is very simple, with a lullabye-type melody. Knowing about the morbid atmosphere of the soundtrack probably gives these sections the same effect as the theme song to Rosemary's Baby.
There is a lengthy chapter on Beausoleil's personal history and visual artwork in Adam Parfrey's Apocalypse Culture II."