While driving around, running errands today, I heard a Les Baxter track that stopped me dead in my tracks. Originally by the virtuoso Sergei Rachmaninoff, “Prelude in C# minor” has the kind of hook that makes a movie score legendary. In the hands of Les, you’ve now got a backing funk break matched with a bass tone that would delight the likes of Serge Gainsbourg or David Axlerod. The second half of the score is Chopin’s romantic “Prelude in E Minor,” providing solid contrast. Les’ version is most widely known as a sample incorporated into the Beastie Boy’s “Intergalactic,” but just go down the list of artist’s that have pulled from Les’ catologue (Chuck D, J Rocc, Muggs, Mix Master Mike) and it’s obvious this dude was business.
If only Oz could figure out how to get his analog synth working, he may come up with something of similar madness
