Music To Varnish Owls By

Description

Does Geoff Bastow have the right to claim the title of the best album of all time? He certainly belongs in the conversation. It is also one of the hardest funk records to find. But don't be fooled by its catchy name into thinking this isn't a serious affair. As a key member of Giorgio Moroder's team, the legendary Geoff Bastow should need no introduction. You know his singular genius as the brain behind the heavily sampled boogie/disco classics "You Don't Like My Music (Hupendi Muziki Wangu?!)" and "Don't Stop", released by his group, K.I.D. But it was with 1975's Music To Varnish Owls By that everything began for our hero. It is packed with incredibly soulful and soothing music that, although used a few times by Knxwledge, remains largely untapped. So, beatmakers, get to work. And instead of this hyper-rare original, spend that £300 on something else. Born in 1949, Bastow was an English songwriter and record producer based in Munich. Originally working as a guitarist and pianist in dance bands in his native county of Yorkshire, he moved to London in the early 1970s, then to Munich around 1976. He was one of the main architects of the Munich disco sound of electronic innovator Giorgio Moroder and also released tons of library music records for legendary labels like Bruton (with his brother Trevor), Impress, JW Music Library, and Munich-based Sonoton, between the 1970s and 2000s. Bastow tragically died young, in Berlin, Germany, on March 16, 2007, at the age of just 57. But he left behind a legacy of truly incredible electronic music. He deserves to be much better known, and this reissue should introduce him to a good number of additional listeners.