Mikis Theodorakis – Café Rock {1969}

Searching for a vinyl copy of the great compilation of Serge Gainsbourg’s psychedelic oeuvre “Les Annees Psychedeliques” I stumbled across the record shop “Vinyl Microstore” in Athens, Greece. In their monthly charts of recommendations they’re featuring the compilation of greek electronic music from late Seventies until Mid-Eighties called “Into The Light”. In their press release the label is saying that one track on the compilation is by George Tehodorakis, the son of the known greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

Not really familiar with the works of his father I studied the discography of Mikis Theodorakis and found out that he’s the composer of soundtracks like “Zorbas The Greek” and “Serpico”. Among his work that I could find a psychedelic track named “Café Rock” that appeared on the soundtrack of the film “Z” directed by Costa Gavras and won two academy awards in 1969. After listening to the track on Youtube it puzzled me why the track reminded me so much of Pierre Henry’s psychedelic classic “Psyché Rock” from 1967. Because you could watch the whole movie on Youtube I could search for the exact scene where the track “Café Rock” is playing but instead I found “Psyché Rock” by Pierre Henry.

The entry at Wikipedia about the film is helping a little, stating: “The soundtrack, by Mikis Theodorakis, was also a record hit. The film features, but does not credit, Pierre Henry’s contemporary hit song, “Psyché Rock”. The soundtrack as released on LP and CD replaces Henry’s song with a similar track written by Theodorakis named “Café Rock.”

Pierre Henry – Psyché Rock {1967}

The track combining “Musique Concrète” sounds, electronic instruments and rock music influenced not only Mikis Theodorakis but also Jean-Jacques Perrey directly. You might also know a version of the track from the opening theme of the cartoon series “Futurama” that was produced by Fatboy Slim.

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