Ancient Krell music

December 19, 2010 12:50 PM

Louis and Bebe Barron were famous for writing the first all-electronic movie soundtrack, for Forbidden Planet. I'm looking for more of their music, but the only thing I can find is this poor quality copy of Bells of Atlantis on YouTube. Help?

I wouldn't be surprised if some of their early music is simply lost, but Bebe Barron's final composition, Mixed Emotions, was created in 2000. That shouldn't be that hard to find, right?

posted by reynaert to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: According to this article, Mixed Emotions "was heard only by those who attended it's premier at UCSB and at the 2001 SCREAM Festival at CalArts." Unfortunately the video from Bebe Barron's memorial service mentioned in the article does not appear (or no longer appears) at the linked YouTube site. This NPR story doesn't provide much music but it is interesting. Might be something worthwhile sifting through these links. There is a list of works, recording and soundtracks, at the end of this article. I assume you know you can still buy the soundtrack for Forbidden Planet. It looks like they aren't kidding about that "forgotten pioneers" thing.
posted by nanojath at 6:53 PM on December 19, 2010

Best answer: I was able to find copies of their non-Forbidden Planet music is at the New York Public Library - you might want to check libraries near you (I tried navigating a Belgian library page, but it started laughing at me.)

There is a single mp3 of "Bells of Atlantis" on Amazon UK. (Also available at French Amazon.)

Also, you might want to look on mp3 blogs (don't know the legality of these). I found this doing a search for "Bridges Go Round".
posted by baxter_ilion at 7:28 PM on December 19, 2010

Louise Huebner's "Seduction Through Witchcraft" features music from Louis and Bebe Barron.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 6:02 PM on December 28, 2010