A Soundtrack to Literature
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126748
Printed Date: August 05 2025 at 08:11
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Topic: A Soundtrack to Literature
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Subject: A Soundtrack to Literature
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 13:21
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Once again, I’m inspired to post based upon a comment Pedro has made elsewhere - this time on my poll about lyrics and vocals, which itself was inspired by another Pedro comment. I thought about replying to his comment within the poll, but as it would be taking the conversation on quite a tangent, I thought it warranted a post of its own. Pedro was commenting about how lyrics for a song, no matter how creative and inspired, still often pale in comparison to other forms of literature. In the same comment (which was a lengthy one, as is normally the case for him, as it is for me, too), he also mentioned how the exact same phrase in different languages can have quite different meanings. This was all, of course, in regard to vocalists choosing to sing in their own language or English. But both these comments had me thinking about one of my favourite albums from 2021 so far. There have been plenty of instrumental albums that have been inspired by literature, but how many have actually been purposely composed to be a soundtrack for a book, contemporaneously? The soundtrack can be played at the publisher’s website, from a QR code in the novel, or from the band’s Bandcamp page. After the links below, follows what I wrote for TPA regarding this rather unique release. I’d love to know if there are any other similar albums. The novel: https://latramoyista.com/memorias-de-la-peste/" rel="nofollow - https://latramoyista.com/memorias-de-la-peste/ The soundtrack: https://fossmusic.bandcamp.com/album/memorias-de-la-peste" rel="nofollow - https://fossmusic.bandcamp.com/album/memorias-de-la-peste Föss blew me away at the beginning of this year with their incidental music for Memorias de la Peste. Although Föss is a sludgy doom band, you’ll find none of that here. Rather than a wall of doomy sound and harsh vocals, this is an almost ambient instrumental delight. Memorias de la Peste is an ambitious undertaking by La Tramoyista, a new publishing house that seeks to “rescue and adapt” classic literature. Thus Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year finds itself not just translated and adapted by Noemí Padilla Santana, but fully illustrated by Alberto Hernández and soundtracked by Föss. The themes from Föss to accompany the book have even been performed by Herenia Frigolet Ortega. All in all, a truly multi-media affair on a grand scale for such a small independent publishing house from the Canary Islands. But, how does it sound? Well, quite frankly, fabulous. And it couldn’t be more timely, given most of us have lived our own version of a plague year. The story begins in late 1664, when the plague looms like a shadow. People are aware of it, but have not yet realised how much of a difference it will make to their lives. The comparisons to early 2020 are obvious. By 1665, London is battling the greatest plague epidemic in its history. The disease advances like a silent and implacable enemy. The incidental music from Föss provides everything you would expect from such a setting. It’s dramatic, haunting, melancholic – and despite everything, hopeful. Beautiful is not a word I’d ever expect to use to describe the music of Föss, but it is unarguably so in this instance. Given the normal sounds of the band, I was expecting far more of an industrial and dark ambient vibe to Memorias de la Peste, but while the music approaches these territories at times, it never really needs to go all out in this direction, giving it a really nice and well-rounded feel. If anything, Föss sometimes comes closer to the progressive electronic sound of the Berlin School, when they want to portray the more foreboding atmospheres. At times there are also what might be field recordings, and they are another wonderful addition to the mix. I’m not sure if they’re found sounds or folly, but regardless they sound great. Everything about this album feels so well thought out, and executed perfectly. This is an album which will have likely slipped under the radar of many. I’m glad I heard it, as it is an album I keep returning to. If I could read Spanish, I’d go the whole hog and buy the book. ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Replies:
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 13:24
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(I assume it shouldn’t be needed, but just for clarification - something like Camel’s “….Snow Goose” is, for me, something entirely different. The band were interested in writing music inspired by literature, but weren’t even decided about the Snow Goose, originally planning on writing music around a different novel. Even when they changed their mind to the Snow Goose, it wasn’t originally an instrumental soundtrack album they intended to make, and had envisioned having lyrics based upon the words from the novel. This album by Föss, on the other hand was not the idea of the band after the fact, but the publishing house and the band working together.) ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 14:27
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A splendid adaptation of W.B. Yeats' poem "The Stolen Child" was done by The Waterboys. Absolutely beautiful, and the poem is recited by an old gent whose delivery matches perfectly to the words.... Less a literal recitation but more of a modern retelling is Jethro Tull's "One Brown Mouse" informed by the poem "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785" by Scots poet Robert Burns (and Ian has a discussion with a housebound mouse as opposed to the field variety).... ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Snicolette
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 15:21
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This was done for an audiobook of an Anne Rice novel, released a couple of years ago. It's the lovely Mary Fahl with "Exiles," (The Wolves of Midwinter). ------------- "Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 16:14
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 17:42
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Not contemporaneous of course but this very fine 2003 album by German band Inquire is based entirely upon Jean Paul Sartre's brilliant and trippy 1938 novel Nausea. It also has narration in places and one sung lyric by Ursula Becker http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=563237" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=563237 ------------- 
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 18:24
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As the story goes, David Bowie wanted to do a theatrical adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, but Orwell's wife refused to grant permission for use of the novel. Bowie was p*ssed off. So what did he do? He grafted some material from that aborted project onto a composition of an entirely different post-apocalyptic world based on the writing-style of William S. Burroughs (who Bowie had interviewed for Rolling Stone in 1973). Which is why there is very little of Orwell's future on Diamond Dogs, but you get an entirely Burroughs-like intro to the album.... ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: TCat
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 18:33
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Art Zoyd is one band that has done several post-soundtrack albums, albums that can serve as soundtracks to silent movies which previously had no official soundtrack. I know its not literature, but is kind of the same idea. "Häxan" and "Faust" are great examples of which I prefer the former a little bit more.
------------- https://ibb.co/8x0xjR0" rel="nofollow">  |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 26 2021 at 19:29
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Hi, All of these are neat and very enjoyable. I do not exactly have a favorite, but there are some things that are really pretty and stand out ... TANGERINE DREAM had a lot of pieces named after various artists, and the one album I remember well, is the one about KAFKA. I'm not a Kafka fan, but the sounds that I hear seem to fit the novel (The Castle), at least as far as I have read it, since I have not been able to finish that small book. The harder part of all this is the interpretation, since as a piece of literature, we all have our own ideas and thoughts about the specific thing we read, and what it looked like to us, and now is shown as being a bit different than what we imagined. Likewise, Klaus Schulze has had in the past a knack for naming his pieces after this or that person. Honestly, I can not say that I understand the connection, but the sound of it is neat to my ears, and I can not determine if it is "true" or not to the work itself. This is a tough subject. Many films have tried to put the the literary work on the screen, and just as many people liked it as many people didn't. I'm in the process of listening to the piece listed and will comment more if I can word it in my head. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 02:08
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I know that Tangerine Dream made a lot of albums inspired by literature, for example "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce or "Der Engel vom westlichen Fenster" by Gustav Meyrink (they wrongly translated the title to "The Angel from the West Window"; correct would be "The Angel of the West Window"). "Finnegans Wake" is almost impossible to read, but I highly recommend the Gustav Meyrink novel. For those of you who don't speak German: There is an excellent translation by Mike Mitchell published in the "Dedalus European Classics" series. -------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 02:19
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This pretty much took the turn I expected, but hoped would not occur. While I totally appreciate why people are sharing what they are, it’s not really what I was hoping for. I’m not complaining, because I find anything that is inspired by, or designed to be payed alongside, literature fascinating. The reason I chose to use the word soundtrack is because that is associated with the idea of music purposely designed to be part of the experience of watching a film, and part of the production of the film. The idea of Föss being employed by a publishing house (cf film studio) to soundtrack their creation, is the first time I have come across this sort of thing. I assumed it wasn’t the first time it had happened, and that maybe some forum members might be able to enlighten me on other such occurrences. But maybe it is the first time? In which case, if there is no precedent, then this thread would be dead in the water without people making the suggestions they have - which is why, even if they are not what I was hoping for, I am very happy to read them. Most of them, so far, I know - but it is always cool to see them brought up again, and there are a couple that are new to me. Funnily enough, I’m reminded now of a track from The Tea Party, who also inspired my Interactive Poll on the concept of samsara. Their Interzone Mantras album was a semi-concept album based around spirituality, religion, mysticism, philosophy, and literature (specifically, Aleister Crowley, Mikhail Bulgakov, Wim Wenders, and the stories of ancient Greek mythology/religion/science.) The Master and Margarita is, somewhat obviously, inspired by a rather famous novel by Mikhail Bulgakov of the same name. It’s a good read, if you’ve not read it before. I have, several times. And it was interesting to find it was one of very few books in the list of Bowie’s top books that I had read. It would seem many musicians have read the novel, too. Perhaps the most famous musical reference to the novel would be the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil. Not a song I have in my collection, though, as I own no Rolling Stones. (Incidentally, though, I do have a Tea Party cover of Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black.) Bulgakov also inspired Polish band, Lizard. The first I heard from Lizard was their rather good album, Spam. The follow up was called The Master and M, and there’s no prize for guessing what (or, rather, who) the M stands for. Now I’ve never managed to acquire that, but I do have the live album (Destruction and Little Pieces of Cheese) which features four of the five chapters from that album. Pearl Jam’s Yield, features the song, Pilate’s Dog. Pilate, in The Master and Margarita, has a dog which “obeys, listens, kisses and loves”. The chorus of the Pearl Jam song almost directly quotes that, of course. I once owned The Master and Margarita as a paperback, but I left all my books in NZ when I came to the UK. Like many of my favourite novels, I bought it again as an ebook. Strangely, while I’m not a great fan of buying downloads of music, preferring the physical product, I can happily download books..... 🤔🤷🏻♂️ ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 03:22
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"The Master and Margarita" is an excellent book. I read it in the translation of Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor. It is the first translation of the full novel; the original text was heavily censored for a long time, and any previous translations therefore left out a huge part of it. I had read an earlier German translation before (I don't know who translated it) and was highly surprised how much had been missing in that one. ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 03:36
It’s amazing how much translations can vary, even where censorship isn’t a problem. That is why I was prompted to write this post after Pedro’s comments elsewhere, as he mentioned the same. The publishers of this new (they call it recycled) translation of Defoe’s novel, only half joke that their publishing house has been created to “rescue” novels where the standard translation loses some of the nuances of the original. As Pedro noted, an expression translated can end up meaning something quite different. I don’t understand Spanish, so I can’t vouch for it, but the new translation/adaptation/recycling is meant to be truer to Defoe’s original. That alone is quite neat, but what I really love about it, is that the publishing house has attempted to make a multi-media version of the album, and so brought in an illustrator to accompany the text visually, and musicians to accompany the text aurally. It’s a quite fascinating idea, to me. I almost want to learn Spanish, just so I can experience the full thing. I do very much like the soundtrack, though, so at least I have that! 🤗🥰 ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
BaldFriede wrote:Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 05:09
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Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 06:52
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For those interested in Master and Margarita here's link to the label's shop https://sklep.audiocave.pl/katalog-audio-cave/236-lizard-masterm-remixed-remastered--5905669566896.html" rel="nofollow - Lizard - Master&M [Remixed & Remastered] - Sklep Audio Cave ------------- yet you still have time! |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 07:23
I think I therefore misunderstood the premise of the thread so apologies from me.  -------------
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Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 07:36
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Posted By: mathman0806
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 07:51
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How about graphic novels with original soundtracks? https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-murder-ballads-graphic-novel-releases-a-music-single/" rel="nofollow - https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-murder-ballads-graphic-novel-releases-a-music-single/
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Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 08:32
This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for, as by reading the link, the soundtrack to the graphic novel is available only with the graphic novel. I find this sort of concept fascinating, that a soundtrack is designed specifically for a particular publication. The next closest thing suggested so far, I guess, is possibly Stevie Wonder’s album. Not quite the same thing, but close - and a very different album from him, that probably confused a lot of fans. I was completely unaware of this album until it was featured on a Steven Wilson podcast. I listened to it, and really enjoyed it. Definitely an album that people who are not fans of Stevie Wonder should not be afraid to give a go. Mort Garson’s Plantasia is also a soundtrack of sorts to the same book. https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/mother-earths-plantasia" rel="nofollow - https://mortgarson.bandcamp.com/album/mother-earths-plantasia ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: mathman0806
Date Posted: June 27 2021 at 08:47
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^The publisher of The Murder Ballads, Z2 comics, also released another graphic novel recently with commissioned soundtrack. https://www.nme.com/news/music/hear-a-new-mitski-track-the-end-from-soundtrack-to-graphic-novel-this-is-where-we-fall-2933593" rel="nofollow - https://www.nme.com/news/music/hear-a-new-mitski-track-the-end-from-soundtrack-to-graphic-novel-this-is-where-we-fall-2933593 |
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 11:41
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This is a rather sprawling thread, and quite interesting. Here are some scattered thoughts: Mike Oldfield includes lines from Longfellow's Hiawatha for Incantations and gave them a wonderful melody. Iron Maiden sings some actual lines from Coleridge for Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Anthony Phillips' album, 1984, shows an interesting narrative arc from hope to disillusionment, completely instrumental. 666 by Aprhodite's Child is about the Apocalypse of John. If you look hard enough, though, you will find lots of biblical references in lyrics. I disagree with Pedro about how lyrics are an inferior form of literature. For sure, bad lyrics are, and most lyrics are mediocre at best, but good lyrics are true poetry and great poetry does not have to be long and expository. There is more value in the concise Tao te Ching than in almost every other literary work. All forms of art have given us various levels of quality. I am an avid reader, but need to have some kind of soundtrack when I read. Lyrics usually get in the way, but Science Fiction and Progressive Rock are a potent combination. Classics require Classical, or Jazz if I am reading something from the last century. Miles Davis goes well with Jack Kerouac. ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 12:15
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Hawkwind did a lot of songs, even albums, based on literature. some examples: "Damnation Alley" based on the SF-novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny, "Fahrenheit 451" based on the famous SF-novel by Ray Bradbury, "Steppenwolf" based on the novel by Hermann Hesse, "High Rise" based on the novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard, "Robot" based on the robot stories by Isaac Asimov and of course the album "The Chronicle of the Black Sword" based on the "Elric" saga by Michael Moorcock. on a side note: at the end of the track "Choose Your Masques" from the album of the same name they quote the climactic moment from "Lord of the Rings" when Frodo is at the top of Mount Doom to throw the ring into the crater: "I have come, but I do not choose now to do what I came to do" -------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 12:30
It’s definitely sprawled far from where I intended, but I’m quite enjoying all the scattered thoughts…. ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 14:57
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You might find this article interesting: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/books-with-soundtracks-the-future-of-reading/244344/" rel="nofollow - https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/books-with-soundtracks-the-future-of-reading/244344/ And here’s a kits, although it goes outside of the designed to be released with a novel parameters (although many of these might be with later releases). https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5303.Books_with_Soundtracks" rel="nofollow - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5303.Books_with_Soundtracks I own the early 80s L. Ron Hubbard soundtrack companion to his Battlefield Earth... book called Space Jazz — later renamed Battlefield Earth... (I am no Scientologist, nor will I ever be, but have been interested in it). It features Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. An oddity in my collection. ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 15:12
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As I was reading the Atlantic article, it suddenly occurred to me that another of my favourite releases this year is sort of a soundtrack to literature. I think it didn’t occur to me until now, as I purchased it before the book was published, as the book/combo wasn’t ready to go for the release date. It sold out really quickly when it was released, too, so obviously a lot of people liked the idea of listening to music that had been collated and sequenced to accompany/soundtrack the book. https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-stone-music-for-lovecraftian-summonings" rel="nofollow - https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-stone-music-for-lovecraftian-summonings [EDIT] And while the above better fits what I was looking for, it also reminds me of another favourite Lovecraft inspired album (of which I’m sure there are many. There are probably more albums and songs inspired by Lovecraft than any other author!): https://rattle-records.bandcamp.com/album/cthulhu-rising" rel="nofollow - https://rattle-records.bandcamp.com/album/cthulhu-rising ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: Snicolette
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 15:41
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A very old one, from the psychedelic annals, the US band, H P Lovecraft, with "The White Ship," from 1967: ------------- "Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 16:17
Love that album, but I think H.P.L. II is even better. "At the Mountain of Madness" is a novella by the author, psychedelicized by the band.... ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Snicolette
Date Posted: June 28 2021 at 16:29
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Yeah, another good one by them, I do love The White Ship, in particular, off of their debut. I have both original LPs.
------------- "Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp |
Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: June 29 2021 at 00:47
Well, no surprise Chick was on it. And Stanley was a Scientologist for a time as well.
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Posted By: Progishness
Date Posted: June 29 2021 at 03:33
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You don't always need words to tell a story. These two fine albums spring to mind: Camel - The Snow Goose Bo Hanson - Lord of the Rings ------------- "We're going to need a bigger swear jar." Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy McCready aka 'Hit Girl' in Kick-Ass 2 |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: June 29 2021 at 05:29
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Steeleye Span doing an entire album based on Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith story from his Discworld series of novels. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: June 29 2021 at 05:49
I refer you to the second post I made on the first page. 😜 But for sure, you don’t need words. And in cinema, the most effective soundtracks tend to be instrumental, so I’d expect the same to be true for literature - and, if anything, more so. When I’m reading, I like to listen to music, but having words sung in my ears, can be a distraction from the words on the page. Thus the album which inspired this whole thread, from Föss (see the OP, if necessary), is instrumental. And, I’ll be honest, even if it’s not a soundtrack, I often find that instrumental concept albums tell a story more effectively than some concept albums with vocals. Rivendel’s Sisyfos, for example, is a wonderful instrumental concept album, where so long as you are familiar with the story, is beautifully represented by the pieces, and easy to follow. hubris.’s Metempsychosis is another (mostly) instrumental concept album, where you can totally hear the tales of the figures the tracks are named after. ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 29 2021 at 09:46
Hi, Lyrics, for me, are not necessarily "inferior". For all intents and purposes they ARE, today's literature, however, it is really difficult to think that some lyrics for a 4 minute song, is more valuable or important than some works that are hundreds of years in the making and still remembered! THAT was my point, and the fact that too many bands take their lyrics "seriously" and they are mainly doing so to make sure that fans think they are important, which is nothing but a marketing ploy for the most part. My best example, is Roy Harper ... THAT IS NOT an inferior for of literature, and stands up really well against some of the great poets for a long time, but I do not wish to confuse "major" literary efforts by many rock bands, with "minor" song efforts that amount to not a whole lot of saying anything but just an opinion about ado and nothing else. Another example, is comparing some of the lyrics by Jim Morrison, with a lot of bands' words. The fact remains that with Jim and his band, YOU CAN SEE and VISUALIZE the words, whereas many bands it is just fleeting thought that goes in one ear and out the other. I don't dislike Ian (for example) but his lyrics have been tired for over 20 to 30 years! As he himself said to Rick "...there isn't anything in rock music that has not been done." Even he himself, can not find the "muse" anymore except for very small and slight moments in time that come and go, just as you would thinking of Michelangelo! Some folks try really hard to make their work better and ensure that their lyrics stood out and were valuable, and I suppose you could think of David Bowie as one of these, however, unlike many "rock" folks, he has his eyes on theater and film, and how the expressions were used to help him identify how to express his own words! I, sincerely, doubt, that the majority of rock bands, even consider that option. And this renders a lot of lyrics and work not as valuable or important to the totality of the experience. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |