2026 July 06 • Monday

Bill Green's music for the 1974 Australian biker movie Stone is the 916th Soundtrack of the Week.

The first track, "Eco Blue/Toadstrip", starts out with some ghostly legato tones that might be electric violin and then goes into an avantgarde mix of electronic sounds and didgeridoo.

Then the beat kicks in for "Race", a groovy number with guitar and keyboards going nuts over a couple of different rhythmic ideas. It's very "biker movie" and a high point of the genre, as is the movie itself.

The next two tracks are both only 46 seconds long, with "Head Off" being more on the sonic noise end of things, with electronics emulating motorcycle sounds, while "Pigs" is like a deranged electro-samba march.

Strings create a surprisingly tender and lovely atmosphere for "Cosmic Funeral", with the band coming in at the very end to add some rock color, which segues nicely into the rock/classical, electric/acoustic, chamber music with drums and bass love theme for "Amanda".

Not eclectic enough? Here come banjo and harmonica for the cheery country tune "Septic", followed by a bluesy solo electric guitar piece called "Smoke".

Finally our hero and titular character "Stone" gets a cue, a laidback acid rock piece with some killer grooves.

"Undertaker" is a slow electric blues track with wah-wah guitar and electric piano, followed by "Gravedigger" a high energy acid rock cut.

Echoey solo acoustic guitar playing creates an exotica-tinged mood for "Swim" and then we're in a more traditional rock band zone with "Klaude Kool and the Kats", no fuzz or distortion and with acoustic piano.

The record takes off again with the highest intensity track, the acid rock screamer "Toad" and then things slow way down for the lushly textural and otherworldly atmospheric "The Death of Dr. Death", which features something like zither or dulcimer or auto-harp.