Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email


2025 January 13 • Monday

Egil Monn-Iversen's jazz score for Heaven and Hell is the 839th Soundtrack of the Week.

It start with an English-language vocal main title song, sung by Inger Lise Andersen ("You will get stories to tell / About the heaven and hell"). It's a pretty straight jazz swing number with some cool modulations.

Then we get a moderate up tempo organ combo tune called "Pythagoras". With the organ are electric bass guitar, drums, electric guitar and tenor saxophone and everyone gets a chance to stretch out.

The same combo is back for the next two tracks: "Zatek's Theme" is a more laid back and groovy number that really features the guitar while "Club 13" has a heavier, more backbeaty feel to it.

"The Vigieland Park" is a feature for flutes that create a serene, lovely and romantic mood accompanied by drums and some sensitive guitar playing.

A different organ sound and a woozier and more shadowy mood all around make "Zatek's Theme 2" quite distinct from its first iteration.

A blues/soul/country/rock groove kicks off the still jazzy "Meeting with Hash", which again has some great guitar playing and really swings.

The classic organ combo sound returns for the late-night feel of "Østerdalsgate Blues", very unhurried and relaxed.

Since this is apparently a 1960s Norwegian anti-drug propaganda movie, there had to be a tune called "Freakout", right? Well, here it is. It's mostly an organ freak-out, with lots of long tones and unexpected harmonies, with the other members of the band subtly adding sounds here and there while it gradually builds to a climax. It sounds like it was more or less freely improvised by people who knew what they were doing.

Then there's an instrumental version of the main title song and that's it. A very cool record. You can see the movie on YouTube but the picture quality isn't good and there are no subtitles.