L’Evangile Selon Saint Luc et les Recits de l’Enfance St. Matthieu St. Luc

A 1963 edition from the Office Catholique Du Disque with sleek cloth-bound good looks, chunky 24-page papyrus booklet insert and 5 discs all in superb condition despite coming from a dank junkshop corner amongst other stuff that was badly water-damaged. Imagine my delight when I open the box and see the fine print:

Musique – Pierre Henry

I thought I might have unearthed a grail of Waxidermic Christian concrete but sadly this is more a public service announcement with a sermon of abstinence rather than one of glorification. I have strong suspicions a covert Papal edict must have been sent out quashing the badness of the concrete sounds in this project. Either that or God himself layed a capricious and temporary hex on the sessions with an ad hoc 11th Commandment THOU SHALT NOT ‘STRETCH OUT’ WHILE KNOB-TWIDDLING..NO I’M FINE, REALLY..IT’S JUST DOING MY HEAD IN A BIT IT’S NOT THE RIGHT TIME OK?

Consequently the concrete maestro gets the odd random snatch of about 30 seconds studio time before some other dude reads from the bible. And he’s not even putting on a scary voice. This is not my idea of a good time. It’s more like Spanish Inquisition tactics. Happily I found two of these box sets of the 4 that came out (4 gospels, collect ’em all) and 2 sets one on top of the other could conceivably serve some other purpose like make a little dance expressions platform for some gyrating sinner in stiletto heels. Father forgive me.