31 Uncanny Bits of Terror for October - Day Two: Motown's Prog Monster

The reasons behind Motown's decision to sign the Italian Prog band, Libra, remain a mystery.  There was certainly a big hole left when the label lost Holland–Dozier–Holland and Norman Whitfield in the early 70s.  Was it a desperate attempt to snag a piece of the more sophisticated, Progressive Rock and Roll fan's pocket money?  They surely would not have thought that there would be enough money in those pockets to fill that hole.  Were the rumors true about Lionel Ritchie's terrible flirtation with the Black Arts?  Did the dabbling in the darkness conjure something out of the depths that poor Lionel (or any member of the Commadores for that matter) could not control?  Did Barry Gordy himself step in and (in order to appease Lucifer) sign a Prog band from Italy?

Who knows? 










For our purpose - this being Halloween season and all - the scariest thing about these two records ( "Libra" released in 1975 and "Winter's Day Nightmare" from 1976) are the LP covers.   According to collectors of prog rock, the music on the record inside those terrifying sleeves is "not bad", "pretty good" or "worth listening to".

The band broke up in 1976, reformed in 1977 (with a member of Goblin in their midst) and scored legendary director Mario Bava's  final film, Schock (1977).

Things got really terrifying then:

   

I can't really comment on the film.  I have not seen it in years.  I bought the DVD when it came out via Anchor Bay in 2000.  I watched it and remember liking it but back then I would sometimes watch five or more movies a day - memories of movies tend to blend into other movies.  The years 1993 to about 2003 tend to be one grand, psychedelic, beer and pizza dreamscape, but that is another story...

The music for the film is something I revisit as often as I can.  It's scary, funky, dreamy and even charmingly, instrumentally bloated just like some of the finer progressive bands of the era. 

All in all, it is gloriously Goblinesque: