CD: Perseverance PRD 002. 45 minutes. Price: $21.95 or $17.00 off their website.

check out website: www.perseverancerecords.com / and www.groups.yahoo.com/group/houseofphibes


If you read my review of 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' CD last month, you'd have gotten the impression that it was likeable but could have been better. I was a bit puzzled why this CD was numbered before it though but the discovery came from the listening. This is 45 minutes of sheer pleasure which could quite easily have been lost, if not for its saving by a sound engineer from being thrown out by the studio.


This 12 page CD booklet covers the history of this soundtrack and also explains why I thought things were missing from the first. John Gale had contributed music to the first film and director Robert Furst wanted him to do the second in its entirety. Compose John Gale understood Anton Phibes musical bent and strove to create the music in the same way. The result is this masterpiece of 26 tracks. Many are less than a minute long while others stretch to 6 minutes or more covering a wide-range of musical styles. It is to Gale's skill that none of this seems disjointed but makes for a very invigorating whole.

You'll have to buy both to complete your collection but this one really is the better buy, right down to Vincent Price singing 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow.'

GF Willmetts