Dig Deep: The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra – Chariots Of The Gods?: Original Soundtrack – Polydor (1974)

Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra – Returning To The Stars
Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra – Popular Myth and Destruction of Sodom
Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra – Valley Of The Gods
Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra – Stars and Rockets/Gods from Strange Planets

If you have ever wondered what kind of music David Axelrod and Ennio Morricone would have made, circa 1970, if they made it into a studio after taking massive amounts of acid…look no further than this tripped-out soundtrack from the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra.

“Chariots Of The Gods” is a mostly discredited piece of historical analysis that claims that aliens are responsible for much of the ancient world’s science, technology and religion. The ideas didn’t carry much weight in the 1960s when they were introduced, but it was intriguing enough for some Germans to get together and produce a documentary based off of the book. In the US this film was later released as “In Search of Ancient Astronauts,” but to my knowledge the soundtrack always carries the original name. This soundtrack originally was released in 1970, along with the original film, as two long themes spread out over two sides. This particular version is the 1974 edition, that instead of presenting the music as long-form pieces, cuts them up into little bite size tracks, which may be frustrating in reference to the original spirit of this music, but does make it much easier to quickly find the better moments in this score.

The first time I came across the LP was at Groove Merchant, Cool Chris played me about 20 seconds of a song and I was hooked. At the time I don’t think I fully appreciated the rest of the record and I vaguely remember trading it for something else within a month of getting it. More recently I dug this copy up at Atomic, sealed for $5. After a couple of failed attempts to trade it, all based off of my original feeling that it wasn’t all that, I decided to unseal the record and really consider whether or not I should get rid of it. Having a few years away from it and being in a much different musical mind set gave me a totally different impression of these sounds and I now think it’s one of my best finds of the year (especially at the price).

Many of the songs recycle a couple of themes, as is often the case with soundtrack records. The better tracks have one of two elements, both of which I really really dig. On the one hand you get tracks like “Returning To The Stars” with these very punchy and crisp drums paired with lush strings, horns and wordless voices. The sound is totally fitting for a film about space travel, since it has a very flighty vibe to it.

On the other hand, many of these tracks will include very odd or bizarre embellishments and at times some real 100% freakouts. The best example of this is the ticking time bomb that is “Popular Myth and Destruction of Sodom” the song begins as if you’re located in some kind of strange alien paradise surrounded by singing children, there’s something that’s whimsical about it for sure, but also it’s a bit off-putting, like something is just not quite right with this situation. Suddenly, just after the 30 second mark, it’s as if you’re under attack (perhaps from “space invaders”??? couldn’t resist) and you’re on the run from massive drums, screams and waves of fuzz guitar and before you’ve even had a chance to comprehend what has just happened to your ears, it’s all over. “Valley Of The Gods,” “Stars & Rockets” and “Gods From Strange Planets” (here the latter two are included together on the same track), similarly includes all these strange elements into a wild strings, drums and horns break-fest.

Though I know a fair amount of producers use this soundtrack for beats, taking small elements and choping them into their own musical collages, I really hope more people openly rework elements of this soundtrack into something new. All it may require is taking a deeper look at your local record store’s soundtrack bin, you never know when you might find a true gem like this for a steal of a price.

Cheers,

Michael