Music From "The Body" by Ron Geesin and Roger Waters

Introduction

These days Roger Waters, ex-bass player with Pink Floyd is a curmudgeonly annoying person, although responsible for some excellent music. He also once had a mischievous sense of humour as demonstrated by "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict" from his solo section on "Ummagumma".

When Pink Floyd made "Atom Heart Mother" the amazingly talented but eccentric Ron Geesin orchestrated the piece, which is one of my favourite Pink Floyd pieces. The final track on the album "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" reportedly involved Syd Barrett , Floyd's initial leader and an acid casualty.

In 1970 Geesin and Waters were commissioned to write the soundtrack of the Ray Battersby file "The Body" a documentary that scores over 7 on IMDB and I remember picking up the soundtrack and thoroughly enjoying it.

This was not a normal album consisting of four Roger Waters songs, a few co-compositions and a lot of Geesin instrumentals with mad titles and even madder sounds.

This is a playlist of a few pieces from the album, which you may like as much as I or you may find unbelievable. There are elements of music hall, classics, and hypnotic voice sequences and of course those titles.

Most of Geesin's pieces are very short sometimes lasting around sixty seconds but they all flow into each other perfectly.

I love playing the album from end to end, with no track skipping, so if you want to hear it all you can check out this YouTube Roger Waters playlist:

But these are a few selections I have chosen for you.

Music From The Body

"More Than Seven Dwarfs in Penis-Land"

I have seen this listed as More Than Seven Dwarfs in Pen Island which I find quite funny. This is entirely created with voices and is clever, funny and slightly disturbing.

"Dance of the Red Corpuscles"

This is a stringed instrumental with lots of speeded-up sounds and again is a pleasant interlude.

"Sea Shell and Stone"

This is the second song on the album and the first of the four Roger Waters songs. It could have appeared on any Pink Floyd album and maybe lulls the listener into a false sense of security to listen to the rest of the album.

"Red Stuff Writhe"

This follows the first Roger Waters song and it is played on a violin or cello. Slightly dark but nothing to worry the listener too much, but just preparing them for the madness of...

"A Gentle Breeze Blew Through Life"

This is like a roller coaster or a small boat on a stormy sea and gives the listener a taste of what is to come on the rest of the album.

"Chain of Life"

Another Roger Waters song giving you a respite from Geesin's mad instrumentals. Again this could have been on a Pink Floyd album.

"Mrs Throat Goes Walking"

This is driven by a strident bass guitar riff topped with Geesin's mad vocals almost veering into jazz scat.

"Sea Shell and Soft Stone"

This is a gentle instrumental take on the second song of the album featuring the guitar of Waters and the cello/violin of Geesin, and it is a pleasant penultimate song before running into the finale ...

"Give Birth to a Smile"

This closes the album and has echoes of "The Great Gig In The Sky" which will close side one of "Dark Side Of The Moon"

"Breathe"

I'm closing this selection with a song that was adapted for "Dark Side Of The Moon" an excellent ecological and mental health-focussed song.

Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have.