Pornosonic
Unreleased 70's Porn Music

THE REVIEW

No. Certainly, I won't let this opportunity slip by. What opportunity? The chance to say a few words about this album that, inexplicably, no one has devoted ears and time to talk about properly.

Who are Pornosonic? It's soon said: probably the best band around that has ever written and played music for porn films. But let's take a step back to the early seventies when the Californian hard cinema star Ron Jeremy, famous for the size of his penis (and why else!) and for his D'Annunzian ability for autofellatio, meets one of the most famous session musicians of the LA music scene. From such artistry sublimated in just two people, the Pornosonic project was born: putting musical creativity at the service of the nascent porn film business. It must be said immediately that the contractual clauses ensured anonymity for the individual members of the group to avoid negative repercussions on their careers from some prudish souls, and therefore we are not told who we owe this hidden gem to, but we can imagine that it's people with the skills. Yes, because the album sounds damn good: it’s captivating, engaging, and it fully immerses us in the atmosphere of those early and rustic adult films, filled with mustached and sideburned men, real women and not synthetic as now and everyone, men and women, with a marked allergy to razors and depilatory creams.

The album is actually a compilation where ten tracks from soundtracks of as many films released between 1972 and 1976 find their place, which had never had the honor of occupying the grooves of any vinyl. An ultimate injustice: until the release year of this album (2003), no one had ever had the honor of listening to these notes without having at least one hand occupied. An injustice partially remedied the following year when the entire soundtrack of one of these educational films was released. But let's take it step by step: the album in question is a concentrated funky-groove of the highest quality with distinctly seventies sounds where Wah-Wah guitar, engaging bass, horns, and Hammond abound just enough, all skillfully balanced without being excessive and without particular weak points. The listening is very enjoyable and smooth (also because the tracks are all around three minutes) and it leaves no one indifferent: you have to move, the way you decide... The films from which the pieces are taken have evocative names like "Dick Dagger's Big Dick Dilema" and "A Happy Ass" and the song titles are styled "Sex Starved Secretaries" and "Spiderpussy" (there is no need for translation) and are introduced by entertaining interludes by Ron Jeremy himself and colleagues. All the songs are valid but among them, I highlight "Cramming For College", where a Jeremy in the guise of a professor announces a very special exam to a class of female students, and, upon a student's request for clarification, starts a superb clavinet riff that opens a rhythmic piece pushing you to move your hips hinting at the nature of the exam, furthermore well explained by Jeremy himself. Another track worth mentioning is "Nice N' Sleazy Does It", the only slow and atmospheric piece that makes a beautiful display with a nice bass riff, drums, and percussion accompanying the magnificent sound of a well-guided Hammond complemented by Wah-Wah guitar enriching the atmosphere.

In short, if as good devotees, willingly or not, of porn cinema you have ever wondered where those sublime soundtracks that accompanied your teenage nights and beyond came from, this is the album for you. Enjoy listening!