Title: Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee

Artist: The National Gallery

Music Format: Stereo

Label: Philips

Catalogue Number: PHS 600-266

Issue Year: 1968

Tracks:

Side 1: Barbaric Classical Solemn, Diana in the Autum Wind, Boy with Toys, Self Portrait, Fear of Becoming Double

Side 2: Pond with Swans, A Child's Game, A Negro Child Does Not Understand the Snow, Fear Behind the Curtain, Long Hair Soulful

Special Comments:

Paul Klee is a abstract artist who practiced in the early 20th century. When I first glanced at this album, I thought it was going to be music to watch Paul Klee by -- i.e., lame instrumental fluff you could play in your art gallery while you enjoyed Paul's paintings. Much to my delight, I was wrong. This record is exactly what it says: musical interpretations of Paul Klee's works, done up in extreme beatnick style by a 60's band called The National Gallery.

Imagine you're in junior high school and the teacher asks you to look at some paintings and then write a song or a poem about them. That's exactly what Musical Interpretations is -- a series of incredibly unlikely tracks, each named for a Paul Klee painting, each with its own set of psychedelic lyrics that never cease to amaze you with their "interpretation" of the painting at hand. For convenience, a handy insert is included with full-color photographs of each painting along with the printed lyrics so you can follow along (maybe even sing along?).

On "Boy With Toys", based on a simple block painting of a child with a few wooden toys, the National Gallery gives us lyrics like "Boy with toys, alone in the Attic/ Choking his hobby horse, thinking of his mother". For "A Child's Game", the Gallery goes all out, giving us lyrics like "Grown ups in a city somewhere/Surrounded by uncertainty/Just objects of society/They play the children's game". There's even a musical interpretation of Klee's "Self Portrait"!

Whether you love Paul Klee, you love beatnick lyrics, or you just love the lengths to which musicians will go to be "different", Musical Interpretations is one of your best buys on vinyl today (from Frank's Vinyl Museum)

Cover Condition: Very Good Plus/Near Mint Minus, Bright and Clean, 1-inch Split on the Bottom Edge, Slightly Creased Corner

Vinyl Condition: Near Mint Minus, with a Few Minor Handling Marks