Brian Jones w/t Jimmy Page A Degree of Murder OST
Limited Edition WHITE vinyl
Limited to 250 units world wide.
This special WHITE vinyl edition is an essential purchase for both Zeppelin and Stones fans alike. This piece of rock n roll history is finally available for you to cherish and own.
Volker Schlöndorff's 1967 film A Degree of Murder (Mord und Totschlag) is a quintessential artefact of the counterculture era, blending crime thriller elements with the psychological alienation defining the New German Cinema movement. The plot follows Marie (Anita Pallenberg), a young woman who accidentally kills her ex-boyfriend during a violent struggle. Instead of contacting the police, she hires two strangers, Gunther and Fritz, to help dispose of the body, becoming sexually involved with both men in the process. What makes the film distinctive is its detached, almost playful tone; the characters treat the corpse as a logistical inconvenience rather than a moral catastrophe, turning their grim task into a meandering road trip filled with casual sex and aimless conversation, reflecting the perceived rootlessness of 1960s youth. Although the acting received mixed reviews, Pallenberg’s performance as the enigmatic and amoral Marie is consistently cited as mesmerising, cementing the film's reputation as a fascinating, if flawed, time capsule of late-1960s rebellion and style.
The film is equally notable for its legendary behind-the-scenes pedigree and stark visual style. The cinematography uses stark black-and-white images to capture the bleakness of the urban landscape, creating a noir-influenced atmosphere of dread and introspection. The iconic status is largely due to the soundtrack, composed by Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, who was Pallenberg's partner at the time. His experimental, haunting score perfectly underscores the film's uneasy mood.
Jones said at the time: “I ran the gamut of line-ups – from the conventional brass combination to a country-band with Jew's harp, violin and banjo. In the main, the musicians were established session musicians – though some of the boys from the group also played." However, Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman has said that neither he nor drummer Charlie Watts participated, and Jones never specified exactly which members played on the soundtrack. Neither Mick Jagger nor Keith Richards has stated their involvement in the soundtrack. Jones also claimed that many session musicians were involved, but according to the session logs, most of the instrumentation was done by Jones himself.
However, one Musician who certainly did contribute to the soundtrack is Jimmy Page, then, with the Yardbirds and later with Led Zeppelin. Years after he. talked to Rolling Stones about working on the soundtrack. "Brian knew what he was doing. It was quite beautiful. Some of it was made up at the time; some of it was stuff I was augmenting with him. I was definitely playing with the violin bow. Brian had this guitar that had a volume pedal – he could get gunshots with it. There was a Mellotron there. He was moving forward with ideas."
To hear two of the greatest sonic architects of British rock music playing guitars together is an unbelievably moving and almost spiritual experience, and we are very happy to be able to share this with you in the first official release that this music has ever had.