| Fantastic Plastic Machine | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by Harry Betts | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||
| Genre | Surf rock | |||
| Length | 30:45 | |||
| Label | Epic (U.S.) | |||
| Harry Betts chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Reverb Central |   |
The Fantastic Plastic Machine is the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. An album composed and conducted by jazz saxophonist and film scorer Harry Betts. A surf rock album, it is considered a departure from his usual style.
The Fantastic Plastic Machine is a 1969 documentary film following a group of California surfers as they journey to an Australian surfing competition. The film is narrated by Jay North. It was directed by Eric and Lowell Blum and was filmed in California, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".
The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. Like the clarinet, saxophones have holes in the instrument which the player closes using a system of key mechanisms. When the player presses a key, a pad either covers a hole or lifts off a hole, lowering or raising the pitch, respectively.
Out of print for decades, the album is considered a collectors' item. The album also inspired Japanese recording artist Tomoyuki Tanaka to take the stage name Fantastic Plastic Machine.
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.
