Direct from the Gallic underground, we have here a sly and sexy film score that only the French could have turned out. Like Michel Magne, Francis Lai, or any number of pitiably obscure French soundtrack composers of the late 60's and early 70's, Karl Heinz Schäfer worked from a jazz background, and this soundtrack is fully of busy bop drumming and sweet West Coast cool-inspired flourishes: vibes and electric keyboards abound. However, pure Francophone jazz this ain't: wicked funk grooves color the more upbeat tracks throughout the album, while the recurring motifs from this score float around with the same sort of general eeriness as can be found on Serge Gainsbourg's albums from this period (particularly his Cannabis soundtrack) and Alain Gorageur's landmark soundtrack to the bizarre sci-fi cartoon La Planète Sauvage. Gorageur's soundtrack, in fact, may be the closest reference point for this album: both are wondrously inventive composites of popular styles of the era (soul jazz, psychedelic pop, and lite funk are all well-represented, even a sitar makes an appearance), and both sound distinctly French, evoking an atmosphere of macabre whimsy, the likes of which would go virtually unheard in popular music until Air dug out their Gainsbourg, Gorageur, and Schäfer records and recorded their own score for The Virgin Suicides in 2000. Les Gants Blancs Du Diable's obvious highlight is "La Victime", a sensuous jam built around a wicked break and tense strings, but other highlights include the sublimely bottom-heavy funk of "Kidnapping" and the dense ambient balladry of "Couleurs". Notice that I've said nothing about this soundtrack's accompanying film; apparently Schäfer's soundtrack so completely outshines the movie that it has been out of print since its original release in 1973.
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