365 Days #177 - Nights of Love in Lesbos (mp3s)

MP3:
Nights of Love in Lesbos - Part 1 (20:11)
Nights of Love in Lesbos - Part 2 (19:20)

Remember snooping through your parents' Anais Nin and Xaviera Hollander books to find your first vintage erotica? Well, this sounds nothing like those.

Described as "a frankly intimate description of a sensuous girl's lesbian desires" it's really just a verse from "Songs of Bilitis" by Pierre Louÿs. Although not a lesbian himself, the French poet from two centuries ago is regarded for his favorable depictions of women, especially his lesbiana.

The flaccid female vocal talent, credited only as "Ilona", narrates the Sapphic sounds with heavy breath and audible smile. A flute-y score plays throughout, accompanied lightly by piano and sometimes a tambourine shake at hot moments. Consider the cover art by Lud of Hollywood; interesting from a Cray-Pas-on-toned-paper perspective. Described on back as, "one of the foremost exponents of the pastel medium in the fine arts field".

The back also claims that previous U.S. court rulings on works by James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and Henry Miller paved the way for this radical recording, boasting it makes no compromise with prudery. The label dealt head-on with forbidden pleasure in 1960 and 1961 regarding the legality of mail order desire.

This being last of five in FAX Records' Special Erotica Series, the plain brown wrapper catalog had sixteen other titles among these:

• FAX Personality Record Series (all of comedian Bert Henry)
• Wild Party Record Series (including two of "Wild Service Songs")
• Adam Party Record Series (for the Adam men's magazine)

- Contributed by: Sara Johnson

Images: Front Cover, Side 1, Side 2, Back Cover

Media: LP
Album: "Nights of Love in Lesbos" (FAX Special Erotica Series #5)
Label: FAX Record Co.
Catalog: FAXLP – 1009
Date: 1962

Comments

[Jason]

As a lesbian I find this recording offensive. That a supposedly progressive institution such as WFMU has chosen to highlight this egregious example of sexual exploitation only adds to my disappointment. This record is nothing short of PORNOGRAPHY and by making this FILTH available for download you are aiding and abetting the sin of Onanism.
It is a shame that an opportunity to highlight real and vital artists in the world of womyn's music has been squandered and the likes of Holly Near, Alix Dobkin and Tatu will contune to be neglected.

[Joey]

Your name is Jason and you're a lesbian? I doubt onanism (masturbation) is actually a sin, but if it is, who cares?

[dave p]

Hands up anybody whose thighs have embraced "smooth moist bark"? Ouch - Thought not.

[a tree]

As a tree I find this recording offensive. That a supposedly tree-friendly institution such as WFMU has chosen to highlight this egregious example of arboreal exploitation only adds to my disappointment.

Trees are for carbon sequestration, not for wrapping one's thighs around unless it's in a tree-embracing sense. As a tree I don't know what onanism is, but it sounds like we missed out on something.

[Krys O.]

ONan

[Monger]

As a pervert,i find this LP to be about useless for "priming the pump",blue vinyl or not.One would do better with more modern examples of thinking womyns erotica such as the "where the boys arent" and "no mans land" series's on DVD.