Patrick Cowley

Afternooners

BY Matt BauerPublished Oct 23, 2017

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Recorded in 1982, just a few months before he sadly succumbed to a then-unknown disease that would later be identified as AIDS, Afternooners is the third and final soundtrack instalment that the late Patrick Cowley composed for the Los Angeles-based gay porn company Fox Studio.
 
While previous instalments Muscle Up and School Daze were comprised of early, experimental college compositions, Afternooners is more focused and assured. By the time he'd started work on this lascivious venture, the San Francisco-based Cowley had composed and produced hits for Sylvester and Paul Parker, founded Megatone Records and released his debut album "Menergy," initiating the Hi-NRG genre.
 
"Bone" and the aptly titled "Surfside Sex" are ribald and hedonistic soundscapes, with glossy and spacey synth lines giving a sublime touch to their heated eroticism. Slower-paced selections like the futuristic sleaze of "The Runner" and the hazy throb of "One Hot Afternoon" have a hypnotic, otherworldly pulse.
 
Afternooners closes with the delicate "Love Come Set Me Free" (one of three unreleased cuts), Cowley's most ethereal song and, given the circumstances, his most poignant.
(Dark Entries)

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