365 DAYS PROJECT



2007   JUNE 26   #177

Nights of Love in Lesbos

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