Gay porn soundtrack composers lost to the Aids crisis

Theguardian reports that Michael Ely met James Allan Taylor in Sunset Beach and that a new collection of Taylor’s Surge Studio Music — electronic pieces he composed for gay porn films — has been released after cassette tapes were found in a closet. Josh Cheon’s San Francisco label Dark Entries has been releasing overlooked gay artists’ soundtrack work, including material by Patrick Cowley and Man Parrish and the compilation Deep Entries.

Proceeds from many releases are donated to Aids charities, and Cheon works with queer film historian Elizabeth Purchell to track down films and scores. Ely and Taylor, nicknamed Spider, remained a couple until Taylor died from liver cancer; their soundtrack work began at the Los Angeles club Basic Plumbing and for Surge Studios, run by Al Parker and Steve Scott, both of whom later died of Aids-related illnesses.

Ely recalls the scene being devastated by Aids and the couple moving to Arizona as friends began dying.

United States, San Francisco; Los Angeles; Arizona; Sunset Beach