Though very little is known about the Italian studio musicians who came together in 1971 under the Blue Phantom moniker to record the instrumental Distortions, (the only listed credit goes to violinist, composer, conductor and orchestra arranger Armando Sciascia under his pseudonym Henri Tical), it remains one of the more popular albums collected by enthusiasts and aficionados of European prog-rock and psychedelic music. Although none of these compositions were recorded to score any films, right from the opening “Compression,” it’s evident that Sciascia and company were heavily influenced by early Pink Floyd (this one is anchored to a riff borrowed from “Lucifer Sam”) and many of the soundtracks that scored Italian giallo films by Dario Argento. The keyboard heavy “Diodo” sounds like somebody paid Fragile-era Yes to score a ‘60s spy film, while the almost elegant psychedelia of “Distillation” pays further homage to the madcap whimsy of a young Syd Barrett. “Equilibrium” blends spacey atmospheric soundscapes with go-go trappings to birth something that sounds like a Mexican garage-rock band recording the soundtrack for Barbarella.