Ennio Morricone - "Ecce Homo, I Sopravvissuti" Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, 2002 (Dagored)

Ennio Morricone's "Ecce Homo: I Sopravvissuti" is one of his more obscure works, but of course, it's excellent.  This is more of his small orchestration with strings, some vocals, but basically a chamber work.  There is also a thumb-piano mixed in with the strings, and flute.   The Chimes gives it a slight exotica feel, but it's music that is quietly intense.  

"Ecce Homo" is a film from 1968 and directed by Bruno Gaburro.  If the film is like the music, it has to be an intense viewing experience.  Although Morricone wrote for the screen, I feel his music works just as well as an independent music piece.  I have to imagine that the works here are incidental pieces - there is no major theme music, but just a series of music that's similar or plays with the major theme.  The great Edda Dell'Orso is the vocalist, and again, her operatic touches are magical and profoundly beautiful.  In sections, I think of John Cage's prepared piano music, but I think due that the piano (prepared piano?) and thumb-piano are used in a rhythmic manner.  Also noted is the conductor, the great Bruno Nicolai.  

Ennio Morricone - "La Proprieta' non e' Più' Un Furto" Album, Vinyl, Italy, 2017/1973 (Goodfellas)

The great fun of purchasing an Ennio Morricone album is that you don't know what to expect. For the beginner (and of course, you were introduced to the Spaghetti Western and "The Mission" soundtrack), I would look for the name Bruno Nicolai on the cover.  He sometimes arranges or conducts the orchestra for Morricone.  Think of him as David Bowie's Mick Ronson.   Stating all of this, "La Proprieta' non e' Più' Un Furto" is Morricone at his most adventuresome.  The hum of a synth, an acoustic guitar playing the melody at times, a voice through some electronic process, crazy percussion, harpsichord with another electronic keyboard of some sort - and bingo instant Morricone. For what looks like an Italian sexy comedy, this is very much an avant-garde work of music.  With touches of a glorious melody, of course.  If I walked into the room, and not knowing what is being played in front of me, I would swear it's a recording from The Letterists.  There is also some crazy Trumpet work, which I'm sure is played by Morricone.  The album turns like chasing a lizard.  You don't know what direction it's going - except you know it's a work of genius and therefore you just sit back and bathe yourself in the sounds of this record.   Also note, this is an excellent album package. It comes with a movie poster!  - Tosh Berman

Ennio Morricone - "Eat It" Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, Limited Edition, Italy, 1969/2016 (Cinedelic)

Ennio Morricone.  "Eat It."   I think the composer's name and the title of the film say it all.  The original Italian title of the movie is "Mangiala."  I haven't the foggiest idea what the film is about, but I suspect it has something to do with science, eating meat, and sex.  I'm sure it's a good film, but the soundtrack is incredible.  This may be a good introduction to the overall sound of Morricone's music. Because you have the strong melodies part, the amazing orchestration (arranged by pal Bruno Nicolai), and total noise ambient all in one package.  

Then again, it's hard to contain Morricone on just one album.  I just did an inventory of the albums that I own by him, and it came to 60.  None are bad, some are super good, and there are the exceptional ones.   "Eat It" is for sure up there.  There is one major melodic theme that runs through the album but re-arranged in many ways.  My favorite cut, and for a future club hit, is "Quinta Variazione Aricami."  A percussion work- out that Adam Ant must have heard somewhere in his musical past.  An incredible rhythmic song, with the classic Morricone melody laying on top of it or by its side.  A chef's method, which Nicolai brilliantly arranged.  

As mentioned, there are various types of music on this soundtrack, and all of them are essential Morricone.  There is a need to actually go through his entire catalog and write about it.  Perhaps I can do this as a book.  Till then, I'll write about my Morricone collection here ... and there... but mostly here now. 

Ennio Morricone - "Comandamenti per un Gangster" (OST) Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, 2015 (Dagored)

The album as perfection.   From the graphics of the cover to the vinyl design to the aural delights within the package, it's a must to obtain and enjoy.  For me, Ennio Morricone is one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.  The mixture of instruments, the haunting melodies, and the imagination that goes through his compositions is magnificence at work.   "Comandamenti per un Gangster" is basically two songs, but totally re-arranged to give it a new listening experience. It never grows old, and one is amazed at the arrangements by Bruno Nicolai.  

The music on this album is very much in one's face.  Some original soundtrack music is very ambient and there to serve the images on the screen, but Morricone is listenable without the specific images coming from the projected light.  One can tell that this is not a romantic score but tied in with elements of suspense and violence.  Beyond that, it's a landscape of sound that is one moment soothing, and then gripping in its intensity.  This album should be played loud with all the windows in the house closed. Don't have mercy for your neighbors down below or next door.  

Ennio Morricone - "Escalation (Colonna Sonora Originale) Vinyl, LP, Reissue, Yellow Vinyl (Dagored)

Originally recorded in 1968, and a soundtrack to Roberto Faenza's film "Escalation," this is Ennio Morricone serving the boss.  Very 1968 in parts especially with the sitar orientated cuts on side one.  Being Morricone, there are choruses mixed with flute, an electric guitar that sometimes resembles a John Zorn game composition.   The genius of Morricone is how he can even think of mixing genres and instruments on one piece of music.  His imagination is as extensive and endless as a highway in the Texas desert.  The music borders on the avant-garde, but the melodies kick in, and it becomes an odd hybrid of both worlds.  Once again, Bruno Nicolai did the orchestration. The album is on yellow vinyl, for those who like their vinyl pretty, and in a limited edition of 500 copies. 

Ennio Morricone - "Slalom" CD Album, Reissued, Remastered, 2000 (Dagored)

One of Ennio Morricone's over-the-top or borderline insane soundtracks from the 1970s.  The music sounds like it for a film that is Bond-like but even more cartoonish.  Beautifully conducted by Morricone's fellow composer Bruno Nicolai, as the great one arranged the orchestra.  It seems to me whenever Nicolai and Morricone get together for a session, it is usually a fun and wild music journey.  Here we have jazz touches that border on Rota/Mancini but with the craziest scat vocals. Dissonant strings with horns and what sounds like a bongo drum playing with the melody as if it was a cat chasing a mouse.  

It can be my imagination, but it seems on this one particular soundtrack Morricone plays homage to John Barry, Henry Mancini, and Nino Rota.   The music is light, but under Morricone's direction, it's textured in various and surprisingly turns.   Not a well-known Morricone, which is a crime. For sure it is the ultimate bachelor groove music, but I think with an additional touch of poison.  And on a side note, one can pretty much trust the taste of the people who do the Dagored record/CD label. Their packaging and of course, music, is fantastic. 

Ennio Morricone - "Controfase" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1972/1915 (The Omni Recording Corporation)

A lost album that has been found, thanks to the record label, The Omni Recording Corporation.   Ennio Morricone is a master.  In my opinion, the greatest composer to come out of the 20th century.  To choose one, or even a few of his albums is something I can't do.  One has to accept none or all.  I choose 'all.'   I think in my collection I have over 50 albums - on CD and vinyl.  I tend to hover towards his more experimental work, then his big symphonic orchestra pieces.  But I'm such a fan; there is so such thing as a bad music from Morricone.   It's impossible!

"Controfase" is a recording that was lost to history but found by the label a few years ago.  It is a perfect example or almost a sampler of Morricone's interest in sound design and orchestration.   The mood on this album is creepy and dark.  It also features the talent of a fellow composer/arranger Bruno Nicolai as well as the great vocalist Edda dell'Orso and Morricone's experimental noise band Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.   So on one album, you have the legendary collaborators that come and go into Morricone's recordings of the 1970s. 

Morricone's music varies between highly melodic pieces to dark noise.  This album is very much the latter.  The eight selections or pieces express every shade of darkness.  Anyone who has an interest in recording sound would find this album fascinating.  Incredibly textured, with layers of unexpected orchestrations with respect to various instruments and electronic effects.  This album just keeps on giving the gift of great music.