Ennio Morricone is the most magnificent composer in the 20th century. He does film work, and of course, a film composer is an integral part of the film aesthetic, but I often feel that Morricone's music is usually more important than the actual films he worked for. It allowed him to experiment, mix music genres, and make awesome (soundtrack) albums. Mike Patton, a superb singer for various groups and sessions, has his own label, Ipecac, and here he has put together the more experimental and moody works in one package. It's an excellent introduction to Morricone's inner-world and avoids a lot of his famous melodies, but a focus here on his more experimental touches.
If you take the entire works of Morricone, it can be divided into sections. The spaghetti westerns, Mafia/crime narratives, high-comedy or farces, soft-sex films, and horror. This collection consists mostly his work on horror films as well as crime. As a package, it is going to either attract one to listen more, or you may run away from the speakers. If you stay, you're going to be awarded many hours of pleasure, if you track down the original editions of these masterful soundtracks.
Beside Patton, John Zorn is the only other artist to capture the whole spectrum of Morricone's work. He initially did an album of his music, and that was my first introduction to this Italian composer. It's a love affair that never ends.
This comp is not about Zorn. It was put together by Alan Bishop from his collection, aka Alavarius B of The Sun City Girls who captured, much more than Zorn, the whole spectrum of Morricone's work. Those original liner notes for this comp were unfortunate.
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