Ennio Morricone -- "Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene" OST, Vinyl, LP, Album, 1970/2014 (Dagored)

The genius of Ennio Morricone's score for "Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene" is the mixture of easy listening samba beats with threatening orchestration that something bad is going to happen around the corner.  Morricone is a master of tension being built up, and then the blissful melody or beauty arrives. Featuring the eternal vocals of the great Edda Dell'Orso, this is one of the important soundtracks by the Italian master.  As I have written before, I think of Morricone as one of the great composers of the 20th-century.  Here he also orchestrated the music as well as writing the score and incidental music for the film. 

Ennio Morricone "Veruschka" Album, OST, 2 x Vinyl (Dagored)

The ultimate Italian/Euro swinging set of melodies by Ennio Morricone, which is the soundtrack to the 1971 documentary "Veruschka - Poesia Di Una Donna." Veruschka was the first supermodel, and here, the music matches her beauty. The film is forgotten (unless your Tarantino) but the music is iconic and beautiful in that it conveys a textural Brazilian motif, yet, clearly Italian. The album features the breathy vocals of Edda Dell'Orso, who is the ultimate singer for Morricone. She comes off as Yma Sumac but even in a more mysterious landscape. This is a double-album vinyl set, and it is the first to be the complete soundtrack to the film. A must for the exotica fan, as well as anyone who appreciates the genius of Ennio Morricone.

Ennio Morricone with Joan Baez - "Sacco & Vanzetti" OST, LP, Album, 1971 (RCA)

An incredible score by Ennio Morricone with substantial assistance from Joan Baez on the theme song "Here's To You" as well on Part 1,2, and 3 of "The Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti."  This is an album that is both lush with full orchestration as well as electronics and effects, from various members of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, the free-form experimental band that consists of Morricone as well as a few of the musicians here Walter Bianchi, Gastone Chiarini with the vocal group I Contori Moderni arranged by Alessandroni.

I have never seen "Sacco & Vanzetti" so I can't comment on how the music is used in the film, but the album is very consistent with the music sung by Joan Baez (who also wrote the lyrics) and the experimental pieces.   I never heard Baez sing in such a modern or borderline avant-garde format, which reminds me of when Bryan Ferry or David Sylvian sings over electronic abstract mood music.  "The Electric Chair" with Sinket played by Walter Bianchi is a sound that one can imagine will go with the executioner's 'hot' chair.   There is a sense of sadness that runs through the album, and the relationship between the 'pop' "Here's To You" mixed in with something like "Electric Chair" is a startling exploration between the melody and ambient sounds.

Ennio Morricone - "Danger: Diabolik" CD, Album, OST, Italy, 2001 (Sycodelic)

Not exactly an obscure soundtrack by Ennio Morricone, but a very difficult one to obtain.  Only available as a bootleg, and always on a CD.   Seeing "Danger: Diabolik" is not that difficult in the world of the format DVD.  Still, Diabolik was a master thief who operated outside the law to do justice.  There was or is something extremely fetish about his lifestyle as well as his love life. He was devoted to his girlfriend/wife, with a sexual passion that is almost heated as his body suits, just exposing his eyes.   Influenced by Fantomas, but very much part of the James Bond world, Diabolik was also an Italian comic book.  I do have some copies that were translated into English.  A guilty pleasure of sorts, but on the other hand, Morricone's score/incidental music for the film is fun. 

If there is a hit song off this, it would be "Deep Down" sung by Christy, who I suspect was sort of an Italian Yé-Yé singer, who worked with Morricone as well as with Piero Piccioni.  The story behind the soundtrack is that the master tapes were destroyed from a warehouse fire, and what we have here is the actual music and dialogue from the film itself.  So, the quality is not that hot, and there is a lot of dialogue added here as well.  Personally, I just want the music, but I can understand that there are people out there who insist on studying the Diabolik film. 

Morricone is a composer of many styles.  "Danger: Diabolik" is the easy listening side of Morricone, a jazz tinge existence with great sound effects.   For the record, it's not my favorite Morricone score, but for those who prefer the Bachelor Pad music era, it is a must and a high point in that world.