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 - "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.  

Egisto Macchi - "Messico" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Italy, 2016 (Cinedelic Records)

"Messico" (Mexico) at times reminds me of recordings that are tourist-like, in that it gives the listener a taste of that foreign culture.  It's traveling the world within one's Hi-Fi setup. Italian composer Egisto Macchi composed and made these recordings for film libraries, where a filmmaker or editor can go and locate music for their specific scene.   Under such anonymous service, it's amazing that the brilliant talent of Macchi served this industry so well.   "Messico" brings images of Mexico, but the Mexico that is in our imagination.  The music has strong folk melodies but expanded by an Italian's view of such a culture.   

There are touches of spaghetti western overtures, but most of all I think of Sergi Eisenstein's ¡Que viva México!  It's a fascinating culture and country, and Europeans (and one Russian) I think were drawn to its allure due to a sexual and intellectual curiosity of a distant place.  "Messico" captures the sense of wonderment and it's another brilliant album by Macchi. 

Egisto Macchi - "E.S.P. Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, Limited Edition, 1973/2016 (Cometa Edizioni Musicali)

For those who have read my previous posts as well as my talk on Egisto Macchi https://youtu.be/rqCI97HMQxY know that I'm a huge fan of his work. I'm very passionate about Macchi's music at the moment because it's a new discovery or a new love.  Macchi is known for the music he composed for library music companies.   He was very much a close associate of Ennio Morricone, and like that great composer, they do share a sense of aural adventure.  Morricone did a lot of big budget films, and Macchi did mostly work for grade-z film productions.  Nevertheless, he was a brilliant composer.  E.S.P. is a work of stunning beauty.  

E.S.P. was an Italian TV series, and the music on this album basically plays the one theme but in different arrangements.  When I first heard E.S.P., it reminded me of the soundtrack "Twin Peaks, " in that both pieces capture a wishfulness but a sense of sinister underpinning around the corner.  The main instrument on E.S.P. is the Theremin.  Played not like a science fiction soundtrack, but more of a melodic instrument that fits in the orchestration perfectly.  The score is haunting and it's the perfect late night sound to reflect on one's life.  A superb album. 

Egisto Macchi - "ll Deserto" 2 x Vinyl, Album, LP, Limited Edition, Reissue 1974/2016 (Cinedelic Records)

Egisto Macchi's "ll Deserto" is a masterpiece.  The orchestration of all four sides is one of quiet, but mixed in with real instruments such as 'maybe' a french horn, oboe, various orchestrational string instruments as well as percussion over an electronic hum that comes in and out of the mix.  "ll Deserto" is very much a sonic portrait of a North African desert, or at the very least a desert in one's imagination.  One wonders if Brian Eno heard this album before he made his ambient classic "Discreet Music," because in parts the music is very similar, if not in style, in the mood that carries the landscape.  

The white album cover is so minimal that it makes The Beatles White Album a complex design.  Yet the cover conveys the vastness of Macchi's music within its vinyl grooves.  Nine pieces are on this double album, and each one flows into the other as natural as the wind blowing across the white sands of a desert.  The rhythm conveys an African feeling and clearly not a Southwestern Desert in the United States.    The original edition of the album came out in 1974 on a small record label based in Florance Italy called AYNA.   Macchi did a lot of music for Music Libraries, which means it is used by a film producer to pick and choose their music if they need something cheaply or quickly for a scene in their film.   Macchi is very much a soundtrack composer, but in Library Music one can make their own soundtracks to fit their own mood.  In other words, the compositions can be experimental or groovy dance tune - nevertheless, it's an area of great experimentation.   

As mentioned, "ll Deserto" can easily fit into the ambient music world, but again, one marvel at the real instrumentation of actual instruments that is a great deal of the final sound.   The music is relaxing, but it has its quiet sinister qualities as well.  A beautiful album to reflect on one's daydreams. 

Armando Sciascia - "Violin Reactions" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 1974/2015 (The Omni Recording Corporation)

Armando Sciascia is an Italian musician, composer, arranger, and violinist.   Mostly for Italian soundtrack films, but also very much a huge figure in the music library world.  This is music used by film producers to select music to fit a scene in a movie.  It's not original music for that specific film, but more of stuff left in a closet, and one approaches the space for the perfect sound at that moment. "Violin Reactions" are set pieces with Sciascia's violin playing, as well as composition, that is a hybrid of strong melodies, beats, and electronically processed sounds.  Sciascia had his own record label for his music and studio as well.  By day he served the film industry, by night he got into his own weird groove. 

The photographs I see of Sciascia are always from the 1950s or even earlier, and they somewhat do not convey the sounds he made in the 1970s.  Here, in his studio, he's a combination of Brian Eno and Joe Meek as he experiments with aural tools to make a new world.  "Violin Reactions" is a title that doesn't disappoint.  Every piece of music here has a strong presence of Sciascia's violin playing, but it's the mixture or the soup that he places the violin within that gives this album much pleasure. 

Egisto Macchi - "Bioritmi" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue (The Omni Recording Corporation)

I know little to nothing about Egisto Macchi, except that he's an Italian composer who worked on music for film and Television, and is a close associate of Ennio Morricone and is a member of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  I have two albums by him, including "Bioritmi," and he's exceptional.  

Originally released in 1971, and reissued/remastered by the great label The Omni Recording Corporation, "Bioritmi" is a record of great feeling and beauty.  It's noted in its informative sleeve notes that there are traces or a hint of Moondog's music within its grooves.   The music here is very much a quartet of strings and distant percussion and it does move in a circular fashion just like Moondog. It's very machine-like but done by humans.  The music builds and then slowly releases its intensity.   Listening to this I think of insects working in a hive.  It's almost a musical portrait of a society working, but not necessarily a human's approach to society unless they're watching insects building a nest and obtaining food.   A quiet album or work, but with great feeling and the clockwork of giving and releasing makes "Bioritmi" a give and take the pull as one listens.  An amazing album and the composer is a genius.  

Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza - "Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2016/1966 (Schema)

Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Conssonanza is a group of Italian composers who got together to make improvised 'noise' music.  The most famous member of the band (orchestra) is Ennio Morricone, who plays Trumpet within this experimental group.  The others are composers, who border on the classical or are writing film track music.   Here, they can go wild, and wild do they go.

This is music that is not open-ended but contained in an aesthetic history that is a combination of Fluxus and music by John Cage.  Perhaps even traces of The Art of Noise (the other Italian Futurist sound movement) not the British 'pop' group.  Using conventional instruments, they make new sounds by altering the instruments or through electronic means.  What sounds like chaos is really master musicians working in a format that takes chances at a high point, yet never fall off the cliff.  At times ambient but more likely in one's face, this is essentially 20th-century music that changes the shape of the air around them.  I think of their music more sculptural than anything else.  

The album was released in 1966, and this is a reissue, that is in a limited edition of 500.  Pick it up before it goes bye-bye.  The other composers/musicians involved besides Morricone are Jerry Rosen, Frederic Rzewski, Franco Evangelisti, Roland Kayn, Mario Bertoncini, Ivan Vandor, and John Heineman.   The sound of 1966 that is the new sound

Ennio Morricone - "Crime and Dissonance" CD, Compilation, 2005 (Ipecac Recordings)

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. 

Roberto Pregadio & Romano Mussolini - "Satanik" OST, Vinyl, LP, Album, 2017/1967, Limited Edition, Red Vinyl (Dagored)

The soundtrack to Piero Vivarelli's film "Satanik" based on an Italian comic book series.  The score is jazz, with touches of soundtrack melodies coming here and there.  Mostly the listener feels like they're sitting in a small Rome bar and listening to the band.   Not too far off from a Henry Mancini or even John Barry type of jazz feel.  So we're not talking Miles or Monk here, but a very cool version of jazz, that is more likely played by men in suits and sunglasses and of course, in the middle of the night.   

I know nothing of the composers/musicians Roberto Pregadio and Romano Mussolini.  Pregadio is a jazz pianist who did a lot of Italian soundtracks.   Mussolini is the youngest son of the Italian dictator, and reportedly has no interest in politics, but hugely into jazz.  He played piano and had often worked with Pregadio for soundtracks.  Mussolini is very much a known pianist in Italy and had a long career in that country.   

The soundtrack aspect of the music I think is more Pregadio than Mussolini.  In such moments, the incidental music reminds me a bit of Nino Rota, not in his over-the-top arrangements, but a quiet sense of melody suitable for 3 in the morning. Pergadio is credited as the conductor and director of the orchestra, while the music is credited to both Pregadio and Mussolini.   Or more likely Mussolini made the jazz music.  There is no clear credit on the album.  

The album is red vinyl and in a limited edition of 500.  It's a nice soundtrack album, that's not the best out there, but alas, it gives me pleasure. 

Ennio Morricone - "Indagine su un Cittadino ai di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto" OST, Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, 1981/2015 (AMS Records)

One of Ennio Morricone's playful scores.  "Indagine Su un Cittadino ai di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto" (Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion) sounds like a dark comedy, but the fact is the film is a suspense movie.  The thing about Morricone is that he never gives you what one expects, but something extra.  If you have to categorize his works, for instance, his avant-garde scores compared to his 'pop' pieces, lush orchestrations, then this one would be his melodic soundtrack.  It borderlines on his Spaghetti western soundtracks.  There are the 'boings' and odd percussion throughout the score.  The record is chamber music, in that it's not a large ensemble playing this music.  Everything is understated, for the exposure of the main melody.  Unusual harpsicords come in the mix, with perhaps a trombone is thrown in for good measure.   There is a delicacy in the playing and within the score's arrangements.  The album is a perfect introduction to Morricone's work for the beginner.  Intriguing melodies played over a perfect mixture of instruments.  

This edition of "Indagine Su un Cittadino ai di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto" is the one to get.  Incredible packaging with liner notes, and a separate LP sized poster of lobby cards for the film.  A film geek's sense of heaven.  In a limited edition of 500.

Giovanni Fusco - "L'Eclisse" Vinyl, LP, OST, Album, Limited Edition (500), 2016 (Doxy Cinematic)

"L'Eclisse" is an Italian film made in 1962, starring Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.  The soundtrack to the movie is by Giovanni Fusco, who also did the music for Alain Resnais'"Hiroshima, Mon Amour," as well for other Antonioni films.  About a week ago I saw "L'Eclisse, " and I loved the soundtrack.  I located a copy very recently, and I'm very impressed with Fusco's music.   The music is so much of the visuals, but here, I try to not think of the film, and just focus on the music. 

On this album, we get six versions of Mina's "Eclisse Twist."  One in Italian (of course), French, Spanish, English, an instrumental, and a slow-downed version.  That alone is worth the price of the album.   The additional greatness is Fusco's moody music that is minimal and dramatic.  While listening to Fusco's music, it reminded me of Angelo Badalamenti's work with David Lynch.  Perhaps due to the juxtaposition of a rock n' roll tune ("Eclisse Twist") with Fusco's borderline avant-garde composing.  In the same manner of a Roy Orbison song fitting into Badalamenti's score for "Blue Velvet," the same goes for the dynamic combination of Mina (an Italian 60s pop singer) and Fusco. 

The film "L'Eclisse" is slow-paced and takes its time to unveil its seductive relationship between Delon and Vitti, as well as presenting the world that is empty.  The music also conveys that unbalanced where things are not settled.  "Eclisse Twist" throws a wrench in the process, and it's very effective to go from one mood (celebrating) to the other (contemplating).   And back again.  The film and the soundtrack is a beautiful piece of work.  

Also, I want to give praise for the label Doxy or Doxy Cinematic.  I suspect that they operate in the gray area of bootlegging, but do a superb job concerning the sound of the vinyl, as well as the design work, and even more important, their ability to curate their series in a thoughtful and excellently manner.  

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. 

Egisto Macchi - "Città Notte" (Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 2015/1972 (The Omni Recording Corporation)

"città notte," (Night City) the album by Egisto Macchi is a masterpiece.  A pal of Ennio Morricone, as well as both of them being part of the experimental and free-flowing Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  This is a very focused album of compositional music, but using the instrumentation in startling aural textures.  Macchi's approach is to express an urban area (a city) as a subject matter for this album.  It's abstract space, but no doubt Italian.  

From moment to moment "città notte" can change from lush strings to snarling electric guitar.  Or both.   When you have the beauty of the strings mixed in with harsh sounds of a guitar, or organ, it brings out the grandeur of the piece.  Pain and pleasure equal bliss.  Sparseness yet the aural canvas will eventually be full.  There are no specific credits in who plays what on this album, recorded in 1972, but it's more of a hunch that Morricone plays trumpet, and it's almost like the sound of someone spitting against the wind. 

On a financial level, I think this album was made for film production houses which need a certain type of music - mood pieces, or something romantic at times. Listening to it as an album project, which I suspect Macchi was playing both ends of the spectrum, is superb.  It is truly a mix of the experimental, the gorgeous melodies, and an exploration of sound, and how it can transform a space.  Playing this album in a room that is great for sound, it can't help but impress the listener. 

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 "Danger: Diabolik" CD, Album, Unofficial Release, 2001 (Sycodelic)

The legendary and lost soundtrack album from Ennio Morricone.  "Danger: Diabolik" is the ultimate late 1960s (or is it the 70s) hero/villain film made in Europe.  A combination of The Phantom meets James Bond mixed with Fantomas, Diabolik is the ultimate of the ultimate masked heroes, who embraced the sexual revolution with great passion.  Actually, he has a true love that is more Eros than keeping a home together.   The soundtrack is equal to the film, and the story is that the master tapes were destroyed in a fire.   So the soundtrack has never been released officially, only in the shadow world of bootlegs.  

The album is great. It does have a classic Morricone song "Deep Down," which I believe is known to all those who love Retro Lounge Culture.   The album is a mixture of electronics, sound effects, and sharp bursts of melody that runs through the entire soundtrack.  This particular package also has a lot of dialogue, which I suspect that they just recorded everything from a film print or VHS tape.  So, entirely listenable, the sound quality is not the best in the world.  Still, it's a fantastic album, and important for those like me who collect Morricone.