Recently picked up Ennio Morricone's "Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura" ("Cold Eyes Of Fear"), and needless to say, I absolutely love this soundtrack. In this man's opinion, this album really seems to be very influential to Zorn and his Naked City Works. Like I said, that's just my opinion, but I'm curious to see if any other Zorn Listers feel the same way, or at least, somewhat agree with that take on this particular Morricone Soundtrack. At any rate, it's a bad-ass album, and should be considered for your catalog.
"Gli occhi..." is great, but it is the tip of the iceberg of Morricone's work in this area. The mode Morricone used for many of these Italian thrillers and giallos is always the same: a couple of great tunes (usually one strong theme per movie), mixed with avant-garde/modern composition stuff that gives listeners the creeps. It usually works very well, though. It is often better to see the movies and hear the music in the context. Again, "Gli occhi..." is a strong case, it is a very good Italian thriller that you should try to see. Another great example is "Chi l'ha vista morire", or "Who Saw Her Die?" - once you've heard the children's song used in this movie, it will haunt you forever. There are dozens of Morricone soundtracks that are recommendable if you like this particular facet of his work.
As far as Krzysztof Komeda, I don't have any of his soundtracks. I do have a copy of Tomasz Stanko's "Litania: Music of Krzysztof Komeda", which I also enjoy. Tomasz's tone on this album is really dry and rough, and a lot different than what I would expect from Manfred's ECM label. The lineup is stellar, and I'm sure, Tomasz greatly enjoyed putting together this album, considering how close he and Krzystof were.
Komeda is one of the greats, but his stuff is relatively hard to get. There is a 20-something CD series released in Poland that is pretty comprehensive - it contains both his work for movies and his "regular" jazz works. I have the volume that has the "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Fearless Vampire Killers" soundtracks. Especially "Vampire Killers" is a masterpiece, in my opinion, and when I first heard it I thought it was the closest thing I'd ever heard to Mr.Bungle's "Disco Volante". And in response to Efren's recommendations:
And one of my most-listened-to soundtracks last year was the reissue of Bernard Hermann's "The Day the Earth Stood Still", in the event you're into sci-fi/theremin stuff.
I second that. When Mr.Bungle opened their Nijmegen show back in 1996 with the "Radar" track off this soundtrack I knew I had to hunt it down. The whole piece is absolutely stunning. In general, Bernard Herrmann is really dependable. I count the "Vertigo" soundtrack among my favorites. If you want to move past the legion of honored soundtrack composers onto some more out-there stuff, my recommendations would be: 1. Piero Umiliani "Cinque bambole per la luna d'agosto" Umiliani's stuff can be pretty much hit-or-miss, but this one is absolute killer. Some of the most crazy organ stuff ever recorded. It sure helps that "Cinque bambole..." ("Five Dolls for an August Moon") by Mario Bava is one of my all-time favorite movies (but it is an acquired taste, so you may not want to try it, certainly not before you've seen most of Bava's more well-known titles). 2. Piero Piccioni "La decima vittima" aka "The Tenth Victim". The most insane organ rock music. The original vinyl edition is one of the holy grails for soundtrack collectors (I paid $90 on eBay to get mine). There's a re-issue that you could get, but amazingly this is not as good because it contains *too much* of this music - hearing the same tune repeated over and over can get a bit too much. Also, they replaced the original artwork which is a big no no. The original is absolutely essential. You should definitely see the movie as well, an absolute must for lovers of 60s cinema and pop-art culture. 3. Gene Moore "Carnival of Souls" More organ-drenched madness. This has been released on Birdman in the US. Get it while it's available, and revel in its dark and haunting atmosphere. Even the dialogue snippets make sense for a change, and contribute to the overall atmosphere of eerieness. 4. Bruno Nicolai "Eugenie...The Story of Her Journey into Perversion" aka "Philosophy in the Boudoir" This may be my all-time favorite soundtrack, but is sadly unavailable apart from the original, very expensive vinyl, and a bootleg CD re-issue where it was coupled to the "Decima vittima" OST (the ultimate double-bill). This music accompanies one of Jess Franco's most interesting works (available on a stunning DVD from Blue Underground), and goes from samba to eerie mood music. Bruno Nicolai usually operates in the shadow of Morricone, but here he manages to equal the master. 5. Peter Thomas "Raumpatrouille" The soundtrack to Germany's answer to Star Trek, this is another nutcase mixture of accessible song-driven material and avant-garde sounds. This has become all the hype ever since it was picked up by the lounge/retro crowd a few years ago, and has been the subject of endless inferior remixes and extended editions. Just get the regular CD (I found the original 1966 album in a stack of German schlager records a few years ago...) and revel in its greatness. 6. Les Baxter "The Dunwich Horror" INSANE mixture of song-driven material and electronica. Again, the original album is quite expensive, and I don't know if it has yet been re-issued on CD, but this is so much worth hunting down. It was made in 1969/70, so it already incorporates some real rock elements, giving it a punch that most of the Italian material does not have. Other indispensible stuff is the great "Vampyros Lesbos" soundtrack, and the "Beat at Cinecitta" compilations (containing some excellent work by Umiliana and Piccioni, as well as many others). And don't get me started on all the truly excellent and completely crazy stuff that was done for Bollywood movies ("Caravan", "Shalimar", and "Prem Granth" are my picks in that category). Frankco
I also second the three volumes of "Beat at Cinecittà ". Great pop/beat/lounge/easy listening Italian soundtracks. A composer I never got was Peter Thomas. I've never really understood this madness about him. I've only heard "Raumpatrouille" and "100% Cotton" and I can't understand it, really. Thanks for the Komeda indications. I'll definitely look for that "Vampire Killers" album. If it's similar to "Disco Volante" it's bound to be great! Best, Efrén del Valle --- francko.lamerikx@philips.com escribió: >
Recently picked up Ennio Morricone's "Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura" ("Cold Eyes Of Fear"), and needless to say, I absolutely love this soundtrack. In this man's opinion, this album really seems to be very influential to Zorn and his Naked City Works. Like I said, that's just my opinion, but I'm curious to see if any other Zorn Listers feel the same way, or at least, somewhat agree with that take on this particular Morricone Soundtrack. At any rate, it's a bad-ass album, and should be considered for your catalog.
"Gli occhi..." is great, but it is the tip of the iceberg of Morricone's work in this area. The mode Morricone used for many of these Italian thrillers and giallos is always the same: a couple of great tunes (usually one strong theme per movie), mixed with avant-garde/modern composition stuff that gives listeners the creeps. It usually works very well, though. It is often better to see the movies and hear the music in the context. Again, "Gli occhi..." is a strong case, it is a very good Italian thriller that you should try to see. Another great example is "Chi l'ha vista morire", or "Who Saw Her Die?" - once you've heard the children's song used in this movie, it will haunt you forever. There are dozens of Morricone soundtracks that are recommendable if you like this particular facet of his work.
As far as Krzysztof Komeda, I don't have any of his soundtracks. I do have a copy of Tomasz Stanko's "Litania: Music of Krzysztof Komeda", which I also enjoy. Tomasz's tone on this album is really dry and rough, and a lot different than what I would expect from Manfred's ECM label. The lineup is stellar, and I'm sure, Tomasz greatly enjoyed putting together this album, considering how close he and Krzystof were.
Komeda is one of the greats, but his stuff is relatively hard to get. There is a 20-something CD series released in Poland that is pretty comprehensive - it contains both his work for movies and his "regular" jazz works. I have the volume that has the "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Fearless Vampire Killers" soundtracks. Especially "Vampire Killers" is a masterpiece, in my opinion, and when I first heard it I thought it was the closest thing I'd ever heard to Mr.Bungle's "Disco Volante".
And in response to Efren's recommendations:
And one of my most-listened-to soundtracks last year was the reissue of Bernard Hermann's "The Day the Earth Stood Still", in the event you're into sci-fi/theremin stuff.
I second that. When Mr.Bungle opened their Nijmegen show back in 1996 with the "Radar" track off this soundtrack I knew I had to hunt it down. The whole piece is absolutely stunning. In general, Bernard Herrmann is really dependable. I count the "Vertigo" soundtrack among my favorites.
If you want to move past the legion of honored soundtrack composers onto some more out-there stuff, my recommendations would be:
1. Piero Umiliani "Cinque bambole per la luna d'agosto" Umiliani's stuff can be pretty much hit-or-miss, but this one is absolute killer. Some of the most crazy organ stuff ever recorded. It sure helps that "Cinque bambole..." ("Five Dolls for an August Moon") by Mario Bava is one of my all-time favorite movies (but it is an acquired taste, so you may not want to try it, certainly not before you've seen most of Bava's more well-known titles).
2. Piero Piccioni "La decima vittima" aka "The Tenth Victim". The most insane organ rock music. The original vinyl edition is one of the holy grails for soundtrack collectors (I paid $90 on eBay to get mine). There's a re-issue that you could get, but amazingly this is not as good because it contains *too much* of this music - hearing the same tune repeated over and over can get a bit too much. Also, they replaced the original artwork which is a big no no. The original is absolutely essential. You should definitely see the movie as well, an absolute must for lovers of 60s cinema and pop-art culture.
3. Gene Moore "Carnival of Souls" More organ-drenched madness. This has been released on Birdman in the US. Get it while it's available, and revel in its dark and haunting atmosphere. Even the dialogue snippets make sense for a change, and contribute to the overall atmosphere of eerieness.
4. Bruno Nicolai "Eugenie...The Story of Her Journey into Perversion" aka "Philosophy in the Boudoir" This may be my all-time favorite soundtrack, but is sadly unavailable apart from the original, very expensive vinyl, and a bootleg CD re-issue where it was coupled to the "Decima vittima" OST (the ultimate double-bill). This music accompanies one of Jess Franco's most interesting works (available on a stunning DVD from Blue Underground), and goes from samba to eerie mood music. Bruno Nicolai usually operates in the shadow of Morricone, but here he manages to equal the master.
5. Peter Thomas "Raumpatrouille" The soundtrack to Germany's answer to Star Trek, this is another nutcase mixture of accessible song-driven material and avant-garde sounds. This has become all the hype ever since it was picked up by the lounge/retro crowd a few years ago, and has been the subject of endless inferior remixes and extended editions. Just get the regular CD (I found the original 1966 album in a stack of German schlager records a few years ago...) and revel in its greatness.
6. Les Baxter "The Dunwich Horror" INSANE mixture of song-driven material and electronica. Again, the original album is quite expensive, and I don't know if it has yet been re-issued on CD, but this is so much worth hunting down. It was made in 1969/70, so it already incorporates some real rock elements, giving it a punch that most of the Italian material does not have.
Other indispensible stuff is the great "Vampyros Lesbos" soundtrack, and the "Beat at Cinecitta" compilations (containing some excellent work by Umiliana and Piccioni, as well as many others). And don't get me started on all the truly excellent and completely crazy stuff that was done for Bollywood movies ("Caravan", "Shalimar", and "Prem Granth" are my picks in that category).
Frankco
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Monday, February 2, 2004, 12:47:20 AM, one spoke: flpc> 2. Piero Piccioni "La decima vittima" aka "The Tenth Victim". flpc> You should definitely see the movie as well, an absolute must flpc> for lovers of 60s cinema and pop-art culture. The book it's based on isn't too shabby either (by Robert Scheckley, one of the great lost masters of 60s SF) ... according to ISFDB, there were two sequels in the 80s, _Victim Prime_ and _Hunter/Victim_ but I've never even seen either of them. -- Jim Flannery newgrange@newgrangemedia.com http://www.newgrangemedia.com/pii np: nr: Frank Stanford, _The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You_
participants (3)
-
Efrén del Valle -
francko.lamerikx＠philips.com -
Jim Flannery