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"Penelope"

"Home Again"

Penelope/Bachelor in Paradise
Johnny Williams/Henry Mancini
Film Score Monthly

It's hard to believe that A-list master composer John Williams of Lucas and Spielberg fame and fortune is the same as the second tier Hollywood studio journeyman behind such light-weight fare as Penelope (not to mention Gidget Goes to Rome!) Amazing and true. Back in the '60s "Johnny" Williams was the guy producers went to when Henry Mancini wasn't available to compose swanky pop scores. Penelope is one of them.

Here you have the sound of the swinging '60s. Flirty woodwinds, Beach Boys-style harmonies, reverbed electric guitars, chiming xylophone accents, rumbling bass, trembling tamborine and brash brass predominate in a score that undoubtedly outclasses its corresponding film.

Presented on this thoroughly engaging Film Score Monthly release is Williams original score for the '66 farce starring Natalie Wood as an unlikely bankrobber. Also included is the original LP program, which sound a bit tighter than the movie versions, and on the second disc there are bonus tracks.

Speaking of bonuses, most of the second disc is taken by Mancini's original score for the '61 Bob Hope suburban satire Bachelor in Paradise (and its bonus tracks). Mancini recorded this just weeks before the release of Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's fair to say that Bachelor is no Breakfast. Don't get me wrong. It's pleasantly lush pop orchestral stuff, but there's no "Moon River," no "Something for Cat," no "Loose Caboose." Still, even second rate Mancini stuff is worth a spin.

As usual, FSM delivers a top shelf package with in-depth liner notes with an abundance of art and photos, and excellent sound quality.

Trivia bonus: John Williams played piano on Mancini's Peter Gunn LPs, as well as Mr. Lucky and a few other releases. He learned from the master, so it makes sense that he's just as big (if not bigger) a success in the Hollywood scoring game.

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"Main Title"

"Main Title"

Milano Trema: La Polizia Vuole Giustizia / La Banda Del Gobbo
G & M De Angelis / Franco Micalizzi
Digitmovies

Italian police movies — poliziotteschi — flourished during the 1970s. Like the soundtracks for the contemporaneous giallo thrillers, poliziotteschi soundtracks are highly collectible. In recognition of this fact, Digitmovies has launched an anthology series of the rarest scores, with two in release to date by some of the most prolific composers in the genre, Guido and Maurizio De Angelis and Franco Micalizzi.

The series' inaugural release is the world premiere of the De Angelis brothers' score for Sergio Martino's first police film Milano Trema: La Polizia Vuole Giustizia (aka The Violent Professionals, '73). Conducted by Gianfranco Plenizio, the soundtrack features three major motifs with multiple variations.

Emotional themes are quite common for the genre, and Milano Trema is no exception. The memorably melodic main theme, "Blue Song," is tinged with melancholy, and despite the occasionally cheesy synth tone, it proves haunting.

The movie's titular melodic motif serves as an improvisatory tension builder for repetitive riffs played on guitar, bass guitar, echoing piano, flute, drums and percussion. Occasionally, it provides a quick blast of action as well.

In addition, there are Italian and English-language versions of a folk-rock song, "And Life Goes On," sung by Susy Lion, featuring acoustic guitar and flute, two of the De Angelis brothers' favorite instruments. The quick tempo instrumental version adds a hard-driving passage with piano, electric guitar and organ. While the folk-rock style may seem unusual for a cop drama, it isn't uncommon on a De Angelis soundtrack and adds welcome variety to this score.

All things considered, Milano Trema is well balanced and worthy of inclusion in any collection of crime flick soundtracks.

Next up is Micalizzi's soundtrack for Umberto Lenzi's La Banda Del Gobbo (aka Brothers Till We Die, '77), starring genre regular Tomas Milian. The sound is a bit more typical of poliziotteschi — the most macho of Italian film genres. That means more rock drumming and more sinister keyboard tones.

The main theme, which is introduced by electric piano and developed by moog, wah guitar, brass and percussion, establishes the mood of crime-ridden streets and cops who show no mercy. The catchy theme is reprised through several variations at fast and slow tempos.

In addition to variations on the main theme, there is a Sirtaki (Greek dance) source cue, Bach-inspired church music for organ, disco music, a gothy funeral dirge played on synth and piano, and a English-language romantic ballad sung by an unidentified female.

La Banda Del Gabbo is another killer poliziotteschi soundtrack.

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Barbarella
The Bob Crewe Generation Orchestra
& The Glitterhouse
Harkit

As sci-fi camp classics go, Barbarella is hard to beat. Sure it's silly, but it's also surreal and sexy and the soundtrack is the archetype of wigged out and groovy. Gushing aside, Harkit's reissue is even better than the Dynovoice version that came out a few years ago. For one thing the sound quality is much, much better. Plus, there are eight bonus tracks, new liner notes and a mini-poster of Jane Fonda at the height of her sex appeal.

The score itself is a must have masterpiece -- no soundtrack collection is complete without it. The music is sweetly psychadelic, full of surprises and memorable passages. Unlike some soundtracks that merely rehash two or three melodies again and again, this one delivers a stunning variety of musical ideas -- it's a trippy symphony.

The bonus tracks include three radio trailers for the movie, which intermingle the film's score with dialogue bits and an announcer's randy "sales pitch." The other five bonus tracks are lounge covers of Barbarella tracks played by "The Young Lovers," about whom little it known. The sound quality on the bonus tracks isn't as crisp and clear as the score itself, but they're nice to have, nonetheless.

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Batman
Nelson Riddle
Film Score Monthly

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"Main Theme"

La Battaglia del Deserto
Bruno Nicolai
DigitMovies

War — what is it good for? Absolutely nothing, right? Well, maybe a few good soundtracks. La Battaglia del Deserto (aka Desert Battle or Desert Assault) boasts a memorable score by Bruno Nicolai, whose work has become a just cause for DigitMovies, which has released many rare or previously unreleased titles by the composer. Nicolai is often regarded as simply Ennio Morricone's sidekick, but DigitMovies is setting the record straight — one platter at a time.

Desert Battle is a riveting orchestral outing that features action, suspence and romantic moods. Nicolai's orchestration is never overbearing. He evenly blends piano, Spanish guitar, woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings in arrangements that move from rousing to haunting to starkly atmospheric and back again. Aside from the snare sound on the main title, there isn't much in this score that screams "military movie." The sound is often grand, epic even, but never cliched. And Nicolai's frequently spacious arrangements, with heatwave woodwinds and organ tones, are highly evocative of the film's desert setting.

DigitMovies calls this a classic, and I for one, find no reason to argue. Excellent stuff.

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"Main Title"

La Battaglia Di Maratona
Roberto Nicolosi
Digitmovies

Roberto Nicolosi's colorful, old-school score for the mighty Steve Reeves' epic La Battaglia Di Maratona (aka The Giant of Marathon, '59) is the seventh installment in Digitmovies' fascinating "Italian Peplum" soundtrack series.

Like the other sword-and-sandal movie scores from the '50s and early '60s, this one is in the Golden Age style, wherein richly orchestrated music describes the action taking place on screen rather than merely complementing it. There are brassy fanfares for scenes of pageantry, rousing percussive numbers for action-packed battles, mysterious woodwinds suggesting uncertainty, playful flutes conveying mischief, romantic strings that carry the love theme, and brass representing the hero.

Listening to a Peplum score often tells one everything they need to know about the story. But experiencing the movie that way means we're missing out on all of that "daring" Eastman Color and Reeves' feats of strength.

Bottom line, if you have any of the other scores in this unique series then you'll want this one too. Nicolosi won't let you down. He's a master at this type of thing. But if you favor something more modern, look elsewhere.

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"Main Title"

"Main Title"

"Main Title"

Ecologia del Delitto (aka Bay of Blood) / Gli Orrori del Castello di Norimberga (aka Baron Blood) / Cani Arrabbiati (aka Rabid Dogs)
Stelvio Cipriani
DigitMovies

The third volume of DigitMovies' Mario Bava soundtrack anthology collects Stelvio Cipriani's music for the director's slasher gorefest Bay of Blood, his supernatural gothic chiller Baron Blood and his gritty crime flick Rabid Dogs. The two-disc set is a worthy addition to a series that started with Roberto Nicolosi's scores for Black Sunday and The Evil Eye, then Carlo Rustichelli's scores for The Whip and the Body and Blood and Black Lace.

Prior to scoring Bay of Blood Cipriani was slated to score Emilio Miraglia's giallo The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Tomb ('71), but the director rejected Cipriani's score in favor of hiring Bruno Nicolai (whose Evelyn soundtrack is available on a DigitMovies edition). This may explain why Cipriani’s score for Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve, ’71) contains "Evelyn’s Theme," which must have been written for Miraglia's flick as there is no character in the Bava film with that name. It is a lovely, melancholy piece for piano and orchestra, but doesn't really fit the mood of the film and like the score's dance pop grooves it ends up coming off as ironic. More appropriate are multiple variations of the main title, which is a sullen, sensuous, slow groove with prominent Latin American percussion (such as the guiro), organ and string drones as well as guitar, harpsichord and saxophone.

Cipriani’s score for Bava’s Baron Blood (aka The Horrors of Nuremberg Castle, ’72) starts with a light-hearted pop instrumental of soaring strings, “la-la” female vocals, Latin percussion and flirty trumpet and saxophone. It’s hardly the tone one expects to hear at the start of a movie about a sadistic murderer from beyond the grave. Despite this compositional misfire much of the score is relatively dark and eerie thanks to instrumentation that emphasizes distorted guitar and heavy percussion.

Like other Bava films, Baron Blood’s U.S. distribution relied on American International Pictures. Not satisfied with Cipriani’s uneven score, AIP enlisted horror specialist and exotica legend Les Baxter to compose a mostly brass orchestral score for the North American release of Baron Blood. Baxter's 25-minute "Baron Blood Suite" can be heard on a Citadel CD along with his "Black Sunday Suite."

Bava's Rapid Dogs is a brutal heist-gone-wrong crime drama, which makes it different from the other movies featured in the DigitMovies Bava soundtrack series. Cipriani's score is action oriented with a pronounced rock influence. Wah-wah guitar, vigorous harpsichord arpeggios, throbbing bass lines, jazzy horns, Hammond organ and rock drumming give the score an aggressive cop funk vibe. It's also the standout selection on the Cipriani set, because it is more consistent in terms of musical style and more effective at building tension.

This DigitMovies release contains world premiere crystal clear recordings, excellent liner notes by Tim Lucas (of Video Watchdog) and reproductions of poster art, etc.

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"Main Title"

Bedazzled
Dudley Moore
Harkit

Yes, you've heard right. Harkit Records has reissued Dudley Moore's classic soundtrack Bedazzled a second time. Let's face it, the original CD release wasn't mastered as well as it should have been. For one thing, the volume was too low.

This time they got it right. Dudley's piano rings out brilliantly over crisp drumming, clear deep bass, bright brass and warm strings.

Simply put, Bedazzled is an essential '60s soundtrack. Groovy, jazzy, sophisticated and whimsical, it offers a rich variety of melodies and moods. Highlights include (and there are many) the dynamic "Main Title," spacious "Moon Time," beatlicious "Strip Club," Carnaby-esque "GPO Tower," Dudley's excited vocal showcase "Love Me!", Peter Cook's too-cool-for-you "Bedazzled", ultra-sleek "The Millionaire," super swanky "Sweet Mouth," elegant "Cornfield", soulful groover "Goodbye, George," and sultry "Lillian Lust." Frankly, that's most of the soundtrack, and the tracks I left off of the list ("Italy" and "The Leaping Nuns' Chorus") are uniquely appealing in their own right.

But wait, there's more (ha-ha), Harkit includes the hilariously daft radio spot promo. Moreover, the booklet includes some insightful essays and promotional stills. All in all, a very worthy effort, and the most important reissue of the year.

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Bedazzled
Dudley Moore
Harkit

When most people think of Dudley Moore, they think of his comic turns in Arthur and 10. Most people aren't aware of his musical talents, which are very well displayed on the soundtrack to the original 1968 version of Bedazzled.

This is, without a doubt, one of the finest pop movie scores of the late 60s -- right up there with Barbarella, though distinctly different from that psych pop classic.

The orchestration is rich but not bloated. And the themes are memorable. Tracks like "Bedazzled" (which was later covered by the archly ironic studio group Bongwater) and "The Millionaire" (which was sampled by DJ Food on the Ninja Tune release Kaleidoscope) are alone worth having. Actor Peter Cook's ultra-droll delivery on the former is deliriously funny. And the swank mood of the the latter is lounge perfection.

Fact is, the score is loaded with elegantly groovy material. Moore plays piano throughout and he's supported by a crack rhythm section, horns and strings (but in small doses). If you're buying one complete soundtrack reissue this year, keep this one in mind.

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"Send Me Nicky"

Bell, Book & Candle
George Duning
Harkit

Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart starred alongside Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs in this stylish romantic comedy set in a fantasy Greenwich Village where witches and warlocks stand in for gay and lesbian beatniks. But that's just a loose interpretation. It's also the film Stewart and Novak made after Hitchcock's Vertigo.

George Duning, who also scored From Here to Eternity, Picnic and several episodes of Star Trek and Time Tunnel, busts out the bongos for this jazzy, orchestral score. The theme's are memorable and the execution is certainly very cinematic in that light orchestral vein of '50s romantic comedies.

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Planet of the Apes/Escape from Planet of the Apes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of/Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Jerry Goldsmith/Leonard Rosenman/Tom Scott
Varese Sarabande/FSM Silver Age Classics

The Planet of the Apes movie series ('67-'74) has to be, in retrospect, one of the most ambitious, albeit uneven film franchises ever. The movies were recently reissued on video in a commemorative box set.

The soundtracks for Planet of the Apes and its four sequels have also been reissued. Look to Varese Sarabande for the first two (on one disc) and Film Score Monthly's Silver Age Classics for the other three (on two discs). If you think the VHS or DVD box sets of the movies is a good thing, then it's safe to say these three discs make up a soundtrack collector's equivalent.

Each disc comes with well-researched liner notes on the impact of the series that resulted in a short-lived TV spin off (featuring music by Lalo Schifrin), comic books and an upcoming remake with Ewan McGregor. (See Found Wax for a review of another type of Planet of the Apes spin off.) The making of the soundtracks is also generally recounted in the copiously illustrated liner notes.

Musically speaking, the most consistant element in these scores is the reliance on tension-building modern orchestral motifs that wouldn't sound out of place in a concerto by Bartok or Boullez. All of which is gripping and truly cinematic.

Goldsmith's Oscar-nominated work on the original score really set the tone for the entire series. Dissonant orchestration amply evokes an "alien" world, full of conflict and tyranny. Occassionally, the pattern is broken, but always for the sake of experimentation.

Beneath... for instance offers not only the music as it appeared in the film, but also the original LP program, which combined snippets of dialogue with electronics, avant garde choral and elements of rock and funk.

Conquest... also makes a nod to rock on "Subjugation Soul," a Can-like blues dirge overlaid with aggressive guitar fills worthy of Robert Fripp. Otherwise Rosenman and Scott stick to Goldsmith's template.

The FSN Silver Age releases also feature detailed descriptions for each track, putting everything in to proper context. Fantastic!

Beretta 70
Various Artists
Crippled Dick Hot Wax

Beretta 70 features "roaring themes from thrilling Italian police films" of the 70s. While about half of these tracks are English-language vocal tracks and the rest are instrumentals, the tone is generally one of aggressive intensity; you can cut the testosterone with a knife (or laser or stylus, for that matter).

The vocal cuts are dramatic, forceful and passionate, as one might expect from a musical culture steeped in operatic intensity.

The instrumentals turn up the intensity level, as well, but often times with the dance floor in mind. Predictably, there is a pulse-pounding cut by Goblin, which opens the disc, but the bulk of the material comes from Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, Armando Trovajoli and Franco Micalizzi.

The disc closes with a long and demonically intense blast of funk by Bixio-Frizzi-Tempera. Again, the liner notes and packaging make this disc the ultimate collection of Italian cops & robbers soundtracks.

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The Best of Edgar Wallace
Peter Thomas, Martin Bottcher & Nora Orlandi
All Score Media

From the label that brought us Star Maidens comes a collection of beat thriller sounds from 18 b-grade thrillers made in Germany between '61-'71. The series actually consisted of 32 features made between the late '50s and early '70s, all produced by Constantin Films, based on popular fiction -- primarily that of British author Edgar Wallace. With titles such as "The Monster of Soho" and "The Spell of the Sinister One," these flicks featured a plethora of time-tested cliches: the tough but charming hero, the damsel in distress, the sinister villian (often played by everyone's favorite nutcase Klaus Kinski).

When it came to scoring the Edgar Wallace thrillers, Peter Thomas (Raumpatrolle, 100% Cotton)was the most inventive composer at the studio's disposal. His combination of beat jazz and sound effects (gun shots, hand claps, etc.) still sound fresh today. About 70 percent of the music on this collection is by Thomas, the rest being split between Martin Bottcher and Nora Orlandi.

Truth be told, much of the music on this disc is available on other discs. FutureMuzik and Kriminal Filmmuzik feature much of same Thomas material (but not all!). And some of the Orlandi tracks turn up on Easy Tempo collections. Still, it's nice to have it all grouped together.

The Best of Goblin Vol. 1
Goblin
Cinevox

The Best of Shaft
Various Artists
Universal Music

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Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Stu Phillips and others
Harkit

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls/Groupie Girl
Various Artists
Screen Gold Records

"Running Against Time"

The Big Game
Francesco De Masi
Chris' Soundtrack Corner

With Francesco De Masi's La Macchina Della Violenza (aka The Big Game, '72) Chris' Soundtrack Corner has selected a terrific score for its first CD release.

The Big Game is an espionage thriller with dystopian sci-fi elements such as mind control, starring Ray Milland, Stephen Boyd and Cameron Mitchell.

De Masi's excellent score opens impressively with a barrage of low piano chords, joined by aggressive distorted guitars, brash brass and a rumbling bass guitar. After this prelude, sensual strings and woodwinds join for a stirringly romantic main theme.

The main title is followed by the odd, romantic song "Tomorrow is a Foreign Land," sung by Melody. It starts off as a lover's invitation, but the chorus contains head-scratching lines such as "tomorrow is a foreign land / because I'll stay with other strange people / who live without your love..." Huh? The melody is reprised on "The Night is Ours."

From there, the mood is by turns dissonant and tense ("Sound from Space"), cheerfully exotic ("Hong Kong Promenade"), dynamic and action-packed ("Running Against Time"), romantic ("Suspect and Love") and intriguingly noir ("You'll Kill Her"). Occasionally, the sound is reminiscent of John Barry's 007 scores, but then the acid guitars kick in, placing it firmly in the Euro-trash action camp.

There are several reprises of the romantic theme as well as action and intrigue cues throughout this gripping score. The melodies are memorable and the instrumentation is impeccable, which comes as no surprise — it's De Masi after all. And it's a great way for Chris' Soundtrack Corner to launch its record label.

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The Big Gundown
John Zorn
Tzadik

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Birds Do It
Various Artists
Diggler

Bistro Erotica Italia
Various Artists
Arista

Bistro Erotica Italia is an Arista comp by the "curators of The Sound Gallery", the title of a two-volume British loungecore compilation. This collection features some unusual stuff, not found on other comps. It's a bit uneven, but not bad at all. The opening tracks, featuring bongos and moaning and little else, remind me of those old audio verite records put out by FAX in the 60s. Otherwise, the bulk of the material is stylistically consistant with other Italian collections, such as the Easy Tempo series.

Composers include such giants as Ennio Morricone and A. Trovaioli, as well as Franco Micalizzi and several others.

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Black Belt Jones
Dennis Coffey and Luchi De Jesus
Weintraub-Heller

Black Caesar
James Brown
Polydor/Polygram

James Brown cut two soundtracks in '73 (the other is Slaughter's Big Rip-Off). Both, as one would expect, are very funky; the groove flows forth with a lean and easy naturalism. Tracks like "Sportin' Life" and "Dirty Harri" (sic) are perfect examples. Although there's little in the way of dramatic or action-packed passages, there are highlights and they're usually the vocal tracks. "Down and Out in New York City" and "Like It Is, Like It Was" (the title that inspired a cool book on blaxploitation movie poster art) are perfect examples. While the music itself hardly differs from Brown's non-soundtrack work, the lyrics offer some sense of the movie's emotional content. The best example of this is the heartbreaking "Mama's Dead". Also worth noting is Lyn Collins' soulful vocal on "Mama Feelgood".

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Black Emanuelle's Groove
Nico Fidenco
Dagored

Nico Fidenco's Black Emanuelle's Groove is a collection of tracks from the sexploitation movies of the 70s starring the beautiful Laura Gemser. The cover art is not as pictured here, but features an ill-advised black-on-black version of the same image (making it impossible to reproduce here). The disc itself displays Fidenco's great ability at creating breezy, sexy music that sounds unlike any other Italian soundtrack.

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"Theme"

"Theme"

"Theme"

Bucktown
Johnny Pate
AIR

The Black Gestapo
Allan Alper
Bryanston Pictures

Black Shampoo
Gerald Lee
Dimension Pictures

More than any other genre, blaxploitation soundtracks are susceptible to bootlegging. In the past, ScoreBaby has reviewed LP boots of Herbie Hancock's The Spook Who Sat by the Door as well as Dennis Coffey and Luchi De Jesus' Black Belt Jones. These platters sound like they were taken from video transfers, especially since they tend to have a lot of dialogue with and without the funky score. Sometimes, they come with poster reproductions.

Here are three more for your consideration:

The best of the bunch is Bucktown. This may be one of Johnny Pate's lesser blax scores (hard to compete with Shaft in Africa and Brother on the Run), but it still funks out. Unfortunately, the sound quality is less than pristine and there's no poster to make up for it. Some savvy record company should take a shot at cleaning this up — with or without the badass dialogue.

Bryanston's LP of Allan Alper's soundtrack for The Black Gestapo is typical. The sound is muddy, the tracks are peppered with dialogue and sound effects, and the luridly provocative poster almost makes up for the realization that the music is mostly generic action funk.

Dimension's LP of Gerald Lee's soundtrack for Black Shampoo is much like the Black Gestapo release, though it lacks a poster (too bad, cuz the cover art is over the top). Lee's grooves are serviceable, though not particularly memorable. Again, the sound quality compromises enjoyment, though the dialogue is often hilarious.

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The Monkey Hustle/Black Mama, White Mama
Harry Betts/Jack Conrad
Beyond/MGM

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Black Sunday & Baron Blood
Les Baxter
Citadel

The Stone Killer / The Black Windmill
Roy Budd
Cinephile

Best known for the original Get Carter ('71) soundtrack, Roy Budd went on to score several thrillers including The Stone Killer ('73), starring the recently departed Charles Bronson, and The Black Windmill ('74), starring the ever vital Michael Caine. Like Budd's score for Diamonds ('76), these two exhibit some immensely atmospheric suspence cues and some sinister orchestral funk. Each score has its share of easy listening, but Budd is at his best cutting edgy action scenes where deep bass throbs are joined by crisp drum fills, cool analog synth sounds and dark undercurrent orchestration. At his best, Budd is equal to Barry, Goldsmith, Schifrin or any other composer with a penchant for crime/spy action flicks.

Blacula
Gene Page
RCA

"Deadlier than Dracula," the record cover exclaims. I don't know about that, but I can't recall a Dracula movie that had a funkier soundtrack. Gene Page --with help from the Hues Corporation, the 21st Century Limited and Billy Page -- delivers a score with bite. Tracks like "Blacula (The Stalkwalk)", "Good to the Last Drop" and "Blacula Strikes" are super groovy good time funk. And, for a movie about the living dead, this record sure has a lot of soul. Take a listen to the catchy vocal numbers and you'll be under its spell. Gotta say though, you'd be hard pressed to think of this music in the context of a "horror" movie. Most of it sounds perfect for a romantic comedy. Then again, maybe that's what they had in mind.

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"Main Titles"

Blindman
Stelvio Cipriani
DigitMovies

Although he is better known for his gialli and poliziotteschi soundtracks, Stelvio Cipriani tracked a few spaghetti westerns including Blindman, starring Tony Anthony and Ringo Starr. DigitMovies' world premiere CD of the soundtrack is a must have for fans of the genre.

First off, this may be one of the few spag westerns with theme music featuring sitar, which proves integral to several tracks without sounding like a gimick. Cipriani also makes good use of singer/composer Nora Orlandi and her choir who fit seemlessly into Cipriani's hard-riding east-meets-west pop orchestration. The eastern influence is appropriate since Blindman is quite obviously an homage to the Japanese blind samourai hero Zatoichi.

Blindman score has fantastic passages where 12-string guitar arpeggios mesh with sitar, flute, bass and drums to create a suspenseful atmosphere of imminent danger against a stark desert background. The soundtrack also boasts a fair amount of lively mariachi music (sans sitar, of course). Throughout, Cipriani offers up big melodic hooks and thrilling, pulse pounding, near-rock arrangements without losing the western feel.

Cipriani's Blindman soundtrack is a major release for spaghetti western fans, but will surprise and delight soundtrack fans in general.

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"The Blob" (MP3 edit)
"Unused Theme" (MP3 edit)

The Blob (and other creepy sounds)
Ralph Carmichael (& others)
Monstrous Movie Music

Mention the music from The Blob, the 1958 sci-fi horror classic starring Steve McQueen, and most fans will start humming the goofy novelty title song by Burt Bacharach and Mack David. Its jangly rhythm guitar, lilting saxophone line and cheeky-deadpan vocals are a kitschy delight.

However, the bulk of the soundtrack belongs to Ralph Carmichael whose score is a class act in the orchestral style. On his unused main title "Violence" strings churn and brass clashes with dissonant angularity as nameless horror approaches.

Following a short romantic bridge, the tense mood resumes on cues with evocative titles like "Under Pressure," "Weird Menace" and "High Tension." Strings squirm, woodwinds writhe and brass strikes out in fits of desperation.

The second half of this creep show is devoted to the Valentino Production Music Library, featuring music from such b-classics as The Green Slime, Terror from the Year 5000 and The Brain that Wouldn't Die as well as Art Mineo's classic Seattle World's Fair record Man in Space with Sounds. Among the other featured composers are library legend Roger Roger, Italian sci-fi maestro A.F. Lavagnino and Mario Nascimbene who scored a number of prehistoric spectaculars.

With titles like "Spell of the Unknown," "The Search Beyond" and "Celestial Wonder" it's easy to get swept away in this wonderfully imaginative music.

Just get it already. (Monstrous Movie Music sells direct.)

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Blow-Up / Death Wish
Herbie Hancock
Warner/One Way Records

Since his arrival on the jazz scene back in the early '60s, Herbie Hancock has proven to be one of the music's most versatile talents. As a soundtrack composer he hasn't been especially prolific, but when he delivers a score it is generally of high caliber. Blow Up and Death Wish are examples of his versatility.

On Blow Up, the score for the Antonini movie about a hip London fashion photographer who thinks he's witnessed a murder, Hancock explores seductive hard bop and rare groove moods. The results aren't particularly cinematic -- one could easily be fooled into thinking this is one of Hancock's Blue Note recordings from the same period -- but they are enjoyable nonetheless.The Blow Up score features "Bring Down the Birds," which dance pop group Dee-lite sampled for their early '90s hit "Groove is in the Heart." It also features "Stroll On" by The Yardbirds, who appear in the movie's inevitable but memorable club scene. The title track alone is worth the price of admission on Death Wish. Employing both jazz and orchestral instrumentation, Hancock creates a mood of sophisticated yet funky suspense. On tracks such as "Do a Thing" and "Paint Her Mouth," Hancock opts for more minimalistic arrangements to more disturbing effect. The centerpiece of Death Wish is the 9-minute "Suite Revenge," which explores stylistic cues from atonal symphonic (ala Arnold Schoenberg), as well as African tribal drumming and Hancock's own electronic jazz fusion experiments of the early '70s.

Death Wish, while not as immediately accessible as Hancock's earlier groove-oriented score for Blow Up, is an intriguing, richly detailed experiment in movie scoring.

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Blue Movies: Scoring for the Studios / Blue TV
Various Artists
Blue Note

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"Windsor Concerto"

"Atelier"

"Main Title"

"Morte di Edith..."

La Frusta e il Corpo (aka Whip and the Body) / Sei Donne per L'Assassino (aka Blood and Black Lace)
Carlo Rustichelli
DigitMovies

La Maschera Del Demonio (aka Black Sunday or Mask of the Demon) /
La Ragazza Che Sapeva Troppo (aka The Evil Eye or The Girl Who Knew Too Much)
Roberto Nicolosi
DigitMovies

In just a few short years DigitMovies of Italy has become a dominant source for world premiere releases of vintage Italian soundtracks, particularly for giallo and western titles.

About six months ago the label released the first in a series of soundtrack "double features" for films by the innovative and influential Mario Bava — namely, Roberto Nicolosi's scores for the gothic horror classic Black Sunday (aka Mask of the Demon, '60) and the seminal giallo thriller The Evil Eye (aka The Girl Who Knew Too Much, '63).

Black Sunday was the movie that put Bava on the map. Fans of the film who already have the Bay Cities/Citadel release that pairs Les Baxter's U.S. score for the film with his score for Bava's Baron Blood ('72) will find Nicolosi's score of interest. The two composers' treatment of the the material isn't significantly different. There are passages of orchestral cacophony for scenes of climactic horror followed by sections that quietly build tension or provide an eerie ambience. And both scores features strains of romanticism. It's hard to know whether Baxter patterned his score on Nicolosi's, which came first. The themes are different enough not to arouse suspicion, but the feeling is similar.

Like his score for Black Sunday, Nicolosi's score for The Evil Eye, which has a modern setting, is predominantly atonal and sinister. There are brief respites from paranoia, however, where he provides sultry lounge jazz and light romantic moods. It's those cues that date the score the most, but the bulk of the soundtrack is suitably dark with jazzy highlights even during the orchestral sections.

In the end, Nicolosi's scores are less noteworthy than the films themselves, but collectors will value this release all the same. (Notably, RCA of Italy released Nicolosi's score for Bava's Black Sabbath, '63, with Sante Maria Romitelli's score for Hatchet for the Honeymoon, '70).

Released in November was the second installment in the DigitMovies Bava series: a two-CD set of Carlo Rustichelli's scores for the kinky gothic horror film The Whip and the Body ('63) and the giallo masterpiece Blood and Black Lace ('64).

For Whip Rustichelli provides a tragic love theme known as "The Windsor Concerto" for piano and orchestra. Turbulent, melodramatic and gorgeous, its frequent reprisals capture the film's story of unrequited love. There also is a strong supernatural element in the film that is bolstered by the composer's subtle orchestration and atonal atmospherics. It is here that lone instruments like piano and organ flit in and out of the shadows before ensemble climaxes drive them out into the light.

Rustichelli's score for Blood offers both atmospheric orchestral moods and suave Latin jazz for the film's fashion house setting. Sometimes the styles overlap with solo organ reprising the main title melody over shuddering strings and stealthy bass. Throughout the score Rustichelli displays his penchant for spare orchestration that leaves plenty of room for solo "voices".

Whip and Blood both feature bonus tracks of alternate and single versions of the main titles.

Next in DigitMovies' Bava series is a compilation of Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve, '71), Baron Blood ('72) and Rabid Dogs ('74)

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"Fiend Discovered and Titles"

Blood on Satan's Claw
Marc Wilkinson
Trunk

Previously unreleased, Marc Wilkinson's outstanding score for the British cult horror flick Blood On Satan's Claw (aka Satan's Skin, '71) is hauntingly beautiful. It features a melody reminiscent of (but not based on) an old English folk song. However, the musical element that makes this an essential horror score is Wilkinson's use of the "Devil's Interval," the descending chromatic scale that omits the perfect fifth and therefore highlights the diminished fifth to sinister effect.

Wilkinson, a former music director for the British National Theatre, noted in the CD's booklet that he used mostly conventional classical orchestration, but — to his credit — the soundtrack never sounds conventional. Adding to the spookiness is the use of the eerie-sounding Ondes Martenot (like a Theremin with additional keyboard) and the cimbalom, which lends an Eastern European/Turkish flavor to the film's occult content. It's impossible to listen to Blood on Satan's Claw without thinking of chilly October nights, spooky old graveyards and cackling crones.

Simply put, Blood on Satan's Claw is a perfectly realized horror score — a classic that (thanks to Trunk Records) is finally seeing the light of day.

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Bollywood Funk
Various Artists
Outcaste

"Bonanza"

Bonanza
David Rose and His Concert Orchestra
Harkit

NBC's long-running Bonanza ('59-'73) was among the first TV westerns to be shot and presented in color and made a star of Michael Landon. It featured soundtrack music by David Rose, who is best known for the often used retro striptease tune "The Stripper."

For his Bonanza album, originally released on LP in '61, Rose recorded a jaunty version of the main theme by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans alongside expanded versions of cues Rose wrote for episodes of the first two seasons.

Like the family-friendly TV show, Rose's Western music is wholesome, noble and heroic — a far cry from the edgy Spaghetti style that would come to dominate the genre just a few years later.

Nonetheless, for fans of the show, Rose's Bonanza album is a carefree trot down memory lane.

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"Boom!"

Boom!
John Barry
Harkit

TAYLOR
BURTON
BOOM!

Harkit's CD cover art for one of John Barry's most underrated scores sums up the sure-fire combination that Universal clearly banked on with its production of Boom! ('68). As legend has it, the studio figured that pairing Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play would result in booming box office (indeed, both stars had appeared in successful T.W. adaptations already). But they miscalculated. This arty, allegorical film alienated audiences and bombed with critics as well.

Perhaps because of the film's poor rep Barry's score has been unjustly neglected by soundtrack reissuers... until now.

Scored between the 007 epic You Only Live Twice and the crime drama Deadfall, Boom! stands as one of Barry's most experimental and hypnotic scores.

The main theme pairs waltzing barrel-organ with ringing auto-harp (doubled with piano, I think) over a smoothly surging bed of strings. The theme is reprised on a few occasions, but it's enchanting every time. Similar instrumentation is employed on the tense "Urgentissimo — Like Everything this Summer."

Naturally, there are tracks that wouldn't sound out of place in Barry's Bond scores. For example, the brooding ostinato heard on "Pain Gone Till Tomorrow" would be begging for a trip-hop remix — if this were 1999. And "The Mobile Called 'Boom'" is in the composer's distinctive tension-builder mode heard on so many 007 soundtracks.

"Have I Changed Very Much Since You Last Saw Me?" has the air of antiquity thanks to shimmering percussion, repetitious harpsichord melody and melancholic woodwinds.

"Through Caverns Measureless to Man" flirts with dissonant abstraction but still casts a compelling spell with ascending strings and glistening percussion accents.

"Capito" explores Eastern European folk instruments with striking results. And "Which Way is the Sun?" builds an unnerving mood that wouldn't sound out of place in a Bernard Herrmann score.

The only weak track is "Hideaway," a wistful slice of '60s pop sung by Georgie Fame. It simply seems out of place, but is wisely presented last so as to not break the score's exquisite mood.

Though, Boom! is likely to remain one of Barry's more obscure efforts it truly is a classic example of a score outshining the film for which it was written and recorded.

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"Main Title"

I Quattro Dell'Ave Maria (aka Ace High) La Collina Degli Stevali (aka Boot Hill)
Carlo Rustichelli
DigitMovies

Terence Hill and Bud Spencer made several comedic spaghetti westerns together, including a series of Trinity movies. DigitMovies has released soundtracks for several Hill/Spencer buddy pictures, most recently Ace High (aka Have Gun Will Travel, '68). The film's sequel is Boot Hill (aka Trinity Rides Again, '69), for which DigitMovies also released a soundtrack CD. Both films co-starred Eli Wallach and Brock Peters or Woody Strode to complete band of four.

Unlike the Boot Hill release, Ace High is a two-CD package that features the original Cinevox album tracks as well as the film version of the orchestral score and source music and alternate takes. Master orchestrator Bruno Nicolai conducts the material on Ace High, but not on Boot Hill. In the process of collecting this diverse material DigitMovies rescued music thought lost.

Using chorus (I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni) and orchestra as well as solo instruments such as piano, organ and harmonica (Franco De Gemini), Nicolai lends Rustichelli's music rich textures that tap into the story's adventure, suspense and comedic elements. Like Boot Hill's score, the themes for Ace High sometimes display a bittersweet Italian sensibility backed with waltz-like cadence. At other times, the sound is much more in the traditional expansive western style that suggests big skies and windswept landscapes. Of the two scores Ace High has the stylistic advantage thanks to Nicolai's considerable experience conducting numerous spaghetti western scores for the master of the genre, Ennio Morricone.

* Notably, in Ace High Hill plays a character named Cat Stevens; the pop folk singer of the same name had debuted on record in '67)

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Bossa Galore: Lounge at Cinevox
Various Artists
Cinevox

As the title suggests, this soundtrack compilation collects bossa nova tracks from Italian flicks of the 60s and 70s. It's hard to beat the opening track, Ennio Morricone's main theme for Metti Una Sera a Cena; it's so elegant and sexy. Another standout is Piero Umiliani's catchy "Bob and Hellen", which has been remixed a number of times in recent years. From there, familiar names like Gianni Ferrio, Piero Piccioni and the De Angelis brothers pop up repeatedly. The origins for these Latin numbers are movies with titles like The Spank, The Naked Panther and Love Circle. If you like easy Latin grooves, you'll love this disc.

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Breakfast at Tiffany's
Henry Mancini
RCA

Bronco Bullfrog
Audience
RPM

The year was '69 and Audience was fairly new. Their sound mixes psychedelic rock with folk and R&B. Singer/guitarist Howard Werth, saxophonist Keith Gemmell, bassist Trevor Williams and percussionist Tony Connor keep things lively with several well-arranged, uptempo tunes that wouldn't sound out of place on an early Jethro Tull record. Werth sometimes sounds like a young Peter Gabriel, and other members contribute pleasing backup harmonies.

Despite the frequent use of dialogue, Bronco Bullfrog is well worth hearing.

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Brother on the Run
Johnny Pate
Perception

"Main Title" (MP3 edit)

Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi
Armando Trovajoli
GDM/Chris' Soundtrack Corner

Armando Travajoli's score for the earthy shanty town dramady Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi (aka Ugly, Dirty and Bad, '76) opens with one of his hummable, toe-tapping pop rock tunes that has turned up on various compilations over the years.

The theme serves a handful of mellow variations, including one with funky electric piano, flute, acoustic guitar and a bit of wah-wah guitar.

Another the breezy sexy "Racconto Televisivo," which features some sweet keyboard lines and a gentle samba rhythm.

The score also features a melody of sad, plaintive beauty played on piccolo, piano, oboe and harmonica.

On Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi — as on many of his scores — Trovajoli balances happy and sad moods with light touch and a gift for melody.

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"Witchiepoo's Lament"

"If You Become a Bugaloo"

Pufnstuf / The Bugaloos
Various Artists
El Records

Back in '69 and '70, Sid and Marty Krofft produced kid's shows that were truly products of high times. With a title like "Pufnstuf" what more proof do you need?

El Records' Pufnstuf CD is the soundtrack to the big screen spin-off of the hit TV show "H.R. Pufnstuf," and features a psych pop soundtrack by Charles Fox (music) and Norman Gimbel (lyrics). Psychedelic soundtrack fans will recognize Fox as one of the songwriters for Barbarella, and the musical style of that trippy flick is evident on Pufnstuf. Most of his work was for TV, including "Love American Style," "Happy Days," "The Love Boat" and many other shows. Gimbel frequently worked with Fox over the years.

The vibe on Pufnstuf is innocent and gentle, but often bursts forth with an sugar rush of excitement. In other words, the tunes tap into a childlike sensibility, but never at the sacrifice of musical interest. The purely musical passages (about half of the tracks are instrumentals) are complex enough to appeal to fans of psychedelic and progressive rock of the era, but they're a lot less heavy. By the same token, this isn't the '60s equivalent of "Tele-Tubbies" — it's a swirling kaleidoscopic journey of acid rock guitar stings, racing drums, baroque keyboard patterns and dramatic brass and winds.

Cast members Jack Wild (of Oliver! fame), Mama Cass, Billie Hayes and Martha Raye sing songs that exude psychedelic imagery and counterculture perspectives. Stand-out tracks include "A Friend in You," "Zap the World" and "Different."

Sid and Marty Krofft's small screen follow-up, The Bugaloos, was hailed as the British equivalent to "The Monkees." The show also features the work of Fox and Gimbel, and explores trippy fantasies about a fake band of "bugs" live in Tranquility Forest. El Records' accurately describes the songs as falling somewhere between The Archies and The Free Design. It isn't strongly psychedelic, but still has that period vibe.

Marty Krofft denies that drugs played a part in the creation of the show. Perhaps the cast and crew were riding a natural high. Listening to Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, you too may catch a carefree buzz.

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Buio Omega
Goblin
Cinevox

Bullitt
Lalo Schifrin
Aleph

At long last, the domestic reissue of Bullitt -- well, sort of. Lalo Schifrin's deservedly revered soundtrack for the influential 1968 Steve McQueen crime drama gets a makeover on this Aleph CD. And while purists will undoubtedly take offense at the idea, they can be reassured: Schifrin conducted the session, using the original arrangements.

The reason for the re-recording? Possibly a licensing issue or even one of sound quality. Now, if you're hoping to duplicate the original track list, you'll have some programming to do, but Schifrin has arguably improved on the original by grouping some of the strongest selections front and center. When you hear the "Main Title" followed by "Shifting Gears", then "Ice Pick Mike", you'll think you've died and gone to San Francisco (before it was overrun by dot.coms, that is).

The disc adds six tracks, three of which are alternate "movie versions" and three other movie cues, including "Just Coffee", "The Architect's Building" and a cool jazz guitar solo version of the "Bullitt". It's nicely packaged with movie stills and a thoughtful essay on Bullitt and the another San Francisco crime drama Schifrin scored Dirty Harry. Essential listening.

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"Burke's Law Theme"

Burke's Law
Herschel Burke Gilbert
Harkit

Amos Burke (actor Gene Barry) is a suave police chief who cruises in a Rolls Royce. Sound unlikely? Then, you haven't seen Burke's Law, the '63-'65 ABC series that features a classic jazz-lounge score by Herschel Burke Gilbert.

The disc opens with a female voice purring "It's Burke's Law," before Gilbert and his big band kick it like Billy May or Nelson Riddle.

On the lounge tracks like "4:30 a.m." and "Bridget" Gilbert lays down a silky smooth martinis by the hi-fi vibe. Soft focus strings cascade over wispy piano filigree and muted horns. Lovely stuff.

The best tracks — as usual — are the pulsating big band safe crackers where brass blares like sirens over stealthy piano patterns, underworld double bass runs and smash-and-grab drum work. "Meetin' at P.J.'s" and "Burke's Beat" have the spirit.

Best title goes to "Blues for a Dead Chick," which lives up to the name with some Ellington-esque blowing by some the talented horn section.

Overall, Burke's Law is a bit too sleepy at times, but a classy platter just the same.

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