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REVIEW ARCHIVES: 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

"Titoli"

Kapo
Carlo Rustichelli
DigitMovies

DigitMovies is on a mission: To celebrate the work of Carlo Rustichelli, an Italian composer of relatively limited fame outside of his home country. With at least 250 scores to his credit, the late composer was active in film from the late '30s through the late '90s. He favored a symphonic sound but generally avoided bombast when scoring genres ranging from westerns to suspense to sword and sandal.

One of his most dramatic scores belongs to Gillo Pontecorvo's realistic holocaust drama Kapo ('59). The style is orchestral with sad, solemn moods countered with lean tense passages featuring strings, brass and percussion as well as source cues (marches, radio music). Harpsichord, which figures in the film's plot, is prominently used throughout the score. Overall, it's fairly bleak in light of the subject matter, but Rustichelli shows great finesse, avoids excessive sentiment and still stirs the emotions.

The complete score is accompanied by several alternate versions and outtakes, a session suite and four tracks as they originally appeared on an RCA E.P.

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"Kelly's Heroes (Album Version)"

Kelly's Heroes
Lalo Schifrin
Film Score Monthly

When it comes to wolfish Vietnam-era war movies masquerading in the sheep's clothing of an earlier, more "honorable war," Robert Altman's M*A*S*H remains the ultimate example. However, Kelly's Heroes, with its subversively ironic comic caper storyline and nonconformist characters, also follows suit.

Contributing to Kelly's Heroes postmodernish sensibility is Lalo Schifrin's rangy score, which includes militaristic funk pop, country western, folk, breezy vocal pop and a spaghetti western pastiche.

Although Kelly's Heroes isn't likely to rank among Schifrin's most popular soundtracks, it possesses many of the qualities one looks for in a late '60s/early '70s Schifrin score: pulse-pounding rhythms, rumbling electric bass lines, lean mean orchestral passages, memorable melodies, a bit of rock'n'roll spirit and a breakbeat or two.

Kelly's Heroes definitely has its highs and lows, though. The infectious main theme, with its "River Kwai" whistling and funky militaristic drumming, is well used. And the Morricone-inspired "Quick Draw Kelly," with its ringing bells, lonesome harmonica, acoustic guitar strumming and rattling percussion, captures the satirical nature of the movie's "gunslinger" show down. Elsewhere, the use of country western balladry (courtesy of Hank Williams Jr.) and breezy '60s pop chorus (courtesy the Mike Curb Congregation) seems too anachronistic for its own good. The disruption of mood may have some soundtrack fans reaching for the remote.

Film Score Monthly's well annotated Kelly's Heroes CD includes Schifrin's original score as well as original album versions of several tracks and a previously unreleased bonus track.

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Kill!
Berto Pisano & Jaques Chaumont
Avanz

"Terrificanti Apparizioni"

"La Bambola di Vetro"

"Scoperta del Laboratorio"

Klaus Kinski Horror Trilogy: La Morte Ha Sorriso All' Assassino / La Mano Che Nutre La Morte / Le Amanti Del Mostro
Berto Pisano / Stafano Liberati & Elio Maestosi
DigitMovies

Klaus Kinski. Demented film actor. Werner Herzog's "best fiend." Sex obsessed auto-biographer. Father of Nastassja. What's not to love? Everyone's favorite German cult movie star (male division) made his fair share of horror movies, and this two-disc set from DigitMovies accounts for three of them: La Morte Ha Sorriso All' Assassino (aka Death Smiled at Murder, '73), La Mano Che Nutre La Morte (aka The Hand that Feeds the Dead, '74) and Le Amanti Del Mostro (aka Love of the Monster, '74).

Berto Pisano's score for Aristide Massaccesi's (aka Joe D'Amato's) La Morte... on disc one opens with rattling percussion, electric guitar stings and eerie electronics. It's an effective way to start a horror movie, but there's more to this score than creepy atmospherics. Featuring strings, harpsichord, muted brass, lightly plucked acoustic guitar and the lovely voice of Edda dell'Orso, Pisano's theme for the film is romantic and sad. The use of harpsichord befits the film's Victorian setting. Elsewhere, Pisano creates a mysterious, macabre atmosphere through the dissonant overlapping of fragmented melodic lines. La Morte... isn't immediately gratifying as a listening experience — there aren't any big hook melodies — but it quite successfully captures the creepy decay of gothic horror.

Liberati and Maestosi's scores for Yilmaz Duru and Sergio Garrone's La Mano... and Garrone's Le Amanti... are appropriately paired on disc two, because the films were shot at the same time, with the same cast and crew at the same locations. Like La Morte... the music, which favors strings, harp, woodwinds and muted brass, befits the gothic horror genre. The compositions are refined and delicate, evoking bouquets of shriveled flowers in gloomy parlors where dust hangs in the air like death. Perhaps not surprisingly, the scores for La Mano... and Le Amanti... are nearly indistinguishable, and even share cues, such as "La Bambola di Vetro" and "Il Diario."

Whether or not these three scores satisfy every Kinski fan's ideal of a "Klaus Kinski Horror Trilogy" is hard to say. But one thing is certain: these scores are stylistically consistent and effective at transporting listeners into the macabre realm of tragic romance that has taken a turn for the terrible. In its own way, it's a fitting tribute to an actor who possessed the screen with every fiber of his being, even when the productions proved unworthy of his tremendous talent.

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"Bree's Abandon"

Klute
Michael Small
Harkit

Donald Sutherland is John Klute, a private dick on a case, but Jane Fonda as street-savvy hooker Bree, is the Oscar-winning star of Alan Pakula's post-noir thriller.

For soundtrack collectors, however, Klute is an ultra rare soundtrack that has only appeared as an unofficial LP release. Featuring a score by the late Michael Small (The China Syndrome, Marathon Man, etc.) Klute is finally on CD courtesy of Harkit.

Beat heads will love the psychedelic funk of "Bree's Abandon (Take It Higher)" and "Club Scene," but Klute also boasts some eerie, disturbing cinematic moods.

The spine-tingling main title ("The Tape") blends exotic percussion (water chimes?) with piano to create a spooky mood of mystery — like something from Komeda's Rosemary's Baby. It segues beautifully into the hypnotic "Rooftop Intruder," which sounds like something from a Morricone or Nicolai giallo soundtrack (complete with a wordless female vocal).

Perhaps the more impressive track is "Goldfarb's Fantasy." With its mysterious Eastern European flavor (cimbalom!), it is reminiscent of John Barry's Ipcress File or Henry Mancini's Arabesque.

"Checking Leads" is another cool track. With its deep bass and spacy funk, it wouldn't sound out of place on a Roy Budd soundtrack.

Other highlights include "The Watcher," "Bree Flees John" and "Waiting in the Loft," which reprise the abstract main theme.

"Righteous" is a soulful midtempo showcase for piano and electric guitar.

At 37 minutes, Klute leaves one wanting more, but the quality of the music is undeniable. It's a memorable addition to any soundtrack collection.

There have been some rumblings online by collectors that Film Score Monthly plans an "official" release and that the Harkit edition should be avoided for fear of it being an bootleg LP transfer. Although some of Harkit's early releases (Bedazzled comes to mind) had admittedly less than stellar sound quality, Klute sounds crisp and clean.

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The Knack ...and How to Get It
John Barry
Ryko/MGM

John Barry was riding a wave of soundtrack success (Thunderball, The Ipcress File, Zulu) when he was commissioned to score this sex comedy set in mod London, directed by Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night). At the time, Barry personified mod London, tooling about in his e-type Jaguar with future starlet pop singer Jane Birkin. For the score, Barry adopted the "stringbeat" sound he'd developed with his pre-movie beat group The John Barry Seven (which has been exhaustively documented in a three disc series The EMI Years). Juxtaposing Adam Haven's Hammond B-3 with snappy rhythms and a light orchestral backing, Barry delivered what has become one of the true classics in 60s soundtracks. With its vamping brass, plucked string counterpoint and insistant rhythms, this swanky score is unmistakeably Barry. Like other Ryko/MGM reissues, this one is beautifully packaged with insightful liner notes. And, the disc contains dialogue tracks and the theatrical trailer, playable on your computer.

Kosmos
Karl Ernst-Sasse & Gunther Fischer, et al
Cinesoundz/All Score Media

Subtitled "Soundtracks of Eastern Germany's Adventures in Space," Kosmos collects music and dialogues from several "Sputnik" soundtracks. This collection comes from the label that brought us the excellent Barry Lipman score for the British-German sci-fi TV show Star Maidens and Wigwam, the German "American Western" soundtrack series, among others.

Thanks to the excellent liner notes (in German and English), we learn that East Germany produced a number of sci-fi adventure movies in the vein of Star Maidens, Space Patrol and Star Trek during the 60s and 70s. The common thread in these movies (some of which are available on video and DVD via Icestorm) is an adherence to socialist philosophy (apparently in the future all nations are socialist).

Although there are a number of German-language dialogue bits scattered throughout the 33 tracks, most of Kosmos is music. Stylistically, it ranges from Peter Thomas-esque action swing full of brass and swagger... to tinkling easy listening... to experimental electronics... to funky grooves featuring flanged-out guitar, throbbing bass, and analog synth sounds... to moody and grandiose orchestral sections (with moments that sound like John Barry Bond music). A couple of pop vocal tracks appear as well, but the real star throughout the disc is the moog and/or synth.

Kosmos truly offers a wide spectrum of sounds. Recommended to adventurous listeners.

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"Seq. 1"

Kriminal
Roberto Pregadio and Romano Mussolini
Beat

The Italians love their comic book anti-heros. Diabolik, Satanik and Kriminal are among the most famous, and each has been translated to film. Ennio Morricone's music for Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik has made it to CD despite no original LP release. The same is true of the other two, but lo and behold Beat has reissued Manuel Parada's score for Satanik as well as Roberto Pregadio and Romano Mussolini's music for Umberto Lenzi's Kriminal.

Recorded in '66, Kriminal boasts a cool danceable swingin' beat theme — heard in two instrumental versions. There are other similarly styled tracks, featuring chugging rhythm guitar and bass with organ or horns and crisp drumming. Other jazzy tracks offer intrigue, sex appeal and action, occasionally taking a lush lounge approach. Some of the intrigue numbers sound a little like John Barry's music for Thunderball, which was released a year earlier. All of the tracks are titled by sequence number and are presented in that order.

Is Kriminal essential listening? If you're a fan of mid '60s noirish crime jazz scores you're in luck, because this is a good one. If you prefer something more electrifying or orchestral, look elsewhere. The liner notes feature plenty of movie stills and notes in Italian and English.

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Kriminal Filmmusik
Peter Thomas
Prudence

Peter Thomas' contribution to the b-grade German thriller is effectively explored on this compilation. Racing rhythms, sensual horns, pulsing organ riffs are all on display for films with titles like The Squeaker and The Strange Countess, all of which were based on Edgar Wallace mysteries (which makes this disc a good companion to Crippled Dick Hot Wax's compilation of Gert Wilden thriller scores I Told You Not to Cry). Thomas penchant for unusual arrangements, with jarring juxtapositions always makes for interesting listening. The packaging includes many film stills and liner notes about Thomas and the productions.

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