VV.AA.: Polizziotteschi Graffiti (GDM Music, 2005)

Let's make another step in the world of Italian soundtracks of the 70s. As I wrote in a previous post, this is one of the most experimental territories ever explored by Italian musicians, and one of the most varied too. A stunning trait of the genre - but rather obvious, indeed - is its "easy listening" element: though daring, often electronic, or dissonant, or fostering composite rhythms, the tracks always have a strong cynematic flow which makes them immediate and thrilling.
Most of the tracks feature exciting jazz/funk jams, impulsive and lucid, combined with captivating keyboard themes. The deep "semantic" nature of the music relies on the intuitions of composers such as Ennio Morricone, and on a series of cliché associations: horns and action, staccato figures and suspence... These standard solutions are always reworked and recombinated to form a very broad spectrum of inventions, ranging from the Moroder-like pace of "Delitto al ristorante cinese" to the uber-groovy basslines of "Nucleo antirapina".

"Poliziotteschi graffiti" is one of the many compilations recently devoted to the genre. Despite the cover, I think it's one of the best. I will post some more in the future, if you like.

Tracklist:

1. Stelvio Cipriani - Mark il poliziotto (Mark il poliziotto, 1975)
2. Luis Bacalov - The Summertime Killer (Ricatto alla Mala, 1972)
3. Armando Trovajoli - Blazing Magnum (Una Magnum Speciale per Tony Saitta, 1976)
4. Detto Mariano - Delitto al ristorante cinese (Delitto al ristorante cinese, 1981)
5. Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Goodbye My Friend (Il cittadino si ribella, 1974)
6. Bixio, Fabio Frizzi, Vince Tempera - Nucleo antirapina (Operazione Kappa: Sparate a vista, 1977)
7. Franco Micalizzi - Delitto sull'autostrada (Delitto sull'autostrada, 1982) 
8. Goblin - Trumpet's Flight (Squadra antigangsters, 1979) 
9. Franco Micalizzi - Special Cop (Italia a mano armata, 1976)
10. Luis Bacalov - La polizia è al servizio del cittadino? (new edit) (La polizia è al servizio del cittadino?, 1973)
11. Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - The Life of a Policeman (La polizia incrimina, la legge assolve, 1973) 
12. Stelvio Cipriani - La polizia sta a guardare (La polizia sta a guardare, 1973)
13. Goblin - La via della droga (La via della droga, 1977)
14. Franco Campanino - Napoli si ribella (Napoli si ribella, 1977)
15. Franco Micalizzi - Special Agents (Napoli violenta, 1976)
16. Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Car Chase at Margellina (Piedone lo sbirro, 1973)
17. Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - New Special Squad (Roma violenta, 1975)
18. Luis Bacalov - Montreal Non Stop (L'ultima chance, 1975)

Download (192 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog:
Calibro 35: s/t (Cinedelic/Self, 2008)
Ennio Morricone: Crime and Dissonance (Ipecac, 2005)

Calibro 35: s/t (Cinedelic/Self, 2008)

"Poliziotteschi" of the 70s are among the most appreciated Italian movies abroad. Longly dismissed as "trash", they've been promoted recently to near-masterpieces. Their soundtracks were probably the first to be reconsidered: the international stardom of Ennio Morricone and Quentin Tarantino's B-movie fetishism surely contributed to the process.
Calibro 35 tries to revieve some of the key pieces of the genre with a more "rock" spirit. Where the original tracks featured extended instrumentations and privileged groove and atmosphere over impulse, their updated versions have a more aggressive sound and a more compact sonic palette. The edginess of the compositions remains the same though, and is still impressive.
A well-conceived and respectful tribute to the less pretentious and less ingenuous - but most daring - form of progressive which ever came from Italy.

Calibro 35 are a supergroup formed by Enrico Gabrielli, Fabio Rondanini, Luca Cavina, Massimo Martellotta, Tommaso Colliva, well-credited collaborators of Mariposa, Afterhours, Transgender, Mauro Pagani and many more. They're united by the passion for obscure Italian movie themes and excellent instrumental skills.
Their second LP, "Ritornano quelli di Calibro 35", is out now.

Tracklist:

1. Italia a mano armata, dal film “Italia A Mano Armata” (F. Micalizzi)
2. Summertime Killer, dal film “Ricatto alla Mala” (L. Bacalov)
3. Notte in Bovisa (M. Martellotta, E. Gabrielli, F.  Rondanini, L. Cavina , T. Colliva)
4. Titoli, dal film “Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto” (E. Morricone)
5. Milano Calibro 9 (Bouchet Funk), dal film “Milano Calibro 9” (L. Bacalov)
6. Trafelato, dal film “Giornata Nera per l’Ariete” (E. Morricone)
7. Una stanza vuota, dal film “Svegliati e Uccidi” (E. Morricone)
8. La mala ordina, dal film “ La Mala Ordina” (A. Trovajoli)
9. La polizia s’incazza (M. Martellotta, E. Gabrielli, F. Rondanini, L. Cavina , T. Colliva)
10. Preludio dal film “Milano Calibro 9” (L. Bacalov)
11. Gangster Story, dal film “La Polizia incrimina, La Legge Assolve” (G. & M. DeAngelis)
12. Spiralys, soundlibrary (D. Casa)
13. Shake Balera, dal film “La Ragazza Con La Pistola” (P. De Luca, V. Tommaso)

Download (192 kbps)


Similar albums on the blog:
Braen's Machine: Temi ritmici e dinamici (Liuto LRS, 1973)
Ennio Morricone: Crime and Dissonance (Ipecac, 2005) 

Fiorenzo Carpi: Le avventure di Pinocchio (CAM, 1972)

While the passion for dusty fanfares, village two-steps and barrel organs surely connects "Le avventure di Pinocchio" to the style of Nino Rota and Nicola Piovani, the music here sounds more homely, pure and stripped-down. Most of the eighteen tracks reduce the instruments to the bare necessity, getting to a rural and sprightly style which surprisingly reminds of Yann Tiersen's work for "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain".
The themes are airy, elegant and memorable. The slow carillon in "Fata turchina", the coupled piano-harpsicord motif of "Birichinata" or the magic, slightly psychedelic mood of "Trasformazione di Pinocchio e Lucignolo", the askance tango "Il Gatto e la Volpe": just a few of the excellent episodes giving the LP its old-fashioned countryside charm.

Fiorenzo Carpi was a Milanese composer, active since the late Fourties in the field of theater music and - later - soundtrack music. "Le avventure di Pinocchio" is a selection from his score for the celebrated 1971 TV serial by Luigi Comencini.


Tracklist:

1. Pinocchio: viaggio in groppa al tonno
2. Geppetto: in allegria
3. In cerca di cibo
4. Fata Turchina
5. Pinocchio: birichinata
6. Geppetto: con malinconia
7. Trasformazione di Pinocchio e Lucignolo
8. Il Gatto e la Volpe
9. Pinocchio: la tempesta
10. Geppetto
11. Pinocchio: nascita di un burattino
12. Fata Turchina: sonatina
13. In cerca di cibo
14. Geppetto: il litigio
15. Geppetto: sogni nell'Orto dei Miracoli
16. Lucignolo
17. In cerca di cibo: nel paese delle api industriose
18. Geppetto: partenza per le lontane Americhe

Download (~160 kbps) [re-up]

Piero Milesi: The Nuclear Observatory of Mr. Nanof (Cuneiform, 1986)

Milanese composer Piero Milesi is probably best known for his work as the arranger of Fabrizio De André albums "Le nuvole" and "Anime salve". He is in fact one of the most prominent Italian artists in the field of electronic minimalism.
After having studied cello, he graduated in experimental and electronic composition in Milan conservatory. Then he joined the Gruppo Folk Internazionale entourage and got a degree in architecture with a thesis on the relations between space and sound.

"The Nuclear Observatory of Mr. Nanof" is his first work to be published by the quintessential American avant-prog label Cuneiform Records. It's the soundtrack of the homonym experimental film directed by Paolo Rosa and produced by Studio Azzurro. The film was a surreal exploration of an enormous graffiti engraved on the outside wall of Volterra mental hospital by resident Oreste Fernando Nannetti - a self-proclaimed "Astronautic Mineral Engineer of the Mental System" who referenced to himself as NANOF11 when talking about the author of the graffiti.
Milesi's music is extremely evocative. Though very repetitive, it subtly breaks the typical staticity of minimalist compositions. Thanks to a cautius use of the melodic element, it shows a mild linear evolution, while the soggy synth sounds give the music an autumnal, moisty mood. Circularity and fluctuation are not the key sensations created by the music, which rather arouses a sense of stagnation, claustrophobic idleness.


Tracklist:

1. Mr. Nanof's Tango
2. Tom Thumb
3. Between the Scale and the Apple
4. Scene of the Madmen
5. Waiting for the Fete
6. My Dad Had Two Mommies and Two Daddies
7. Graffiti
8. Towards the Tree in front of the House
9. The Procession
10. Three Figurations: The Braid, the Rhombus, the Star
11. The Presence of the City
12. Pantelleria
    
13. Questa non è la mia voce
14. Writing on the Glass
15. In the Car with Mr. Felsen
16. Let Ninusk Be
17. Waterfall

Download (160 kbps)

Goblin: The Goblin Collection, 1975-1989 (DRG, 1995)

Roman prog-rock quartet Goblin is mainly known as the band who scored Dario Argento's most celebrated horror films: "Profondo Rosso" and "Suspiria". Their haunting, repetition-based style, often driven by crystalline keyboards, roaring basslines and rampant jazz-fusion drumming is a staple of soundtrack music.

This is a very good collection which gives an idea of the many allures Goblin experimented for different films throughout their long career. Many of their soundtracks are nothing less than masterpieces, but I think it's better to start with a catalogue of their variety and use it to select the specific works that seem to be more interesting for one's personal taste.


Tracklist:

1. Profondo Rosso (Main Title)
2. Death Dies - M 32 (original film version)
3. Profondo Rosso - M 15
4. Profondo Rosso - M 31
5. Wampyr (finale)
6. Chi? - Part 1
7. Chi? - Part 2
8. Patrick - M 32 bis
9. Patrick - M 1
10. Patrick - M 34/34 Bis/35
    
11. Suspiria (Main Title)
12. La Via Della Droga - M 1 IV
    
13. La Via Della Droga - M 2
14. La Via Della Droga - M 6
15. La Via Della Droga - 31
16. L'Alba dei Morti Viventi
    
17. Buio Omega - M6
18. Buio Omega - M25
19. Buio Omega (Main Title)
    
20. St. Helen (Love Theme)
    
21. Contamination - M 3
    
22. Contamination - M 8
    
23. Tenebre (Main Title)
24. Bass Theme (from Notturno)
    
25. Phenomena - M 12
    
26. Phenomena - M 15 (Alternate version)
27. La Chiesa

Download:
Part 1 | Part 2