Smile on Your Brother

One of the goofier "hip" counterculture films from Europe, Cometogether (1971) was the first and only directorial effort for oily action star Tony Anthony, who appeared in Blindman the same year and went on to infamy by kicking off the '80s 3-D craze with Comin' at Ya! and Treasure of the Four Crowns. In this film (produced by Ringo Starr!), he appears as a smarmy tourist who hooks up with two hot, groovy chicks (Thunderball's Luciana Paluzzi and Eurosleaze regular Rosemary Dexter) for a swinging time in Italy during the summer. If you find this one, don't miss the priceless "shock" ending that tries to ape Easy Rider but will most likely have you on the floor in hysterics. The catchy, pop-inspired score by Stelvio Cipriani (who was also kicking off his relationship with Mario Bava around the same time) is a lot of fun and comes sprinkled with covers of a few hit songs from the time, with enough versions of "Love Is Blue" (both instrumental and vocal) to put you off that tune for life. Don't miss the choice and (unintentionally?) hilarious dialogue passages, too.

The Mighty Pino

It's hard to believe Cannon Films managed to theatrically release this jawdropping 1983 version of Hercules, an Italian production from Luigi Cozzi featuring Lou Ferrigno, Brad Harris, Gianni Garko, lots of fighting tinker toys in the sky, and the always spectacular Sybil Danning, whose revealing outfits push the PG rating about as far as it can go. However, the rousing score by Pino Donaggio is pretty great, with a stirring main theme and some truly beautiful passages (especially the awesome "Baby Hercules") that rank among his finest.

[link removed - score now commercially available]

Summer Dreams

And now back to Mr. Carlo Savina again for some more Italian library goodness, this time with a catchy 1979 collection called Summer Dreams. This limited LP contains several tracks he wrote for films and TV shows during that decade, including the first release of his theme for Mario Bava's Lisa and the Devil (here entitled "Theme for You").

Music Scene

Here's another obscure, super-rare Italian library collection, this time courtesy of sword-and-sandal composer Franco Ferrara. It's a bit of a grab bag of styles and moods, as the cover obviously indicates, ranging from scary to peppy. Heck, it's got a track called "Giallo in Oriente," so how can you go wrong?

Music Scene
1. Mattino Nel Bosco
2. In Modo Pastorale
3. Danza Arcaica
4. Idillo Verde
5. La Conquista
6. Presgio Di Nubi
7. Dopo La Paura
8. Crescendo Ansioso
9. Fiesta Grande
10. Chita-Habanera
11. Paura Nella Casbah
12. Siesta Sueno
13. Fiaba Bolero
14. A Passo Doppio
15. Giallo In Oriente
16. Mare Hawajano

Music from the Vaults

Here's one that should please all you library music junkies out there. Though not as well-known as the legendary British lines like KPM, Italy kept many of its composers busy churning out lots of all-purpose compositions ranging from the lyrical to the downright creepy. Here's a fun demo set dating from the early '70s by Carlo Savina, a versatile composer best known in cult circles for his work on Lisa and the Devil and Terror in the Crypt. Watch for more Italian library titles this week!

Around the World on a Night Train

Same theme, two very different movies! In 1974, Raymond Peynet's whimsical book Il giro del mondo degli innamorati di Peynet (or "Peynet's Loves around the World") was adapted as a seldom-seen animated feature. Though the film runs less than an hour and a half, its soundtrack features a huge amount of music with full scores written by both Ennio Morricone and his frequent collaborator (and choir leader), Alessandro Alessandroni (the whistling guy on many Morricone spaghetti westerns). Morricone's pieces are numbered variations on "Forse Basta," with the first a particular standout. Its memorable vocal version, "A Flower's All You Need," is performed in the film by Egyptian-born crooner Demis Roussos, who's still a big international favorite. The score by Alessandroni (who did The Devil's Nightmare around the same time) is equally good, with the stunning "San Pietro" especially worthwhile.

Well, since nobody bothered to see the movie, Morricone was fond enough of the Roussos theme to use it again one year later when he was brought on board for Night Train Murders, a particularly savage and effective Italian riff on Last House on the Left by director Aldo Lado. This time the song plays out over the opening credits, with two ruffians mugging Santa Claus! The other two score cues are eerie stuff, with a harmonica used to particularly chilling effect.

Ennio Morricone
Night Train Murders
1. L'Ultimo Treno Della Notte
2. Coincidenze
3. A Flower's All You Need (Vocal: Demis Roussos)
Il giro del mondo degli innamorati di Peynet
4. Forse Basta 1
5. Forse Basta 2
6. Forse Basta 3
7. Forse Basta (Original Main Titles)
8. Forse Basta 4
9. Forse Basta 5
10. Forse Basta 6
11. Forse Basta 7
12. Forse Basta 8
13. Forse Basta 9
14. Forse Basta 10

Alessandro Alessandroni
Il giro del mondo degli innamorati di Peynet
1. Amore E Birra
2. Sirtaki Die Colonelli
3. I Pattinatori Di Bruegel
4. Invito A Corte
5. I Baronetti
6. Marinara
7. Fiori Gialli
8. Dal Tirolo Con Affetto
9. Deserto Di Elam
10. Serata Al Bolscioi
11. Tramonto Romano
12. Montmartre
13. Bethlem
14. Latino Americana
15. Venerd Santo A Siviglia
16. Chi Vuol Esser Lieto Sia
17. Made In USA
18. San Pietro
19. Piazza Rossa
20. Deserto Di Elam (Movie Version)
21. Sirtaki Dei Coloneli
22. Invito Al Corte (Alternate Version)
23. Bethlem (Alternate Version)
24. Fiori Gialli (alternate version)
25. Made in USA (alternate version - Spaghetti Western)
26. Made In USA (Alternate Version)
27. Made in USA (alternate version)
28. I Pattinatori Di Bruegel (Short Version)
29. Made in USA (alternate version) 2
30. I Baronetti (Alternate Version)

Cipriani in '78

One of the busiest Italian composers in the '70s, Stelvio Cipriani wound up on the map thanks to his catchy work on Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve and the above-average Love Story rip-off, The Anonymous Venetian. This LP I dug up at a little record shop in Rome compiles three standout scores from the busy year of 1978, none of which have seen the light of CD to date. Enfantasme is a rarely-seen Italian/French ghost story with a beautiful, haunting main theme that gets a solid workout through the whole score (and nope, before anyone asks, there is no "Enfantasme Two" on the soundtrack -- I have no idea why). Papaya dei Carabai is a particularly perverse Joe D'Amato sex/horror film (sometimes shown with hardcore-ish inserts) with a wonderfully ghoulish climax; it's the first part of his tropical-sex "Papaya" series that continued for the next year or two. Finally, Sono stato un agente C.I.A. (known to U.S. viewers as Covert Action) features a wild cast including Maurizio Merli, David Janssen, Arthur Kennedy, and Corinne Clery. The delirious funk-and-dance score is not to be missed.


New FLAC lossless Download:
Enfantasme
1. Enfantasme
2. Painful Memories
3. Nino
4. Mountain Cottage
5. Enfantasme Three
6. Enfantasme Four
7. Concluding
Papaya Dei Carabai
8. Papaya Island
9. Papaya Dream
10. Papaya Dream 2
11. Papaya Song
Sono Stato Un Agente CIA
12. Relax
13. Relax 2
14. Un Uomo Programmato
15. Agente CIA

Decadent De Masi

In 1977, Italian exploitation cinema was in the grip of numerous peculiar obsessions -- namely, nunsploitation and Nazisploitation, among others. One of the classier entries in the latter category was Mario Caiano's La Svastica nel ventre ("The Swastika in the Stomach"), the story of a Jewish girl (Sirpa Lane) and Aryan boy (Giancarlo Sisti) whose love affair is torn apart at the beginning of World War II. In some English-speaking markets it was called Living Nightmare, but of course more people know it under the more commerical but utterly ridiculous retitling of Nazi Love Camp 27. The melodic score is by the prolific Francesco De Masi, best known at the time for a number of spaghetti westerns; he later went on to groove his way into the hearts of horror fans everywhere with the immortal New York Ripper. The score was briefly released on vinyl in Italy paired up with De Masi's score for La battaglia d'Inghilterra (Eagles over London), which was later issued as an expanded CD while its less reputable album-mate fell by the wayside. The poster art (seen on the cover) was later reused many, many times for other Nazi-sex titles well into the 1980s.

Italian Blend

Here's a little project I've been tinkering with for a while, and it's a bit different than past posts. Given the huge amount of great film music never commerically released in any format, I decided to cut together a series of suites of some outstanding titles that deserved some notice; here the spotlight turns on some of the great (well, in most cases) Italian composers whose work has often never gotten the credit it deserves. Taken from a variety of sources (video, M&E tracks, or whatever's handy), these have been tweaked to sound as good as I can make 'em; hopefully you'll discover a few new gems in this three-part collection, entitled Italian Blend. Running times have also been included to give you an idea of how much music to expect. Any comments on this one would be especially welcome -- thoughts on any particular likes (or dislikes), composers you'd like to hear more, etc.

NEW LINKS:

Italian Blend: Vol. 1
1. The Witches (Piero Piccioni) (10:41)
2. Images In A Convent (Nico Fidenco) (9:04)
3. Baba Yaga (Piero Umiliani) (2:16)
4. A Virgin Among The Living Dead (Bruno Nicolai) (12:42)
5. Queens Of Evil (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino) (9:34)
6. Knife Of Ice (Marcello Giombini) (2:56)
7. Burial Ground (Elsio Macuso & Burt Rexon) (3:00)
8. Death Smiles At Murder (Berto Pisano) (7:02)
9. A Blade In The Dark (Guido & Maurizio De Angelis) (5:26)
10. Beast With A Gun (Umberto Saila) (4:15)
11. Plot Of Fear (Daniele Patucchi) (2:59)
12. The Great Alligator (Stelvio Cipriani) (4:11)
13. Do You Like Hitchcock? (Pino Donaggio) (3:26)

Italian Blend: Volume Two
1. Eugenie De Sade (Bruno Nicolai) (8:27)
2. Footprints (Nicola Piovani) (8:51)
3. 2019: After The Fall Of New York (Guido & Maurizio De Angelis) (3:55)
4. A Whisper In The Dark (Pino Donaggio) (13:41)
5. Yellow Emanuelle (Nico Fidenco) (8:30)
6. Waves Of Lust (Marcello Giombini) (2:05)
7. Orgasmo Nero (Stelvio Cipriani) (15:42)
8. Caligula: The Untold Story (Claudio Maria Cordio) (2:08)
9. Patrick Still Lives (Berto Pisano) (2:37)
10. The Man From Deep River (Daniele Patucchi) (5:35)
11. Zeder (Riz Ortolani) (1:30)
12. Body Count (Claudio Simonetti) (1:57)

Italian Blend: Volume Three
1. Suspected Death Of A Minor (Luciano Michellini) (8:30)
2. House On The Edge Of The Park (Riz Ortolani) (4:06)
3. Strip Nude For Your Killer (Berto Pisano) (6:04)
4. The Pyjama Girl Case (Riz Ortolani) (7:18)
5. Nightmares Come At Night (Bruno Nicolai) (9:35)
6. The Lickerish Quartet (Stelvio Cipriani) (11:45)
7. Porno Holocaust (Nico Fidenco) (22:13)
8. Porno Shop On 7th Street (Bruno Biriaco) (9:27)
9. The Big Racket (Guido & Maurizio De Angelis) (6:11)

Two Evil Cats

Meow! Here's a strange anomaly in film score history -- an Italian composer who scored the same horror story twice within a decade. It all started when Pino Donaggio (taking a break from his stampede of Brian De Palma films) was hired by the very busy Lucio Fulci in 1981 to score his "freely adapted" version of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Black Cat." Patrick Magee stars as a grizzled old coot who records ambient noises in graveyards and owns a malicious pussycat capable of instigating gory deaths in a small Scottish village. Enter nosy reporter Mimsy Farmer and detective David Warbeck, who try to put a stop to all the feline antics before they're next. It all ends with some impromptu masonry and a yowling kitty, of course. The string-heavy score is highlighted by a terrific main title theme that nicely evokes the Scottish setting and features some of Donaggio's strongest suspense work. Though it was never released, the complete score is presented here from the original recording sessions; sound quality is a bit erratic here and there, but hey, where else are you gonna hear it?

Fast forward to 1990, as Dawn of the Dead producer Dario Argento decided to reunite with George Romero for a two-part Poe anthology film, Two Evil Eyes. While most viewers agree that Romero's "The Facts in the Cast of M. Valdemar" is a sluggish mess, Argento's version of "The Black Cat" succeeds thanks to an avalanche of wild Poe references and a solid performance by Harvey Keitel. Not surprisingly, Donaggio's score is divided into two halves with the much stronger Argento segment coming first. Highlights include the main kid's choir theme ("Dreaming Dreams"), a spooky medieval piece ("Adust Sponsus"), and even a swirling cue inspired by Philip Glass ("The Gothic Town"). Argento must have been pleased with the results, as he used Donaggio again for Trauma and Do You Like Hitchcock? Incidentally, at least one other Italian composer has performed the same twice-in-a-decade feat with one horror story; can you name him?

'Tis Pity She's a Whore

'Tis pity indeed that one of Ennio Morricone's most powerful, heartbreaking scores has become so obscure. John Ford's scandalous, gory melodrama of incest and mass murder seemed a natural for the big screen in 1971, given the recent success of glossy Shakespeare films. However, the heavy doses of sex and violence didn't do much for audiences, despite the fact that the film is beautiful to watch thanks to underrated director Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (Metti, una sera a cena). Charlotte Rampling stars as Annabella, a noblewoman torn between a lustful relationship with her tortured brother (The Stud's Oliver Tobias) and a haughty suitor (Fabio Testi). Of course, it all ends badly with the bloodiest third act this side of Tenebrae. The music is pure romantic Morricone, with a haunting main theme ("Giovanni & Annabella") and a creepy, chanted finale ("Inter Mortuos Liber") that really packs a punch.

'Tis Pity She's a Whore1. Giovanni & Annabella
2. Wandering Brother
3. House Of Dreams
4. Au Fond Du Puits
5. Soranzo
6. Our Wonderful World
7. Love Me Or Kill Me, Sister
8. Tassilo
9. Inter Mortuos Liber (Dies Irae)

Girl Bombs Away!

Universally regarded as the worst film Mario Bava ever made, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs was the less-than-spectacular follow-up to Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine with Fabian stepping in for an absent Frankie Avalon and Vincent Price still running around trying to cause world chaos. As usual with Bava's AIP titles, the film was drastically altered for its American release and, in its final version, appears to have been edited in a blender. Designed as a vehicle for would-be comedians Franco and Ciccio, the Italian version isn't much better but at least boasts a more coherent storyline; however, its teeth-grating music score by Lallo Gori (featuring Franco performing "vocal" duties) makes AIP's decision to scrap the entire soundtrack quite understandable. Taken on its own terms, the American LP is a great "with-it" pop collection alternating songs with instrumentals by the "Mad Doctors" (though Les Baxter is credited with the score on the actual film). Oh yeah, and musical direction comes courtesy of Mike Curb (see The Big Bounce below). As a bonus, you'll also find a homemade 6-minute suite of music from the Italian version; don't expect to listen to it more than once, but at least you'll get an idea of how very different the film's two incarnations really are.

Yor's World

No fan of spectacularly deranged filmmaking can afford to miss Yor, the Hunter from the Future, a stupefying cable TV favorite from director Antonio Margheriti (Castle of Blood) about a buff, blond caveman who tangles with dinosaurs, aliens, and a cavegirl played by Story of O's Corinne Clery. Pretty difficult to see now, it's worth hunting for if you feel so inclined. Anyway, the feature was released in English by Columbia Pictures(!), drastically condensed from a four-hour Italian TV miniseries with a score by the fantastic Guido and Maurizio De Angelis-- who also gave you the insanely catchy Torso and Keoma and sing under the name "Oliver Onions." While their instrumental score is entertaining enough, it's the theme song, "Yor's World" (performed by - yep - Oliver Onions), that really claws its way into your brain, bursting from the soundtrack at wildly inopportune moments. Columbia decided their re-edit needed some extra music, so they brought on composer/library music maestro John Scott (before he hit the big time with Greystoke) to write some incidental cues here and there. Only 4 of his comparatively bland tracks made it to the soundtrack LP with the De Angelis Bros. still making up the majority (12 tracks), but the poor Italians still got shafted with an "Additional Music by..." credit on the front cover. Later an Australian CD was released, but it only contained Scott's music; so, to correct that oversight, we now proudly present the De Angelis-ized version of Yor, so sing along to your heart's content: "Lost in the world of past / In the echo of ancient dust / There is a man from future, a man of mystery..."

Apocalypse Tomorrow

Fantastically funky music from the 1980 Italian action/horror opus Apocalypse Domani (a.ka. Cannibal Apocalypse, Invasion of the Flesh Hunters, and about 10 other titles) by drive-in legend Antonio Margheriti. The movie follows a trio of Vietnam vets who terrorize the streets (and sewers) of Atlanta after suffering the delayed effects of a virus that drives its victims to take a bite out of other people. Though composer Alessandro Blonksteiner contribued five cues to Walter Rizzati's amazing score for House by the Cemetery, this remains his only full, solo film score; a pity, as it's lots of fun. From sweet and jazzy Morricone-inspired melodies ("Jane," "Impossible Love") to early '80s jazz/soul mash-ups ("Apocalypse," "Station Service"), the score is never boring and has a similar vibe to other Italian horror favorites from the same period. Nice use of bongos, too. Break out the munchies and enjoy...

Screaming Fishmen

In 1980, moviegoers turned out to see a horror film entitled Screamers with the can't-resist tagline, "Be warned: You will actually see a man turned inside out!" Bullpuckies. When New World realized they couldn't make any money with Sergio Martino's 1979 Barbara Bach/Joseph Cotten monster-fantasy, Island of the Fishmen (L'isola degli uomini pesce), they added some extra horror scenes featuring Mel Ferrer and Cameron Mitchell, then passed it off under its most famous title. The new scenes also featured additional music by Sandy Berman, but surprisingly enough, the original Italian score still made it out onto vinyl from Web Records (ST101), with liner notes by future drive-in filmmaker Jim Wynorski (of Chopping Mall fame). The score itself has an old-fashioned '60s Italian horror vibe courtesy of composer Luciano Michelini, who had already funked out with Gambling City and Secrets of a Call Girl. Despite the flood of Italian score releases on CD, this one has inexcplicably remained vaulted away. Happy listening!

[link removed - soundtrack now officially available]