Canto Morricone Songbook
VOLUME 1: THE SIXTIES
BCD 16244-AH
Ennio Morricone has attracted a broad range of fans who run the gamut from the lucky thousands who collect recorded soundtracks to those select few who comprehend the full sweep of 20th Century popular music. The composer's discography, containing mostly works for the cinema, is indeed rich. With this series we have probed deep into his important contributions as a songwriter, and in the process we now make available to the public many lost recordings which fully represent this lesser-known, yet vital, aspect of the composer's genius.
Morricone actually started his career in the '60s as an arranger and composer for Italian pop singers. It is appropriate to think of the '60s as a creative "Golden Age" for the studios of RCA Italy. Adventurous orchestrations and rhythmic variety, which remain audacious even by today's standards, have permanently bestowed those years with a legendary status. It was during this heady period for Italian musicians and performers that Morricone, the world-class film composer, forcefully demonstrated his own unique and incomparable sense of melody and instrumentation as a songwriter.
Canto Morricone starts with the determinedly upbeat Ho Messo Gli Occhi Su Di Te, from the film MENAGE ALL'ITALIANA. The seminal rock song, almost violently performed by Dino Bardotti, had its lyrics especially written by Italian film star Ugo Tognazzi for his director Franco Indovina. Later there is the tender and sublime In Fondo Agli Occhi Miei from the same movie. Here Morricone encouraged the famous soprano Anna Moffo to perform in, what was for her, the unfamiliar style of the popular romantic ballad. This result of Moffo and Morricone united must be one of the most lovely songs ever recorded.
Among Morricone's more vigorous compositions is the aptly titled Thrilling from the obscure film of the same name. Performed by a surprisingly young (in her late teens) Rita Monico, this concentrated slice of '60s pop-idiosyncrasy demonstrates Morricone's status as a prime arbiter of that decade's musical persona - Thrilling could have easily functioned as a sexy
and exhilarating James Bond anthem. The piece seems to indicate that, if he had wanted to, Morricone could have fully ingested and absorbed the "Barry" sound. The song was later used in one scene of the 1968 Mario Bava cult-classic DIABOLIC. From this wild "super-anti-hero" film comes a very rare and bizarre track, Deep Deep Down by Christy. The theme is still ahead of its time 30 years later!
Se Telefonando (If You Should Call), by the Grand Diva of Italian pop, Mina, was an enormous hit in the '60s. It is quite probably the most effective and perfectly structured power ballad Mina ever recorded. Morricone's deft employment of a chorus throughout much of the piece is nothing less than breathtaking. An epic and sophisticated song of failed love, Se Telefonando is, in its every aspect, a classic example of Morricone's exquisite abilities as a composer/arranger - a flawless work which shall forever have the power to pull any listener into its orbit. Along with Mina's original version we also offer the seldom-heard French rendition by Francoise Hardy. Another early success for Mina was Il Disco Rotto - a sweet indulgence to all lovers of Mina and Morricone.
Gino Paoli, although not well known outside of Italy, is one of that nation's most venerated song writers. It so happens that the piece which first brought him to the public's attention, Sapore Di Sale, was co-composed and arranged by Ennio Morricone.
One of the first major hits for Milva, a truly superb Italian vocalist, was the Spanish folk-flavored Quattro Vestiti, a heartfelt poem which tells the story of a simple woman and her only four dresses, from a humble wedding gown to her death robe.
Fruscio Di Fogile Verdi, sung by Trio Junior (presumably an impromptu name given to an otherwise anonymous group of session musicians), was written by Morricone for Pasolini's TEOREMA. About halfway through Fruscio Di Fogile Verdi you will notice that there is present the sound of a rushing wind, as would occur during the onset of a storm. This is an artificial sound produced electronically. Morricone, forever the innovator, was the first composer in Italy to make use of a device known as the Korg synthesizer. Morricone has used natural and mechanical sound effects in other film work: a locomotive (MOSCA ADDIO); a clock (MY NAME IS NOBODY); and gunshots, cracking whips, church bells and rifles being cocked, all integrated into his scores for various Italian Westerns.
The well made gangster movie SVEGLIATI E UCCIDI (WAKE AND KILL) was based on the true story of a young man who specialized in bold daylight robberies of Italian jewelry stores. Morricone's score for the film, comprised of orchestral jazz/rock fusions, is a precisely cut gem, and a precursor to his 1970 urban/noir masterwork VIOLENT CITY. The film's hard-edged theme song, performed by the always desirable Lisa Gastoni and titled Una Stanza Vuota, is both erotic and threatening. Pay close attention to the piano and the guitar, as Morricone uses them they almost seem to become voices alternate to Gastoni's, and as such they add to the song's sexually unsettling emotional timbre.
French actress Catherine Spaak recorded Penso a Te and Questi Vent'Anni Miei, both based on two very pleasing and melodic instrumentals from the "mondo" documentary I MALAMONDO. The mondo films (usually graced with wonderful scores from Italian composers) were sensationalistic and exploitative collections of "live action" film footage from around the world. The gimmick was only good for about two dozen films (out of Italy), the series died but some of the music has stood the test of time. Also from I MALAMONDO comes Funny World, the English version of Questi Vent'Anni Miei, sung by Ken Coleman. Brazilian superstar Astrud Gilberto, the true "girl from Ipanema", recorded a successful, very different version, which was last seen on her long out of print album THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE.
Popular singer/songwriter Luigi Tenco, who tragically ended his own life after his appearance at the 1967 San Remo music festival, performed two songs from LA CUCCAGNA. Each of these pieces, Tra Tanta Gente and Quello Che Conta, were unfairly ignored compositions which we will now all have the opportunity to appreciate.
The Sandpipers recorded a very rare English language "easy listening" vocal of the extremely popular theme from METTI UNA SERA A CENA (LOVE CIRCLE). The track is one of the last, and best, of the Morricone main titles themes from the '60s.
Italian folk-hero Fausto Cigliano sang the quiet Cantata Basilisca from Lina Wertmuller's 1963 film I BASILISCHI (THE LIZARDS). Six years later Mauro Bolognini directed UN BELLISSIMO NOVEMBRE, an intimate film which flirted with the taboo of incest. The movie featured another fragile, beautiful Morricone composition by Cigliano, Nuddu.
Respected Neapolitan singer and actress Miranda Martino recorded various albums, between '59 and '65, under the musical supervision of Ennio Morricone. The LP'S NAPOLI and NAPOLI II were recorded as homages to her hometown. From the second volume we present Scetate (written by Russi-Costa), an interpretation rendered eerie and mystical via Morricone's highly inventive and impressionistic arrangement. Contributing greatly to the ethereal nature of Scetate are the background voicings of Edda Dell'Orso, a profound artist in her own right, and a frequent collaborator with Morricone.
JOHN BENDER, CLAUDIO FUIANO, STEFAN RAMBOW
Pittsburgh/Rome/Munich, 1998
On to Volume Two
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