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A mid 60s spy soundtrack by Luis Bacalov – and a mighty one it is! OSS-77 Operazione Fior Di Loto has sequences ranging from a heavy, dramatic sweep, to strings & keys-spun tension, loungey jazz, eerie organ, bits of bossa and beyond – in other words, a pitch perfect and full scale Euro espionage adventure soundtrack! Fine, fine work from soundtrack master Bacalov! Include the opening and closing themes, with 20 sequences on the title "Oss-77 Operazione Fior Di Loto" in between.

A dark little western soundtrack from Luis Bacalov – one that's quite brooding overall, despite a rather catchy vocal tune on the title! There's some very odd instrumentation here – watery piano lines, floating bits of guitar, off-tuned strings – all used at different intervals, and in different ways – without as strongly of a unified feel as other albums of this nature. But it's those shifting sounds that make the record great – always creating an unsettling sort of mood, and one that's almost always in the darker, starker side of the spectrum. CD features a whopping 37 tracks in all – including 2 vocal renditions of the "Django" theme by Rocky Roberts, and 2 more by Roberto Fia – plus loads of instrumentals from the film!

An Italian film set in the US – also released under the title Black Is Beautiful, with some sweet funky sounds to match! Half the record's got the usual bag from Luiz Bacalov – numbers that echo his Italian soundtrack roots, especially the comedic side – but these cuts are mixed with sharper, funkier numbers that clearly represent some of the American scenes of action – all scored nicely in a way that's not exactly blacksploitation funk, but which has some of the best Italian sound library grooves in place! The set features 24 tracks from the film – and also features some sweet harmonica lines from Franco De Gemini!

A wild soundtrack from Nico Fidenco! It's a spy score for the mid 60s film Agente Logan Mission Ypotron – in which Luis Davila plays a superspy with groovy night vision glasses, trying to save the world from a deadly weapon called the Ypotron – and the mod garage guitar grooves are a fine foil! The opening and closing tune "Ypotron" is beat style number with English lyrics composed by Fidenco and performed by The Sorrows – and the instrumentals in between often carry on that mad groovy pulp flavor – with more sparer, more tension based modes, trippy bits of organ and others with a bit of sultry Spanish flair. Other titles include "The World Of Lemmy Logan", "Unnerving Waiting", "Brainwasth", "Love's Guitar", "Manhunt", "Romantic Moment", "Exotica", "Final Confrontation", "Deadly Challenge" and more. 19 tracks in all.

A trio of groovy soundtracks from Giovanni Fusco! First up is Violenza Segreta – one of those cool early 60s Italian scores that uses a fair bit of jazz, and brings in some other groovy touches too – especially in the way the instruments are recorded, often with some light echo touches that make for some very cool sounds! La Corruzione follows in a slightly similar vein, but has a bit more of a badass vibe too – more horror touches, and a mix of groovy moments with darker sounds – often served up by some sweet electric guitar! Last up is I Sovversivi – a score that has a really vibrant, dynamic sort of approach – often a bit subdued, but still with this range that really stands out – in ways that have the instruments speaking volumes with just a small amount of effort! The package is great – a whopping 27 tracks in all – with great sound, and some rare unreleased tracks too.

A more elegantly-composed soundtrack than you might expect from a film titled Nude Odyssey – and one that's actually quite dramatic to start – and gets more playful as it goes along! We know nothing of the film, but Angelo Lavagnino's music for 1961's Odissea Nuda begins with lush, subtle strings, and progresses with with kind of a tropical island-inspired style. Really solid work from maestro Lavagnino! This great GDM CD edition includes the 7 tracks from the original 45 RPM EP – plus a wealth of alternate sequences from the film – with more than 70 minutes of music! 29 tracks in all.

A lost treasure from the legendary Ennio Morricone – a soundtrack written for a crime film starring Charles Bronson & Telly Savalas, and handled with all the spare subtlety of his best work! Bruno Nicolai's directing the orchestra on this one – and isolated instruments include electric harpsichord and woodwinds that drift along nicely in the tunes – mixed with some harder arrangements on a few of the album's more driving cuts. Morricone strikes a great balance here – occasionally hitting sweet notes, but then often falling into these dark depths that perfectly fit the bleak world of the film. Tracks include the lovely slow groover "Riassunto", plus the tracks "Rito Finale", "Svolta Definitiva", "Dolcemente Acre", "Norme Con Ironie", "Citta Violenta", and "Mille Volte Un Grido". CD a whopping 21 tracks in all!

A spooky early score from Ennio Morricone – recorded in the mid 60s, but with some of the best dark touches of his 70s work! I Pugni In Tasca has a very spare sound – weird wordless vocals on the main title track, then really moody music that almost lies beyond the frontiers of hearing at some points – stepping slowly out of the darkness with muted horns, weird-tuned keyboards, and other instrumental elements that are hard to pick out, and which really keep things at an unsettling level throughout. Titles include "Subdolo", "Stranissimi Giochi", "Chiuso Nel Bagno", "I Pugni In Tasca", and "Non E Un Dramma". The CD also features 2 tracks from La Cina E Vicina – "Ninna Nanna 1968" and "La Cina E Vicina" – both dark orchestral tunes that really fit the feel of the rest of the work on the collection!

A great Morricone soundtrack for a Jean-Paul Belmondo thriller – a score that starts out spare and brooding, then builds nicely as things move on – with lots of cool bottom-end sounds that make the whole thing really move up from the depths! Some tunes echo the sweeter side of Morricone, while others are a bit more brooding – and instrumentation includes some of the same offbeat piano you'd hear in The Burglars, plus light guitar, weird-tuned horns, and other nice bits that are sometimes abstracted beyond recognition! Titles include "Paura Sulla Citta", "Avvertire La Polizia", "La Scorta", "Le Tellier E Helen", and "Maichini". A tremendous package – with 22 tracks in all, and almost 75 minutes of music!

One of Ennio Morricone's first groundbreaking scores for the western – a brilliant batch of tunes composed for The Big Gundown, handled in a way that mixed the typical western guitar-based themes with some of the maestro's other compulsions – like wordless vocals and isolated instrumentation amidst lush orchestral backdrops! There's barely any "spaghetti" on the plate of this one – as the sound is often quite lean and very clean – a real change from some of the more dramatic, romantic styles that were being used in American westerns. Titles include "La Corrida", "La Vedova", "La Resa Dei Conti", "Dopo La Condanna", "Rune Man Run", "Primo Deserta", "Corri Uomo Corri" and many more. 25 tracks on this great CD editon from GDM/

A very dark little score by Ennio Morricone – written for an obscure 1969 period film that starred Marlon Brando (and a very disheveled Brando at that!) – filled with cool tunes that mix the Morricone western mode with some haunting elements that almost have a spiritual approach! Many numbers have these moody, airy notes floating through – on organ on some of the best cuts – and even the overall orchestrations tend to hang in the air, but with a lightness that's often different than the usual drama you'd find in such a score. CD features 31 tracks in all – with some vocals by I Cantori Moderni – on titles that include "Qaueimada", "Abolicao", "Jose Dolores", "Verso Il Futuro", and "Preparazione".

Quite different than the usual soundtrack reissue of work from Ennio Morricone – in that the album actually features two long compositions – each from a different movie! The set begins with the beautiful "Requiem Per Un Destino" – a large suite for orchestra and chorus penned for the 1966 film Un Uomo A Meta – and done in a way that's very slow-building and dramatic – sounds that start out on the edges of darkness, then only increase their tension as the music moves on! Next is "Venuta Dal Mare", from the film Ecce Homo I Sopravvissuti – a really cool work for a small combo that features vibes, flute, harp, and percussion – plus wonderfully moody vocals from Edda Ell'Orso! Each track is quite long – and together, they offer up even more moving Morricone music than usual.

The never-issued soundtrack to this obscure early 60s exotic action thriller – scored by Carlo Rustichelli with some very dramatic modes! The style here is similar to other "blood n sandals" films of the time – full orchestrations at points, with Hollywood modes in place – but often mixes with some great exotic elements that include wordless vocals, unusual reed elements, and some cool percussion – all used in ways that create a cool combo between a standard soundtrack and a late 50s exotica album! The CD features 21 tracks brought together here for the first time as a full album – plus 15 more bonus tracks to round out the whole set.

We don't know if this music actually "started" the Italian Lounge scene – because Italy's always been pretty darn loungey to us – but we can say that the package is a great batch of groovy soundtrack tunes, as sparkling musically as the cover is visually! The set pulls together 15 tracks from obscure 60s and 70s soundtracks – featuring work from some of Italy's hipper composers, and focusing on tunes of theirs with an upbeat, bouncy, mod 60s kind of approach! Titles include "Beirut Shake" by Luis Bacalov, "Love War Call" by Piero Piccioni, "Big Doll Shake" by Luis Bacalov, "Inchiesta (new edit)" by Bertio Pisano, "Party Mood" by Armando Trovajoli, and "Seven Times Seven" by The Casuals.

Fuzzed-out groovy 60s tunes – very mod, hip, and out of this world! These tasty little gems are pulled from obscure Italian soundtracks – very nicely collected in this fab package, with an ear-popping sound that includes great work on organ, guitars, electric harpsichord, and other instrumentation just right for coming up with a Blow Up party mood! Titles include "Discoteque Party" by Piero Umiliani, "Franco Nero Shake (new edit)" by Fred Bongusto, "Catherine Spaak Shake (new edit)" by Armando Trovajoli, "Easy Dreamer" by Piero Piccioni, "I Baronetti" by Alessandro Alessandroni, "Gaby Shake" by Nico Fidenco, and "Black Sheep Shake" by Luis Bacalov.

An overlooked treasure – and easily one of the most compelling soundtracks we've ever heard from Lallo Gori! Gori's a composer we know best for space or western scores, but this time around he does a fantastic job with a thriller – mixing together a range of groovy tracks that move between slow funk, to haunting melodies, to a few quicker numbers that almost feel like "chase" tracks from American soundtracks of the time – all handled with instrumentation that's upfront, but very offbeat – never atonal or too weird, but really compelling as well! The CD features 17 instrumental tracks from the film, plus the nice psych tune "Sunday In Neon Light" – all with beautiful remastering!

A trio of soundtracks from Piero Piccioni – all done for films directed by Francesco Rosi! First up is a great batch of tracks from Le Mani Sulla Citta – an early 60s film handled by Piccioni in a mix of jazz and some of the groovier touches he'd bring to his late 60s scores – really changing things up nicely between some piano-led groovers, organ numbers, and a few other tunes that use this really great echoey electric bass – quite sinister, but really propulsive too! There's 17 tracks from the film on the CD – way more than the original 45 rpm release. Salvatore Giuliano is represented by a 14 minute suite of tracks – very dark music that builds slowly from a brooding bassline, with lots of deep tones! Il Caso Mattei is featured on another long track – one that runs for almost 20 minutes, and which has some cool electronic effects in the mix – creating an almost pulse-like feel at points!

A groovy early score from Armando Trovajoli – and one that's definitely got a number of tracks in the mod side of his spectrum! The main theme and a few other numbers use plenty of guitar – romping in a style that echoes some London modes of the mid 60s, but with a definite Trovajoli twist! Yet others bring in more jazz – and echo Armando's roots in that style – shown with a bit more flourish than his earlier records, yet a style that's also different than his soundtrack work in years to come. The set features piano from Trovajoli himself, and a bit of harmonica from Franco De Gemini – and vocals are by Michele on the title track, and by I Cantori Moderni on a few others. CD features 23 tracks in all – including "Se Permette Parliamo Di Donne", "Lo Stracciarolo", "Un Amore Difficile", and "Il Carcerato".

Fuzzed-out groovy 60s tunes – very mod, hip, and out of this world! These tasty little gems are pulled from obscure Italian soundtracks – very nicely collected in this fab package, with an ear-popping sound that includes great work on organ, guitars, electric harpsichord, and other instrumentation just right for coming up with a Blow Up party mood! Titles include "Discoteque Party" by Piero Umiliani, "Franco Nero Shake (new edit)" by Fred Bongusto, "Catherine Spaak Shake (new edit)" by Armando Trovajoli, "Easy Dreamer" by Piero Piccioni, "I Baronetti" by Alessandro Alessandroni, "Gaby Shake" by Nico Fidenco, and "Black Sheep Shake" by Luis Bacalov.

Early darkness from Ennio Morricone – an obscure mid 60s action thriller that combines boldly driving numbers with other tunes that slip into some of the spareness of his work for westerns! The work here is as mod and cool as you might guess from the cover – a bit more in a conventional 60s soundtrack mode, but still touches with great inflections on the woodwinds, and undercut by plenty of great lines on electric bass, guitar, and organ – all used sparingly but really effectively against the larger orchestrations! Tracks are often short, but really evocative – given a nice punch by Bruno Nicolai, who conducted the orchestra for the recording. A few tunes feature vocals by I Cantori Moderni – and titles include "Una Stanza Vuota", "Un Uomo Solo", "Colpo Alla Gioielleria", "La Prima Vittima", "Sul Lago Di Lugano", and "Una Tromba A Dallas". This fab reissue is filled with bonus tracks too – a total of 26 numbers in all!

2 of the grooviest soundtracks ever recorded by this Italian genius! For the score to the mod 60s film Il Profeta, Trovajoli adds in some great elements like twanging guitars, trippy sitar, and hammond organ – all of which groove along in kind of a "go go" mode on the set's best numbers, laying out a vision of swinging Italy that really makes us wish we were there! Titles include "Il Profeta", "Abbiamo Capito", and "Topo Di Campagna", all done in a number of versions, making for a total of 16 cuts in all! La Matriarca is even better – built around one lovely little melody, similar to Francis Lai's legendary A Man & A Woman soundtrack! The tune is totally compelling, and is played in a variety of speeds and settings – on organ, electric harpsichord, and piano – all with jaunty little rhythms, and a slightly bossa, slightly Frenchy sound to it. Really wonderful, and the kind of ditty you'll be humming for weeks after you listen to it! There's 9 tracks in all – including "Bossa Nova Remix", "Piano Solo", "Slow Take", "Main Titles", and "Dream Version". 25 cuts in all – with both soundtracks on the CD!

A wonderfully diverse Italian soundtrack from the 60s – penned for a film about action in the Mediterranean, but filled with way more than you'd expect! Some tunes are bright and sunny – with a playful feel rooted in bossa – but others have more of a spy/crime jazz vibe overall – and still others go farther out into more jazz-based modes – including one number billed as "free jazz" with some great horn interplay! There's cool organ lines, sweet vibes, great percussion, and lots more to love – on tracks that include "Bira Shake", "Sangue Sul Fondo Del Mare", "Quica Mambo", "Panfilo", "Bossa Girotondo", "Night Slow", "Mare Delle Baleari", and "Alla Maniera Del Free Jazz". CD features 10 more bonus tracks too!

A later score from Ennio Morricone, but done for a lower-budget film than most of his other productions from around this time – which almost seems to have the maestro returning to some of his best crime styles of the 70s! Instrumentation is slightly more modern – a different touch on the keyboards, or production of the other live instruments – but the sense of pacing and phrasing is all Morricone all the way through, and things especially warm up as the album gets going. Titles include "Diapositive Compromettenti", "Il Vecchio Principe", "Dimenticare Palero", "I Gelsomini", and "Ritornare A Palermo".

A lovely later score from Ennio Morricone – done for a lesser-known TV film, but with a sense of majesty and greatness that really rivals his classics! Edda Dell'Orso gets plenty of chance to sing here – in those moody, wordless styles she does so well – and the set also features great solo work from Oscar Valdambrini – who blows smooth flugelhorn lines that arch out beautifully over the larger orchestrations – which themselves have that gently-stepping way of folding the strings together that only Morricone can do this well! A gem throughout – with tracks that include "The Endless Game", "Anif", "The Game Goes On", "Sylvia's Game", "Just A Game", and "Summer Solitude".

A sexy little soundtrack from Piero Piccioni – penned for an early 80s film, but done with a slinky style that's pure Euro 70s all the way! Keyboards mix nicely with strings on many tracks – almost in a way that Piccioni seems to borrow from American soul maestros of the previous decade – but there's also some more Italian-styled touches too – including some later bossa inflections that really round out the sound of the record in a wonderful way. And a few especially nice gems have this sense of space that almost makes the music float in the air – recalling the sounds that first made us fall in love with the 60s music of Piccioni. Most solo piano is by Piero, and Toquinho plays guitar on one track – and titles include "Anche Se Sai", "Notte Preziosa", "Occhio Discreto", "Volo Di Mezzanotte", "Bona Nox", and "Ritmo Macumbeiro". CD features 11 bonus tracks too!

Great western scoring from Carlo Rustichelli – right on the money with just about every tune here in this overlooked gem from the 60s! The set begins with the driving instrumental "I Must Go" – galloping out of the gate with a fast rhythm that really gets the whole record going – before things then move into some great shorter tunes that seem to change flavor with each new twist and turn. There's a great scene-setting quality to these tracks – and Rustichelli shifts the instrumentation a lot, and hardly ever repeats a similar theme. CD features 15 core tracks – plus 9 more mono tracks, and another 6 stereo tracks too!

A really cool collection of work by Nino Rota – and one that stands as a great complement to his famous soundtracks and film scores! The music here is mostly vocal – sung by a host of different Italian singers, and recorded early on in Rota's career – at a time when his talents weren't turned as strongly towards cinematic ends. And yet, there's also that lush, deep feeling that you'd get in Rota's later work for Fellini – especially some of the more powerful melodies that come forth in the 50s films, particularly some of the vocal moments. The collection's a fascinating look at these early days – and titles include "Treno Popolare" by Crivel, "Gelsomina" by Nilla Pizzi, "Maggie" by Bruno Rosettani, "Il Vero Amoire" by Silvana Pampanini, "Larillira" by Sergio Bruni, "In Vacanza Al Mare" by Franco Bolignari, and "Valzer Di Natascia" by Jula De Palma. 20 tracks in all!

A great mix of glam grooves and electronics – served up with almost the same sort of gothy undercurrent you see in the title! Gina X is probably a singer more rooted in the disco/downtown modes of artists like Christina or The Waitresses – and this record definitely would have been right at home on Z Records. But some tracks also percolate with more of a Euro/electro vibe that seems to skirt punk attitude without ever picking up its aesthetics – that cool late 70s German way of dabbling in so many genres at once, yet never pledging full allegiance to any! Titles include "No GDM", "Nice Mover", "Be A Boy", "Exhibitionism", "Tropical Comic Strip", and "Black Sheep".

A great mix of glam grooves and electronics – served up with almost the same sort of gothy undercurrent you see in the title! Gina X is probably a singer more rooted in the disco/downtown modes of artists like Christina or The Waitresses – and this record definitely would have been right at home on Z Records. But some tracks also percolate with more of a Euro/electro vibe that seems to skirt punk attitude without ever picking up its aesthetics – that cool late 70s German way of dabbling in so many genres at once, yet never pledging full allegiance to any! Titles include "No GDM", "Nice Mover", "Be A Boy", "Exhibitionism", "Tropical Comic Strip", and "Black Sheep".

A beautiful tribute to one of our favorite soundtrack composers ever – maestro Armando Trovajoli, one of the greatest talents of the Italian scene of the 60s and 70s! This beautiful package is as lovely as some of Trovajoli's best music for films – a full-color, hardcover book that's filled with classic movie posters, images from films, and writing on Armando's music in both Italian and English, plus listings of all his film soundtrack work in chronological order. Plus, the package comes with a bonus CD – featuring Trovajoli film music from soundtracks issued by CAM and GDM – a whopping 17 tracks in all, which makes for beautiful background music while reading the book!

The stellar remix version of DJ Shadow's early 00s masterpiece Private Press – made for the Japanese market and never released in the US – featuring remixes, b-sides and more – with mixes or appearances by Unkle, Roots Manuva, Mos Def, Z Trip and others! 14 tracks in all: "Six Days (Soulwax mix)", "GDMFSOB" (Unkle Undcensored) feat Roots Manuva, "Walkie Talkie" (extended radio edit), "Six Days" (rmx) feat Mos Def, "Mashin On The Motorway" (radio edit), "Right Thing" (Z-Trip 'Get The Party Off Mix' In Three Parts) and more. CD is enhanced, featuring videos for "Walkie Talkie" and "Six Days".