A wonderful package – with four great soundtracks by frequent Morricone partner Bruno
Nicolai – all for very offbeat films from the legendary director Jess Franco! First up is Eugenie De Sade 70 – a sublime soundtrack by Bruno
Nicolai, penned for a legendary Jess Franco erotic thriller! Despite the darkness of the film, there's a light and playful feel to the music – with many cuts that drift along on wings of melody – recalling some of our favorite Mondo Morricone themes from the time, and really elevating the status of
Nicolai in our book! Instrumentation is both by larger string groupings and smaller instrumental combos – and the score's overflowing with dreamy
bossa-styled numbers that also have some of the trippier touches that you might know from Franco's Vampyros Lesbos film. Next is Una Vergine Tra I Morti Viventi – a rare Bruno
Nicolai score penned for an early 70s film by Jess Franco – and easily one of the darkest soundtracks that Franco ever used! There's a few slinky erotic bits going on here, but much of the music is off-kilter and eerie – cast in modes that draw from the more atonal side of the Morricone spectrum, but which also feature some unusual use of electronic effects by
Nicolai himself! There's one redeemingly sweet number here sung by Edda Dell'Orso – in a floating,
bossa-rhythmed style that recalls her greatness with Morricone – but most other numbers are quite dark, increasingly so as the soundtrack goes on! Next up is the sexy score for 99 Donne – an obscure Jess Franco film about 99 female prisoners, locked behind bars and alone with their passions! Given the setting, Bruno
Nicolai's soundtrack is actually incredibly free of kitsch – and instead blends together driving upbeat numbers with some mellower, moodier tunes – often presented with full orchestrations that bring in notes of sadness and sentiment. That's not saying that the whole thing's not groovy – as Bruno includes some nice jazzy touches on the album, which are unusual for his work – and the leadoff track also features some really great English language vocals from Audrey Stainton! The collection closes out with music from the film Les Cauchemars Naissent La Nuit – one of the darkest Bruno
Nicolai soundtracks we've ever heard – penned for an equally dark film directed by Jess Franco! The style here is a bit more tense than the usual light melodies we'd expect from the
Nicolai/
Franco team – still somewhat spacious, but with very tentative notes at times – and often tuned weirdly so that the music is filled with odd sounds, although never as atonal as in some of the very dark Italian scores of the 70s. Offbeat piano lines figure strongly in some tracks – with an almost John Cage-like feel – and titles include "Amori", "Cocktail", "Tra Sogno E Vita", "Climax", "Tempio", "Giostra", "Infrarosso", and "Verde Selvaggio".