One of 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 il 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 – just 13 brilliant tracks, including the main title theme, "Run, Man, Run", "The Bullfight", "After The Verdict", 'First Desert", "Cucillo Arrives" and "Normoni Choir". LP, Vinyl record album

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Quite possibly our favorite Ennio Morricone soundtrack ever – THE record that first made our ears prick up many years ago, and acknowledge him as the genius he truly is! The very first note of the record grabs you immediately – a heartbeat-like rhythm, pounding out very slowly before giving way to an off-tuned piano that steps and staggers into the groove. Other tracks follow in a majestic blend of strings, space, weird woodwinds, and even a few funky bits – all cast with a perfect blend of dark and sweet throughout! The sound is amazing – mindblowing at every twist and turn – and the range of themes here is a bit wider than other Morricone soundtracks from the period – making for even more excitement! Tracks include "The Burglars", "Love Theme", "Dangerous Curves", and "Erotico". LP, Vinyl record album

A later Ennio Morricone film score – one done around the turn of this century, and with a nicely understated vibe that marks most of the maestro's music from the previous decade! The score features solo piano and violin – the latter by a few different musicians – but almost always presented with that sense of spaciousness that makes Morricone so great – maybe graced more with the sentimentality of his final years, than some of the darker, atonal styles of the 70s. Titles include "Songs That My Mother Taught Me", "Corsa", "Avvolgente", "Elmetti Di Fuoco", "All'Aperto", "Golidari", and "Capriccio La Cacci". LP, Vinyl record album

Nice to know that we've lived past the year 2000 – and have managed to miss the holocaust that Kirk Douglas fought in this late 70s film! The movie's just the kind of overdone thriller that Kirk handled late in his career – but thankfully, the music from Ennio Morricone is much deeper overall – done in that brilliant blend of creepy styles that could make anything come together on the screen, even without any good special effects or dialogue! Some numbers have spooky, spare passages with earthy percussion and woodwinds, others have offbeat strings, some have some light electric elements – and overall, the music is nicely understated, always classy, and years ahead of some of the cheaper horror scoring of the time. Titles include "Holocaust", "Computer", "Slogan", "Jesus", "Il Bene Cattivo", "Serie Di Tre", "Strofa Monodica", and "Telefonata Interrotta". LP, Vinyl record album

Dark brilliance from Ennio Morricone – a great 70s thriller that mixes in some great extra elements with the music! Il Prefetto Di Ferro has a core sound that's very much in keeping with Morricone's approach to crime and cop films – a bit warmer and funkier at times than his horror scores, but also touched here with some slight Mediterranean moments on guitar or flute – little "Sicilian" touches to set the mood of the film, in a way that also creates some nicely exotic touches. The record features some vocals and guitar from Rosa Balestrieri – a new collaborator for Morricone – and titles include "La Mafia", "Omerta", "Canto Di Sicilia", "Siccita", "Morte Di Ferrarello", and "Una Rete Di Protezioni". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest soundtracks ever from the legendary Ennio Morricone – a real standard-setting record that's one of the top choices we go to again and again to illustrate the genius of his music! The score is a fantastic mix of the two best sides of Morricone's work – the kind of light, lilting melodies that are schooled in bossa, but turned loose on their own devices – and the darker, more atonal passages that would come to play more strongly during the 70s. The light wins over the darkness in most of the record – especially the tracks that feature the sublime wordless vocals of Edda Dell'Orso, which swell and fall with the movement of the strings and keyboards. The whole thing's wonderful – and titles include "Le Foto Proibite", "Nel Vuoto", "Intermezzino Pop", "Amor Come Dolore", and "Quelle Foto". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite soundtracks ever from the legendary Ennio Morricone – a sublime set that's a perfect summation of all his best jazz, bossa, and mod elements – served up in one sparkling set that's gotten countless play on our turntable over the years! The main theme is a classic – a haunting, drifting track that really illustrates Morricone's capacity for warmer elements – something that some folks forget, if they only know his horror music and more ambitious work. Other tunes follow with a similar vibe – each a fresh change, but still awash in sweet and dreamy sounds, but with this great undercurrent of groove as well. Titles include "Metti, Una Sera A Cena", "Sauna", "Nina", "Ric Happening", "Croce D'Amore", and "Terrazza Vuota". Also features the bonus track "Hurry To Me"! LP, Vinyl record album

A really beautiful collection of work from Ennio Morricone – one of the greatest soundtrack composers of all time, especially during the period covered in this set! The songs here are from a time when the maestro was effortlessly combining jazz, mod rhythms, rock instrumentation, and other stranger elements – all with a flawless sense of presentation and production that could make even familiar sounds come across in really different ways! The package definitely focuses on the groove promised in the title – but if you know Morricone at all, you'll know that that doesn't mean familiar funk, and instead hits some really mindblowing territory beyond description. Includes work from the films Com Impari Ad Amare Le Donna, Ruba Al Prossimo Tuo, Il Diavolo Nel Cervello, Spasmo, Ad Ogni Costo, Maddaelna, La Dona Invisible, Le Foto Proibite, and other Morricone classics! LP, Vinyl record album

A dreamy soundtrack for an obscure Rock Hudson film – one that sports some really wonderful music from Ennio Morricone! The music here is occasionally topped with groovy vocals – often sung wordlessly in a "la la la" sort of mode by I Cantori Moderni, and set to instrumentation that's sometimes soft, sometimes swinging – always in the best late 60s Italian mode. At times, there's a slightly more American 60s feel to the soundtrack than some of Morricone's other work – but in a really great way that makes for less dark corners, and brighter instrumental flourishes that really stand out. The main theme repeats often through the album – sometimes with a bit of guitar, sometimes keyboards – all very groovy! LP, Vinyl record album

A very groovy early soundtrack by Morricone! This one's earlier than many of the reissues we've been stocking – and it's got a groovy sound that's made even groovier by some fab vocal work by I Cantori Moderni, a hip vocalese group that's kind of the Italian version of The Swingle Singers. The group has sung more famously on soundtracks by Armando Trovajoli – but they sound pretty darn great on this one, grooving along wonderfully over some spy-like themes by Morricone – with lots of jazzy changes. The tracklist is structured differently than previous editions, and extends the previous vinyl versions by more than 10 minutes! Titles include "Slalom (Titoli)", "Sestriere", "Una Sera In Albergo", "Un Omicidio Misterioso", "Sperduto A El Cairo I", "Incontro Magico" (Parts I, II & III), "Passeggiata Nella Neve" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

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An amazing soundtrack from Ennio Morricone – deeply sophisticated sounds, originally done for a very schlocky movie! To be fair, the movie's quite compelling in its own way – a Sam Fuller film about a racist dog – but Morricone's score is something completely different entirely, a warmly melodic batch of music that easily rivals some of his best mellow classics of the Italian scene of the early 70s, as well as some of his more famous work of the decade to come. There's these sweet-stepping string passages that are very light, and blended with a haunting bit of piano or woodwind – occasionally set off by some darker, more atonal moments – but often going back to the warmth in ways you wouldn't expect from the story. Plus, there's this undercurrent of majesty that's really amazing – which really comes out strongly in this expanded Film Score presentation of the material – a whopping 34 tracks ina ll, with titles that include "Chasing Rabbit", "Walking Dog", "Dog's Escape", "Death Of A Dog/End Credits", "The Girl & Her Problems", "Cured Canine", and bonus cuts that include "Inside The Church", "After The Murder (alt)", and "Second Theme The Girl & The Dog". CD

A relatively dramatic score from Ennio Morricone– as you might guess from the military title! Some of the tunes here have a very strong military feel, but others move into surprisingly sweeter territory – that more mainstream side of Morricone's sound, but still pretty great – with full strings swelling up in lush sounds that are very compelling. There's also some subtly spooky sounds on a few of the numbers – the odd instrumental moments that Morricone could sneak in nicely on a score like this – conducted perfectly by orchestra director Bruno Nicolai. Titles include "Theme Of Ali", "Tortures", "Clandestine Marriage", "Battle Of Algiers March", "Sorrow In The Casbah", and "Algiers November 1 1954". LP, Vinyl record album

Director Quentin Tarantino has drawn plenty of inspiration from the music of Ennio Morricone over the years – either using short passages of older Morricone music in his films, or evoking the substance and style of the maestro in the way he uses sounds from other sources too! So it's only fitting that this time around, the pair are finally brought together fully – as Morricone turns out one of his best soundtracks in years for Tarantino's Hateful Eight – a brooding, suspenseful tale that owes plenty to the western generation that first sprung Morricone to global fame! Yet as with most of Ennio's best work, the style here is something that goes far beyond expectation – orchestrations that take on a style completely their own – with instrumental elements that have stronger focus amidst the larger charts, and a sense of mood and color here that's completely sublime. The record is mostly music from Morricone – written for the film – and features a few passages of dialogue from the movie, plus just a few additional tracks by The White Stripes, Roy Orbison, and David Hess. Yet it's more than fair to think of this as a complete score by Morricone – very different than the usual compilation-style soundtracks we've had before from Tarantino. LP, Vinyl record album

A mid 70s Italian cartoon, but one that features some great soundtrack work from Ennio Morricone and Alessandro Alessandroni – each of whom bring a slightly different feel to the set! Morricone composed the film's main love theme – "Forse Basta" – a beautiful number that has all the compressed, slow-stepping brilliance of some of the maestro's more familiar 70s numbers – somewhat sweet, but with a subtle undercurrent of sadness that's really great too. Alessandroni takes off from this mode with his other work on the set – staying sweet at points, but also really opening up into a range of more playful modes – sometimes funky or fuzzy, sometimes more romping, all in ways that nicely match the action in the cartoon. I Cantori Moderni sing on a few numbers that have a straighter, lyrical sound. 21 tracks in all – including "I Baronetti", "Latino Americana", "Made In USA", "Forse Basta", "Deserto Di Elam", and "Sirtaki Dei Colnnelli". LP, Vinyl record album

Wild work from Ennio Morricone – and not usually the kind of track you'd expect to find on a 7" single! "Il Buio" has all these fast-moving, really sinister violins at the start – almost raging like a swarm of angry hornets – before mellowing out about halfway through, and going for a more familiar Morricone mode! "La Luce" is just the opposite of its title – lots of dark organ lines on an echoey church instrument – very much the kind of theme you'd expect to hear for the Antichrist! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A dark and extremely avant garde soundtrack from the great Ennio Morricone – one that's done in collaboration with his own Gruppo Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza – an ensemble with roots in film scoring, but expressions that are more in the mode of 20th century avant! The music is a blend of free improvisation and more straight ahead jazz – with electric guitar, trumpet, violin, and percussion mixed with lots of weird effects and electronics – much more experimental than some of Morricone's more famous soundtracks of the time, and given a nice sense of direction from conductor Bruno Nicolai. The whole thing's incredibly spooky – one of the most turgid scores we've ever heard from the pen of Morricone – and the titles include "Sequita", "Evaporazione", "Dal Sogno E Ritorno", "Folle Folle", and "Notte E Misteri". LP, Vinyl record album

Director Quentin Tarantino has drawn plenty of inspiration from the music of Ennio Morricone over the years – either using short passages of older Morricone music in his films, or evoking the substance and style of the maestro in the way he uses sounds from other sources too! So it's only fitting that this time around, the pair are finally brought together fully – as Morricone turns out one of his best soundtracks in years for Tarantino's Hateful Eight – a brooding, suspenseful tale that owes plenty to the western generation that first sprung Morricone to global fame! Yet as with most of Ennio's best work, the style here is something that goes far beyond expectation – orchestrations that take on a style completely their own – with instrumental elements that have stronger focus amidst the larger charts, and a sense of mood and color here that's completely sublime. The record is mostly music from Morricone – written for the film – and features a few passages of dialogue from the movie, plus just a few additional tracks by The White Stripes, Roy Orbison, and David Hess. Yet it's more than fair to think of this as a complete score by Morricone – very different than the usual compilation-style soundtracks we've had before from Tarantino. LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful western score from Ennio Morricone – less typical than some of his classics, and with a really unique sort of sound! Many of the numbers here have a really low-rumbling quality – sounds that don't blast out with action or violence, but which emerge slowly from the lower end of the sound spectrum – almost at the point of silence at times, then rising up with a more sparkling sort of quality. Instrumentation changes a bit as the set goes on – and the best tunes are those in which the actual instruments are really hart to figure out more just sounds rumbling around than individual isolated elements we can recognize. LP features 20 tracks in all – including "Ivoluzione", "Tensione Sottintesa", "Disperata Nostaglia", "Seconda Concludsione", "Preannuncio", "Misterioso E Ostinato", and "Attimi Irripetibili". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic rare set from this excellent Italian guitarist – a set that has Franco out front of some light strings – in a setting that really lets him shine on his solos! Arrangements are by Ennio Morricone, Gianni Ferrio, Franco Pisano, and other hip talents. LP, Vinyl record album

A cool little soundtrack from Bruno Nicolai – penned for a French film instead of an Italian movie – and with a sound that's a bit different than usual! Nicolai makes nice use of some sweeter themes here – a hint of the modes you might find in Michel Legrand or Francis Lai in the 70s – which lightens things up a bit at the start, before some darker, moodier moments creep into the mix – underscoring the film with some more traditional Giallo elements – those tense, spine-tingling styles that Bruno developed with his frequent partner, Ennio Morricone. There's some isolated piano and guitar lines that have a stark, scraping sort of feel – used to great effect on some of the more upbeat numbers – and a few standout bits have electric bass kind of rumbling up from the bottom, which creates a nice sense of urgency. Titles include "La Verite", "Le Pouvoir", "Theme De Juliette", "Sans Espoir", "Concert A La Cour", "Tango Express", and "Tourbillon Final". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest soundtracks of the 60s – presented here in a massive package that brings forth a wealth of never-reissued music! Piero Piccioni really hit his stride for the music to this film that was directed by its star – the effervescent Alberto Sordi – a fantastic send-up on the London scene of the time, set to a range of modly romping tunes! Piccioni handled the main music – often with loads of great piano and organ lines – but there's also some great vocal moments too, sung by Lydia MacDonald, Julie Rogers, and even Sordi – and the record also features a few touches from I Cantori Moderni, and a bit of music from Ennio Morricone too. Titles include the wonderful "Mr Dante Fontana", a nutty groover about the mod fashion scene in London – and it also features the famous tracks "Richmond Bridge" and "You Never Told Me". Titles include a few versions of "Fontana" and "Richmond", plus "Ascot Dream", "Magic Castle", "Tango Walk", "Drag Beat", "This Is Life", "Palace Parade March", "Babylon, I'm Coming", and "His Dream Has Come True". 3CD set features the full original album in both mono and stereo – plus 71 bonus tracks from the film score! CD

A lovely little soundtrack from Lalo Schifrin – not as all-out funky as some of his other classics from the mid 70s, but pretty wonderful overall – and scored with a real sense of beauty throughout! The music was penned for a thriller that starred James Coburn and Robert Culp – with an obvious theme of hang-gliding in the action – and Schifrin's tunes have this beautifully airy feel, drifting along with the kind of light instrumentation you might expect from an Ennio Morricone soundtrack of the time! Things are never too minimal, but there's often just one instrument hanging out there in space – or a small cluster of sounds that form together slowly as they come together – a bit like that breathy space between the time a parachutist jumps out of the plane, and the point when they hit the ripcord. Titles include "Gliding", "Terrorists", "The Last Kite", "Flying Circus", "Copters & Gliders", and "Climbers". CD

Funky psychedelia and multicultural cosmic grooves – late 60s & early 70s discoveries collected and put together by a team of some of the deepest diggers of boundary busting pulpy material out there –the vital B-Music/Finders Keepers team! Here they've delivered one of our favorite B- compilations yet, really a mindblowing set of tunes. The sounds are far flung and from all over the world – but they share a common trait in that no matter how far out a tune might be, they all have a furious core groove. Wild cinematic soundtrack bits, spacey early prog, freaky folk, buzzing guitar jams, spiraling keyboard and hard driving funk tunes of all kinds – obscure stuff from Turkey, China, France, Europe, Japan, Poland, and the wilds of the UK & US scenes – amazing stuff all around! Nearly half of these nuggets were selected by B- resident geniuses Andy Votel and Dom Thomas, and the others chosen by influential guest DJ, producers & tastemakers including David Holmes, Lee Janda, Cherrystones, Chris McBride & others. 21 tracks in all: "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" by The Melodians, "Be Quite" (sic) by Jean Jacques Dexter, "Green Mountain, Jade Valley" by Cheung Kam Chun, "Arkham" by Spectre, "Bebek" by Sevil & Ayla, "Caballo Salvaje" by Unidades, "Fire" by Pegasus, "South Indian Line" by Jan Jankeje, "Guerra E Pace, Pollo E Brace" by Ennio Morricone, and more, plus the bonus track "Mera Mehbob Hai" by Nahid Akhtar. CD

Nice compilation of covers & original pieces from Ennio Morricone, Jazztronik featuring Yadoranka, John Williams, Davy Spillane with Sinead O Connor, Stephane Grappelli & Hisashi Furusawa, Keiko Lee, Joshua Bell, Charlotte Church & more. CD

The soundtrack for Volume 2 of Tarantino's splatter revenge epic shapes up just as well as the first – with several cuts by Ennio Morricone (the film's pace is largely modeled after Italian spaghetti westerns, and the soundtrack naturally follows suit) plus Luis Bacalov, Johnny Cash, Malcolm McLaren, Charlie Feathers and others, plus dialogue bits by Uma Thurman and David Carradine, and incidental bits and pieces by RZA! Tracks include "Goodnight Moon" by Shivaree, "Il Tramonto", "L'Arena" and "A Silhouette Of Doom" by Ennio Morricone, "A Satisfied Mind" by Johnny Cash, "Summertime Killer" by Luis Bacalov, "About Her" by Malcolm McLaren, "Malaguena Salerosa" by Chingon and more. CD

The vaults of horror here are open pretty darn wide – so much so that they run a span from the initial years of Italian giallo films, all the way through some of the more electric slasher and shock films of the 80s! As with the first film, the package goes way past the obvious – and instead does a great job of pulling together tracks that really show the full scope of Italian horror – from atonal orchestrations through more small group electronics – with plenty of bits of rock-influenced modes along the way! The set features 20 tracks in all, wrapped up in a wonderfully vivid cover – and titles include "You Are Not The Same" by Fabio Frizzi, "Il Paese Del Sesso Selvaggio" by Sergio Patucchi, "Ecologia Del Delitto" by Stelvio Cipriani, "Make Love On The Wing" by Nico Fidenco, "Savana" by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, "Conquest" by Claudio Simonetti, "Valley" by Bill Wyman, "Sudden Death" by Carlo Maria Cordio, "Satanik Seq 7" by Roberto Pregadio, "La Lucertola" by Ennio Morricone, "John Dalton Street" by Guliano Sorgini, "Opera Theme" by Bill Wyman & Terry Taylor, "Lady Frankenstein Seq 1" by Alessandro Alessandroni, and "Arizona Mountain" by Francesco De Masi. LP, Vinyl record album

There's few groups who could ever hope to wrap together influences from Stax Records, Ennio Morricone, and Curtis Mayfield – and whole the whole thing could ever turn out well – but the mighty Babe Ruth do exactly that, and still find time for some of their own unique grooves as well! The group are every bit as groovy here as on their previous records – mixing fuzzy guitars, well-crafted rhythms, and a nicely compressed version of prog into an amazingly fresh sound that still delights all these many years later – thanks to well-crafted vocals from Jenny Haan, and sharp arrangements from Alan Shacklock, whose guitars and sense of wit really keeps the whole thing moving nicely. Shacklock penned most of the original tunes here – like "Dancer", "Somebody's Nobody", "Jack O'Lantern", and "The Dutchess Of Orleans" – and the group also turn in nice remakes of "Fistful Of Dollars", "We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue", and "Private Number". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best records ever from the Gruppo D'Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza – an obscure side project of Ennio Morricone and other Italian composers – working here in a freaky, psychedelic setting! The album mixes sonic experiments with fuzzy guitars, freaky keyboards, and some surprisingly funky rhythms at times – at a level that's even more compelling than some of the group's other projects – especially given that the album's three tracks are all quite long, with lots of room for instrumental experimentation! Yet as in some of the best prog work of the period – such as by Can or Faust – there's a sense of focus and groove that really holds the whole thing together. And given that these guys had already had years of experience in the studio – on both sides of the production booth – they really have a wonderful ear for extremely inventive sounds. Titles include "Kumalo", "The Feed-Back", and "Quasars". LP, Vinyl record album

The great title track to one of the best scores from Italian maestro Stelvio Cipriani – a tune that bursts out with funky drums that kick into soaring orchestrations, topped by this wicked female vocal from Olympia – whose singing style is as vibrant as the instrumentation! Edda Dell'Orso sings on "Sophisticated Shake" on the flipside – but in that weird breathy style that she used with Ennio Morricone – more voice as sound than as lyrics, next to a hip-stepping bass and cool echoey piano! 7-inch, Vinyl record

This Godfather's got a mighty long arm – and a mighty groovy sound, too – one that includes some great leaping rhythms bubbling up with basslines, and plenty of fantastic vocals from both Edda Ell'Orso and I Cantori Modern! Edda sings in that wordless breezy style she brought to some of her best Ennio Morricone soundtracks – and I Cantori Modern often scat along in a cool harmony-drenched style that's pretty wonderful too – and instrumentation includes a bit of light flute, sweet Hammond, and fuzzy guitar – in a very nice blend that only gets stronger on the mostly instrumental tracks that dominate the second half of the record! Titles include "Raffica", "Fuga In La Minore", "Sabina", "Streap", and "Porto Cammelli". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing lost album from the legendary Gruppo D'Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza – a sextet of Italian modernists that included Ennio Morricone! The album may well be the group's grooviest ever – recorded right after their legendary Feed-back set, and done with a similar blend of compelling rhythms and odd instrumentation – in ways that are undeniably funky at points, and downright trippy at others! The drumming seems to draw a lot from the changes in German prog – with a very specific Can influence at work – and other elements move in and out of the mix in a really great way – clearly improvisational, but when the groove gets going, it's clear that the players also can't help starting to jam. The record was recorded in 1971, but never issued at the time – and titles include "Niente", "Bambu", "Toms", "Renitenza", "Mattatoio", "Down", "Sieben", and "Bali". LP, Vinyl record album

Flying Lotus is not only very much alive on You're Dead! – he's as lively as ever – delivering his best, most diverse record to date! The Flying Lotus sound is in peak form here – glitchy beats and spacey keyboards, deftly layered samples, and carrying boundless influences from cosmic soul jazz to leftfield hip hop! An impressive guest roster from both realms participate – with appearances by Herbie Hancock (!!!), Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, frequent collaborator and stylistic sibling Thundercat, strings arranger Miguel Atwood Ferguson and others. Standout moments include the tracks "Tesla" and "Moment Of Hesitation", both with some incredible keyboards by Herbie Hancock, plus the uber-moody, Ennio Morricone-sampled "Turtles" – but the whole thing is great, and shows that the Flying Lotus phenomenon is still in ascension, circa 2014. Other cuts include "Cold Dead", "Never Catch Me" with Kendrick Lamar, "Dead Man's Tetris" with Snoop Dogg, "Turkey Dog Coma", "Stirring", "Obligatory Cadence", "The Protest" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool Italian soundtrack from the 60s – one that's filled with plenty of "shake" and "psichedelico" tracks – which make for lots of beautiful moments! The music here is on that cusp between spooky and groovy that Ennio Morricone did so well at the time – handled in a more obscure mode by Benedetto Ghiglia, who also brings a variety of different styles to the mix – so that the songs have an explosive sort of power as they step between one tune and the next! The main "Love Your Neighbor" theme is sung with an English langue lyric at the start, and there's a few more wordless vocalizations from the great I Cantori Modern – amidst fuzzy guitars, odd keyboards, and other groovy elements. CD features 29 tracks in all. CD

Some of the most striking work we've ever heard from this legendary Italian group – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the power of their work in the 60s and 70s! The assemblage features important avant garde sounds from Ennio Morricone – and offers up a real look at the roots of the atonal and offbeat musical elements that he'd explore on his famous horror soundtracks – but in a setting that's right out there with the farthest reaches of the experimental scene at the time! As the group's name implies, there's a lot of improvisation going on here – played by musicians who include Morricone on trumpet, Frederic Rzewski on piano, Mario Bertoncini on percussion, John Heineman on trombone, Roland Kayn on Hammond and vibes, Franco Evangelisti on piano and percussion, and Ivan Vandor on tenor sax. Yet the sound is hardly free jazz, either – as there's more of a avant compositional vibe going on – a bit like the sense of chance in the music of John Cage, especially as the instruments and players shift from track to track. Titles include "Quartetto", "Trio Di Fiati", "Improvvisazione Per Cinque", "Improvvisazione Per Otto", "RKBA 1675/1", and the haunting "Cantata", which just features voices processed through filters and reverb! CD

A wonderful score by Bruno Nicolai – one that follows strongly in the mode of work from the time by frequent collaborator, Ennio Morricone! The approach on most tracks is spare and moody – using a lot of harpsichord over light orchestrations – and going for a tense feel that matches the spirit of the horror film, but which also has some surprisingly sweet and sexy moments from time to time. The reissue features lots of short tracks – with titles tha tinclude "The Mother's Dress", "Murder", "Sapphic Love", "Umiliations 1", "Flo's Escape/Confessions", "Deadly Race", "Macabre Discoveries", "Spied Lovers/Santana", and "To Kill & To Wall Up In The Cellar". LP, Vinyl record album

There's a great sense of warmth to this album from The Super Trio – one that really seems to come from the bass work of Ron Carter, which is so upfront and present in the recording, it's got us remembering all over again why we love his music so much! Massimo Farao is on piano, and balances out Ron's sound with a lighter, more lyrical touch – but one that swings nicely, too – thanks to the always-great drum contributions of Jimmy Cobb – still a master of the understated swing, even after decades of recording! Titles include the original "Marta", plus "Salina", "Autumn Leaves", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "On A Clear day", and Ennio Morricone's "Once Upon A Time In America" – which sounds surprisingly nice as a jazz tune. CD