One of the most spiritual sessions we've ever heard from Noah Howard – a real gem from his 70s years on the European scene – and a record that takes all his previous avant explorations and gives them even more focus than before! The group's got a great way of building up a cosmic sense of energy before it takes off – real magic that comes from the Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano of Michael Smith, the bass of Bob Reid, and drums of Noel McGhee – the last of whom is a player who really drives the action along when needed – setting the spark that burns to a fire in Howard's bold alto solos. Noah also plays a bit of bells and tambourine – and Smith has a great way of resonating his acoustic keys in these wide waves of sound – very introspective, like some of Lonnie Liston Smith's early work with Pharoah Sanders. Titles include "Paris Dreams", "Lecke", and "Mardi Gras". CD

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A gem of a record from the legendary Nino Rota – one of his best scores for director Federico Fellini – a bit later than some of their 60s classics, but equally great! The music is filled with Rota's trademark interweaving of dominant themes and lighter moments – the kind of tight chamber scoring that makes his compositions work so well – bouncey, but never silly, moody, but never too serious. The narrative takes Rota to more pan-historic territory, but his approach here is similar to Fellini films set in contemporary Rome – and dominant instrumentation includes bits of accordion, piano, horns, and gentle strings. Wonderful stuff all around – with loads of short little tracks that have some nice hooks – titles that include "La Fogaraccia", "La Gradisca E Il Principe", "Gary Cooper", "Lo Struscio", "Amarcord", and "Ti Ricordi Siboney". LP, Vinyl record album

A warmly sensual 70s soundtrack from Italy – scored by the lesser-known Gianfranco Plenizio, but sounding like the best of the time from Morricone! The music here is often slinky and spare – flowing with a subdued sense of eroticism that's never cheesy, and which has a bit more sophistication than you might expect from the exploitative film for which it was written! Many tracks build gently, using bits of piano, or roundly rolling electric bass – never too over the top, but just enough to get things going with some subtle, but effective encouragement. A few numbers have a darker, more atonal feel – clearly the creepier moments of the film – creating the same sort of juxtaposition you'd fine in some of the better known erotic scores of this time. CD features 6 tracks that have never been issued before – a total of 21 titles that include "Requiem", "Foul Sin", "Lost Lover", "Ricordi Di Un Amore", "Grigio Perla", "Hypnosis", "Crowded Solitude", "Ghostvoice", "Sarto Per Signora", and "Voce D'Amore", which features haunting wordless vocals by Edda Dell'Orso! CD