World of Blue - Archived Forum 2007-2022

Hey, I'm a musician and Lynch and Badalamenti have wery warm place in my heart, musicwise. There is one movie genre that has same kind of beautiful soundtracks that Lynch has and it is the italian Giallo. It's the sixties and seventies italian murderslasher cinema that can sometimes be pretty cruel but there are some beautiful audiovisual stuff there.

One of the greats, Ennio Morricone, did lot of soundtracks to them and they are just sublime. In fact those soundtracks are many times much better than movies itself! There is haunting melodic stuff, cool jazzy grooves, eerie ambient soundscapes and everything. I encourage any Lynch music fan to check out this stuff! Movies Like Fatto di Solange, The Strange vice of Mrs. Wardh, Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plummage, Profondo Rosso and Suspiria, beautiful.

Also you might be interested in some King Crimson stuff, like Lark's tongue in aspic or Starless and Bible Black

And of course Amon Düül II, namely first ones Phallus Dei and Yeti

I guess Ortolani's soundtrack to Cannibal Holocaust would fit into this category. Now there's an excellent soundtrack, and one that I suspect is only just starting to get the appreciation it deserves thanks to the rise in hauntological music, in particular on the Ghost Box and Trunk labels. Synths, strings, funk, electro beats... a great fusion. One of the few soundtracks I'd like to have been longer.

Erm... actually, that's probably not what you were talking about, was it? Sorry.

mixomatosis wrote:I guess Ortolani's soundtrack to Cannibal Holocaust would fit into this category. Now there's an excellent soundtrack, and one that I suspect is only just starting to get the appreciation it deserves thanks to the rise in hauntological music, in particular on the Ghost Box and Trunk labels. Synths, strings, funk, electro beats... a great fusion. One of the few soundtracks I'd like to have been longer.

Erm... actually, that's probably not what you were talking about, was it? Sorry.

Well, it's a different genre and one that came little later but also nice stuff. Just different. One dividing thing is that giallo stuff very rarely uses synths but more traditional band stuff and also folk instruments like bouzoukis and also celestes and organs. And haunting female vocals, you know that slightly mad "lalalaa" stuff.

Italians seem to be pretty hotheaded moviemakers, they went pretty far with cannibal and zombie stuff but they knew the power of soundtrack. Just think another old italian genre, spaghetti westerns. Now they would be quite different with lesser music. The italian directors at that time seemed to do both westerns and giallo.

But I'd definitely say that those giallo movies also have some very lynchian imagery, even though they were pure entertainment and for cheap thrills. But beauty lies in the eye of beholder. It was the mystery and aesthetics that elevated the genre. And of course black leather glove on a handle of a knife

You guys should listen to Goblin's soundtrack to "suspiria". Its a Darion Argento film. I believe its italian..but its got some amazing visuals.

Auggeo wrote:You guys should listen to Goblin's soundtrack to "suspiria". Its a Darion Argento film. I believe its italian..but its got some amazing visuals.

YES! This is the stuff! Goblin's music in suspiria has lots of basic giallo stuff going on but Goblins gave it more personal touch because they weren't so great muscians like those studio players Mr. Morricone used. That brought nice uncertainty and insanity to that stuff and took it even further. That fitted perfectly to Dario Argento's bizarro world. I'd say their Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) soundtrack is even better, it is pure gold.

And of course to change that standard giallo "lalalaa" female singing to witch's whisper was great idea.

i think goblin composed "phantasm" tetralogy....

I really like Nora Orlandi's "A Doppia faccia" soundtrack.

Evenreven wrote:I really like Nora Orlandi's "A Doppia faccia" soundtrack.

I haven't heard that but his (or hers?) soundtrack to The Secret Vice of Mrs. Wardh is brilliant. And used very creatively (same kind of low pass filtering to establish a feeling of unconsciousness as Lynch has used).

Nora Orlandi is a woman, and one of the few essential female soundtrack composers - hell, one of the few period. She also had a parallel career as a pop singer. Sometimes the two paths met, as in the title song to A Doppia faccia, which she both wrote and sings on. I'll check out the Signora Wardh soundtrack. It sounds cool. Thanks for the recommendation.

Here are two of the tunes from A Doppia faccia (youtube sans video):

Soho, a fast-paced 60s pop instrumental that doesn't sound like it belongs in a thriller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_7Oc3GBqTM

And the main theme in two versions, first a slow piano version and then the vocal version with Nora singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlrWXGmTxAs

Here's a photo of her, btw:

Thanks for the info! It wasn't easy to be a woman in "man's" job those days. Those clips sounded good. I think you'd like Mrs. Wardh and also Morricone's Cosa avete fatto a Solange? (What have they done to Solange?). Even though those italian movies from late 60s and 70s were made for money and cheap thrills, they had very high craftmanship. And to think that at that time every measure of music that was played was original and composed for that film only. There were epic film music themes, suspense cues, atonal eerie soundscapes, romantic numbers and lots of funky jazz and groovy pop. And surprisingly nice arrangements too.

Completely agree. I have the three Beat at Cinecittà collections, and they're great, though I suspect many of the films are not.
Is Mrs Wardh available on CD anywhere? I can't find it in print. (Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.)

Evenreven wrote:Completely agree. I have the three Beat at Cinecittà collections, and they're great, though I suspect many of the films are not.
Is Mrs Wardh available on CD anywhere? I can't find it in print. (Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.)

To my knowledge, there is no CD available and LP is also (obviously) out of print. I've been enjoying it while watching the movie (I've seen it quite a few times, it's probably my favourite giallo, on the same line with profondo rosso at least). However, it is available on the net illegally. It is up to everyone to judge what to do, here is one link:
http://the-manchester-morgue.blogspot.c ... della.html
I don't feel so bad about it because this is 40 years old recording that is out of print.

And among the giallos that I've seen there is lots of turkey stuff but few gems also. And as I said before, the cinematography and whole craftmanship is very high. I wish they'd make movies like this for cheap thrills instead of some modern garbage. In the past even garbage was nicer

Agreed. Music looooong out-of-print is fair game as long as you buy the CD if it comes out.
I'll check out the film too. Thanks.