I forgot how much I liked this score. I tend to only remember the prog-rockish opening number because it is such an integral part of the opening credits of the film. But of course there’s the excellent “Come Un Madrigale”—perhaps, the most lovely decapitation music ever composed. The rest of the CD is rounded out with mostly standard giallo faire, but there’s a tinge of 70’s rock drums and screams added to the arrangements to tie everything to the movie’s rock star protagonist.
Morricone’s subsequent Giallo soundtracks would rely heavily on improvisational and experimental music. However, this one retains quite a bit of the easy vibe found on his late sixties romantic drama scores. It’s not dissonance-free, about half the tracks are free-form spaz outs, but the variety helps to make this one the best Giallo scores ever. Even the oom-pa-pa number, “Sei Sei Stonato” is great.
Eccentric Orbits is the history of the rise, fall, and eventual rebirth of the world’s first (and only) global satellite phone system. This is not the sort of book I would ever expect to like. Corporate history is not really my thing. However, this is more the story an astounding technological achievement that was almost destroyed but not for the small group of individuals who believed in it and were willing to risk millions for it. John Bloom—better known by his alter ego, trash cinema expert Joe Bob Briggs—has crafted a thrilling narrative that first seduces the reader to fall in love with a satellite system, then cheer for its implementation, and, finally, be infuriated by Motorola’s lack of commitment to the project. And that’s just the first half of the book. Second half is the tale of Dan Colussy’s quest to save the whole thing with one frustrating sequence of broken promises and ineffectual political wrangling after another. The sheer number of names and meetings wore on me by the time I got to the end, but it was worth it to fully understand the complexity of such a massive undertaking.
As far as easy-listening Morricone goes, this is one of his best. There are hints of bossa nova, echo-y instruments and, of course, Edda Dell’Orso. “La Bambola,” of which there are three versions represented here, is one of Ennio’s finest pieces.
For a brief period, this CD was my holy grail of Morricone soundtracks. I took to eBay in search of it only to find sellers who listed the CD but didn’t have it in stock (my only negative feedback came from one of these failed purchases). Eventually I found an honest seller and to this day the album remains one of my favorites from the Maestro. It’s far more symphonic than his horror or western scores, so it doesn’t have that immediate hipster/cool factor to it. Nevertheless, it delivers an emotional wallop as it moves from sparse piano, to dissonant vocal washes, to full-on orchestral melodies.
This one casts itself off as a female version of Death Wish complete with two uncomfortable assaults of the lead actress in the first ten minutes. But rather than being a standard tale of revenge, it becomes a decent into madness as Thana grows more and more unhinged in her killing spree. The visuals, especially the insane climax, are really quite astounding. There is not much of a story here, but I was glued to it all the way to the bizarre, slow-motion ending.
I finally bought this CD after being nagged by my Discogs.com wishlist alert for months. I shouldn’t have waited because this disc, like all of the Morricone releases by Dagored, is worth having. The opening track and much of the record features a pounding piano rhythm that is not dissimilar from many 70’s Italian police drama scores. Then there are creepy dissonant noise tracks and even an easy-listening gem, “Sospiri Da Una Radio Lontana.”
Don’t be dissuaded by the fact that all the tracks lest one are titled, “I Bambini Ci Chiedono Perche.” This isn’t one of those Morricone scores that is just slight variations of the same song over and over (I’m looking at you Indagine Su Un Cittadino Al Di Sopra Di Ogni Sospetto!). Although the main melody, often sung by Edda Dell’Orso, is the focus throughout. It ranges from mysterious to bittersweet to spine-chillingly epic.
Well, it took me about half a decade, but I finally finished Super Mario Galaxy 2. I really liked the first one and this is a lot more of the same. There’s a bit of “been there, done that,” in my opinion of the game. A few new additions have been added, like being able to ride on Yoshi and use his tongue like a grappling hook. But, for the most part, this is pure 3-D platforming at about the best it will ever get. Which is to say, yeah it’s pretty good for a not-so-deep game.
As with the original, gravity and orientation are used to mix things up and give everyone in the room motion sickness. Once again, plot is an afterthought that doesn’t serve to motivate players to go farther. In the end, I don’t think I am an OCD enough gamer to keep going in an attempt to find every secret and collect every star. I’ll leave that for the youngsters who seem to have all the time in the world. Those, jerks.
Now that the sequel is in theaters, I thought I should see the original since since a lot of people whose opinions I respect loved it. Maybe I had inflated expectations, but I wasn’t impressed. What it has going for it is a nice character build up in the first twenty minutes and an original fantasy-ish world that is gradually built up. Everyone seemed to rave about the action, but I found it to be sterile and dull. Its action sequences are a never ending flow of perfect head-shots and zero danger for John Wick. It was like watching a blase slacker staple gunning flyers up on every pole around campus. Pop, pop, pop… change camera angle… pop, pop, pop. Sigh.
