| One thing about Italian film music, if I may segue from one West to another, is that the country’s film music of the 60s and 70s contained some of the coolest theme songs. Non-Sergio Leone westerns and the ubiquitous Eurospy thrillers that were spawned from Cinecitta and other studios during the late 60s and early 70s almost all contained a main or end title theme song, often drawn from the era’s pop and rock sensibilities. The best songs from Bruno Nicolai’s film scores have been collected in Bruno Nicolai: Movie Songs Book by Edizioni Musicala Gemelli of Italy. From the compellingly dramatic “Ringo Come To Fight” from 100,000 Dollari per Ringo (provided in both English and Italian vocal versions) to the far more amusing “Arizona Gun” from Arizona Si Scateno' E Li Fece Fuori Tutti (1970) with its halfhearted lyric (I guess I gotta get my gun/I guess I gotta shoot someone/Bang Bang!) and such Goldfingerish spy songs as “”I Want It All” from Femmine Insaziabili (1969, The Insatiables; also sung in both English and Italian) and the classic “Love Love Bang Bang” from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (the 1966 Italian film, not the 2005 Shane Black thriller), not to mention “Shadows” from the giallo thriller, Le Coda Della Scorpione (Case of the Scorpion’s Tail), this compilation is a very enjoyable collection of 60s era pop tunes with their own unique cinematic dramatic sensibilities. Singers include Edda Dell’Orso (which automatically makes this CD a must-have in my book; she sings the title theme from 1975’s Allora il Treno, a really nice jazzy score otherwise unavailable on CD; issued only on LP in Italy), Fred Bongusto, actor Tomas Milian, and Bobby Solo, with choir by I Cantora Moderni di Alessandroni (the vibrant choral “Libertad” from Uomo Avvisato Mezzo Ammazzato Parola Di Spirito Santo – 1971 aka Blazing Guns, aka His Name Was Holy Ghost; one of Nicolai’s neatest Western scores). There are a couple of blushworthy tunes, to my tastes best left forgotten (“Go-Giddy-Go” from Land Raiders [the haunting “Sweet Love Song” from the same film, which adopts the main theme’s melody, is a much much better song, also included on the CD] and the carnivalistic “Gamba Gamba” and “La-Lu-Le” from the otherwise excellent Zenabel), but the collection is an excellent and very likable one.
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