| Speaking of Italian police thrillers, Beat Records has issued, as their third volume of Cinecocktail compilation soundtracks, Calibro 3: The Best Scores of the Violent Italian Cop Thrillers. The package contains a CD with 22 tracks, several never before released, from such composers as De Masi, Trovaioli, Morricone, Cipriani, Micalizzi and others, along with a DVD containing a way cool 1-hour documentary about these types of films which is very enlightening. This is essentially a jazz compilation, as most of these tracks are rhythmic or dramatic jazz cues composed for a dozen Eurocop movies of the 70s. The hour’s worth of tracks provide an excellent overview of the music of these kinds of films. Despite what I said a couple of paragraphs ago, Guido & Maurizio De Angelis provide two pretty good tracks here, coolly subdued and low-key rhythmic tracks from Roma Violenta and La Polizia Incrimina Le Legge Assolve. De Masi’s “The Blue Boat,” a terrific deleted jazz track from The Big Game (recently released in full, with “The Blue Boat,” by Chris’ Soundtrack Corner of Germany; reviewed in my Jan 14th column). Trovaioli’s “Tony’s Magnum” from Blazing Magnum, released in whole by Beat earlier this year, is another outstanding jazz track, as is the same films gently rocking love theme “Louise.” Gian Franco Plenizio and Enrico Periannunzi’s title tune from Liberi, Armati, Pericolosi, is a great title theme – contempo 70’s pop/rock with a touch of lounge jazz vibe that really swings. Another track from this score, previously unreleased (the former track was included in a Tomas Milian book/cd set last Nov.), is equally likeable. Franco Micalizzi’s location-setting “Naples’ Alley” from Napoli Violenta, released in whole by Beat a year ago, is a catchy mandolin cue that drips of Naples; the same composer’s “The No-Peace Pursuit” from Italia A Mano Armata is a hard-edged rocking number that sets a Schifrinesque contemporary vibe to this film, while his charming ‘An Innocent End Title” from Napoli Violenta is a mix of catchy vibe and orchestral eloquence. The film’s End Title song, “A Man Before Your Time,” is an excellent early 70s folk-pop song. Lallo Gori’s title music from A Tutte Le Auto Della Polizia retains a cool rock band vibe accentuated with jews’ harp, plunking out a regular twanging beat; and the included track from Gori’s Italia: Ultimo Atto? is equally grabbing. Morricone’s Main Title song and his oppressive chase theme, “Repressione di Stato,” from Il Prefetto Di Ferro are included also. The DVD that comes with the set consists of a concert in honor of Francesco de Masi in which Franco Micalizzi conducts a small ensemble through several pieces of music from de Masi’s police thrillers interspersed with interviews with half a dozen composers, musicians, and directors who discuss working in the Italian film industry of the 1970s. The documentary, directed by Philip Mason, is subtitled in English. Unfortunately the live orchestra scenes didn’t have sufficient sound and are overdubbed with tracks from the soundtrack albums, which makes the live playing look a little awkward; but it works out ok in the end, and the document is a fascinating glimpse into Italian films and film music, cop thrillers and other genres, of the era.
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