(Boccaccio '70 - subtitles are my weakness)
To the World of World Cinema Soundtracks tonight. I keep forgetting what a treasure trove of great stuff is to be had lurking between lines of dialogue and action sequenses in Italian films of the 1950s and 60s. Everybody knows Nino Rota, but there was a whole genre of film composer in Italy who churned out incredible soundtracks who got very little recognition outside the immediate film and music communities and, in most cases, not outside Italy.
Take this one for example - the classic film Boccaccio '70 was actually four segments, but in it's limited U.S. run was cut down to three. The deleted segment, Renzo and Luciana featured the music of Piero Umiliani (the other segments were done by Nino Rota and Armando Trovajoli) and this track, Whisky A Gogo is a classic swinging Jazz title performed effortlessly by an anonymous ensemble. Basically, it's never really been heard outside of Italy.
So have a listen and feel like you're in on a well-kept secret, for now anyway.
