Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2009 March 23 • Monday

Beginning the second year of the Soundtrack of the Week, number fifty-three is this CD which contains swinging Piero Umiliani scores for two movies, the deliriously titled Due Mafiosi Contro Goldginger (not Goldfinger) and Due Mafiosi Contro Al Capone.

It starts out with a blast of this L.A. jazz-chorus crap that I hate, but ditches it after half a minute and gets down to business with drums, electric guitar and some serious grooves. The main title has a couple of things in common with Burt Bacharach's theme song for The Blob. Another piece sounds like it's inspired by Duke Ellington's Afro Bossa record. Later on, Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" is dragged in for reasons that might make sense in the movie.

There's some music which sounds like some of John Barry's Goldfinger score (the music for the raid on Fort Knox, I think), but in general Umiliani doesn't seem to be trying to imitate Barry. Fans of Jerry Goldsmith's music for the two Flint movies would probably enjoy this.

It probably goes without saying that I would like to see these movies.