Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2024 October 21 • Monday

There can't be any serious debate about Dario Argento's best movie. It's Suspiria. His second best movie, though? That could start some arguments.

The Gutbrain Records staff isn't 100% sure but the 827th Soundtrack of the Week is from his funnest (and contender for second best) movie: Phenomena, with a score by Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli and the mighty Goblin.

This presentation is just for the score, so it doesn't include Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" and whatever other songs might have been in the movie.But it does include some unused cues as well as alternate versions and different edits.

The main title music is, ahem, phenomenal. One of Simonetti's best, with dreamy wordless vocals and mesmerizing piano swirls sliding into a massive synth rock groove. This is right up there with some of Goblin's best and might recall some of their Zombi cuts.

Goblin gets four major cues to establish the bulk of the score. "Jennifer" is a beautiful tune that suggests love, innocence and purity.

"Wind" is the creepy suspense track that introduces dread, wonder, tension and excitement.

The driving, pulsating and lean "Sleepwalking" is the perfect musical accompaniment for one of the movie's most memorable scenes and "Jennifer's Friend" is a light and upbeat number, bouncy and more or less sunny but complex, with a few different musical ideas layered on top of each other.

It's a great score for a favorite movie, frequently and affectionately referenced around Gutbrain HQ with the phrase "Chekhov's monkey laser".