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Welcome to volume 158! This collection of various artists was inspired by the comp’s namesake, an Italian instrumental act named (on record) as The Underground Set. That was not actually their real name, which we will get into later. I have been aware of them for a long time and used them the first time a couple of years ago in the second all-instrumental comp, #148 (link). At the time of researching that one, and subsequently discovering new names like Mirageman for the Italian vol156 (link), I got the idea of compiling a volume of Italian instrumental heavies, as I have encountered so much quality in that arena from Italy over the years. A lot of this comp reminds me of instrumental bands I dig like 35007 and Monkey3. In a lot of ways it sounds very modern and not so much of its time like conventional '70s hard rock usually does. Instrumental compositions tend to lead the composers into more progressive sounds.
I had already been developing an interest in general library music, after doing this webzine, especially the movie-orientated vol100 (link), which brought me into contact with tracks from KPM, one of the biggest British library labels. After downloading a few 1970s rock-orientated KPM albums, I was amazed to recognise some of the tracks from TV adverts and shows I had seen as a kid in the '80s, such as The Sweeney (link).
So, we have here a combination of Italian instrumental groups and composers, the majority of which worked in library and soundtrack music. Library music being compositions made with the intention of being licensed “off the shelf” for use in films, TV, theater and any other purpose where they might be useful to a producer of such things. Italy is traditionally one of the most fertile grounds for such music, fuelled by its natural talent for arts and music and its prolific post-war film industry.
TRACKLIST
01. I Marc 4 - The Trip (1970)
from album I Marc 4
02. The Underground Set - War In The Night Before (1971)
from album War In The Night Before
03. Blue Sharks - A "Watt" Too Much (1972)
from album It Became Crystal
04. Silvano Chimenti - Il Cuore Degli Operai (1971)
from album Sonorità Nel Lavoro
05. Nenty (Nello Ciangherotti) - Ciminiere Fumanti (1971)
from album Sonorità Nel Lavoro
06. I Gres - Hot Dogs (1974)
from album I Gres
07. Piero Umiliani - To-Day's Sound (1973)
from album To-Day's Sound
08. Gianni Mazza - Esacerbato (1972)
from album Nevrosi
09. Giuliano Sorgini - Mad Town (1974)
from album Zoo Folle
10. Francesco De Masi - Il Tallone Di Achille (1972)
from album Ettore Lo Fusto
11. The Underground Set - Slaughter On The Motor Road (1970)
single
12. The Reverberi Group - Memento #5 (1972)
from album The Reverberi Group
13. Silvano Chimenti - Contrazioni (1972)
from album Droga
14. GLL (Golf Lima Lima) - Speed Limit (1975)
single
15. Blue Phantom - Distillation (1971)
from album Distortions
16. Era Terziaria - Mondo Vellutato (1972)
single
17. Free Action Inc. - Life Story (1970)
from album Rock & Blues
18. Mirageman - Paralysis (1972)
from album Thunder And Lightning
19. Gabriele Ducros - Dopping 2000 (1976)
from album Freedom Power
20. Filippo Compatti - Rock Noise (1978)
single
album: 'I Marc 4'
A perfect opener for this set, '60s beat meets psych in the typical suspense-building style of a library track designed for fitting movie scenes. The name 'I Marc 4' comes from the initials of their members: Maurizio Majorana (bass), Antonello Vannucchi (keyboards), Roberto Podio (drums) and Carlo Pes (guitar). I Marc 4 recorded most of Armando Travaioli's compositions, and recorded with famous composers like Ennio Morricone & Piero Umiliani.
album: War In The Night Before
One of the best & heaviest albums from the mysterious world of psychsploitation & Italian library music, in my humble opinion. After decades of speculation, and respected archivist Vernon Joynson writing it was an English band, Nuova Idea drummer Paolo Siani admitted it was they who recorded both Underground Set albums, in a Musikbox magazine interview. The music is far heavier than Nuova Idea's output, and this seems to be because it was composed by Le Orme's & Nuova Idea's producer, Gian Piero Reverberi, along with his brother Gianfranco Reverberi, who appear again later in this set as The Reverberi Group.
album: It Became Crystal
Here's a funky nugget from a library project involving composer / musician Stelvio Cipriani, along with Carmelo Carucci and Ipcress (Giorgio Zinzi). Cipriani crafted over 200 film scores, blending jazz, funk, and orchestral melodies. Carucci started with beat group I Romans and composed for anime like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. Zinzi was a composer known for his evocative film scores, including La Costanza della Ragione (1964), L'arma, l'ora, il movente (1972), and Bazooka pour un espion (1966).
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album: Sonorità Nel Lavoro
Here's a pulsating little number with expressive guitar and atmospheric touches. The 'Sonorità Nel Lavoro' library album is a great one for psych guitar pieces and commands high prices. It was reissued in 2019 by Sonor Music Editions, who have reissued some other LPs used in this set. Another Silvano Chimenti piece from a different album is coming up for track 13 in this set.
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album: Sonorità Nel Lavoro
This one starts exactly as it means to go on with a thick fuzzy guitar riff that carries the whole piece while layers of latin beats and more guitar solos weave through it. Nello Ciangherotti and Silvano Chimenti together were responsible for the Sonorità Nel Lavoro album. The album features industrial-inspired tones that were intended for obscure documentaries about work. If all factories sound this cool i'll be looking for a new job tomorrow!
album: 'I Gres'
This is lead by jazz drum breaks. The sparseness leaves space for all the changes and visiting instruments to hit hard and it's great! Correct me if i'm wrong but I believe even a bit of voice box guitar joins the party at one point. I Gres consisted of Giorgio Carnini, Roberto Pregadio, Enzo Restuccia, & Silvano Chimenti (who features in two other tracks in this set). They produced three albums in 1974-1975. Two of their main composers were Silvano, and another busy library soundtrack composer Romano Rizzati.
album: To-Day's Sound
album: Zoo Folle
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Some more flute-rockin' for ya! This track is from side 2 of a split LP with one movie soundtrack on each side. The other side is the score to 'In Nome Del Popolo Italiano' written by Carlo Rustichelli. The tag-line for the film on Francesco De Masi's side, 'Ettore Lo Fusto', reads "What must Cardinal Giove do to acquire land on which stands a prestigious brothel?". Highbrow Italian cinema i'm sure! The LP cover states that the music is performed by the Francesco De Masi Orchestra in conjunction with the Roman band 'Il Punto' (link).
single b/w 'Motor Road Underground'
Another killer track played by Nuova Idea operating under the moniker of The Underground Set. This one has a downer, contemplative vibe accentuated by the recurring piano motif that is repeated by other instruments to great effect, another great composition by the Reverberi brothers. Both sides of this single are fantastic, it was released a year before 'War In The Night Before' but they are included on modern reissues of that LP.
album: The Reverberi Group
Following the previous track we have another brilliant melancholy arrangement from brothers Gian Piero Reverberi and Gianfranco Reverberi. I have no idea (no pun intended) but maybe again played by Nuova Idea? The rest of this library record is a scattering of musical styles, including five versions of 'Memento', the fifth and final one is the psych guitar version we are interested in but it is cool to hear the other interpretations played with different instrumentation.
album: Droga
Here's a piece from one of the other LPs in the 'Journey Through Man's Problems' series. Silvano Chimenti is a guitarist and composer, starting out with beat group 'I Planets', later joining 'The Others & Pataxo' and working with names such as Piero Umiliani and Ennio Morricone. 'Droga' (Drug) is another great LP for rock cuts, on discovery it stood out to me from most Italian library due to many tracks sounding like a US-style blues & hard rock band minus the singer. Now a sought-after collectible that has sold for over £2000 according to Discogs.
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single b/w 'Leslie'
Here's a great piece that sounds to me like a cross between Goblin and Neu. GLL was Giancarlo Leone and Luigi Lopez. Leone has since become a journalist and prominent TV / Film producer along with composing and Lopez started out as performer, producer and songwriter in the late '60s. He was a member of the short-lived '70s supergroup 'Fantasy' and continued with success in many TV themes and pop hits.
album: Distortions
This LP was a blogger's favourite back when I started TDATS, for good reason. I used Blue Phantom once before ages ago on volume 20 (link). At that time I assumed it was an established band, as it certainly sounded like one, but in reality it's an alias of Armando Sciascia, a prolific library composer. It's pretty amazing that this Sabbathy doom sludge sound came from a writer born in 1920! And is that a faintly similar sound to an air-raid siren in the background? I wonder where they got that idea from?.... One has to wonder how much influence the session players had on the sound, none of whom have been identified to my knowledge.
single b/w ''Mittente: Le Castella' by Walter D'Amore
Here's a little chill-out after the onslaught of Blue Phantom. A Band from Lambrate (Milan). The line-up was Euro Moroni (Guitar), Franco Pensato (Keyboards), Leo Ercolani (Bass) and Paolo Fraccascia (Drums). They have only one track mentioned on Discogs, this A-side on a split single with Walter D'Amore.
Information from italianprog.com (link) :- "A quartet of twenty-year-olds from Lambrate (MI). Era Terziaria, musically influenced by Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, joined singer and comedian Walter D'Amore for a single 45 rpm released by the Milanese label Ama. The record is not particularly representative of their genre, containing on side A a rather soft instrumental track dominated by guitar and keyboards, while the sound of this group was decidedly more aggressive. On the back a rather anonymous ballad, sung with a Roman accent and credited to "Walter" only. The 45 rpm is very rare and highly valued on the collector's market. Their manager was Alex Schiavi, later active with the group Cemento and as a soloist."
album: Rock & Blues
There is some contention that this instrumental exploito-psych LP 'Free Action Inc. plays Eddy Korsche' was actually played by German musicians, and this particular composition also appears (with vocals) on the Brother T. & Family (1970) album as 'Oh Love', which I used on the German volume 82 (link). This is something I was surprised to notice myself when first hearing this track and have not seen anyone else mention it as-yet. There is a Germanic link in Eddy Korsche, Austrian producer and composer who licensed music from the Italian 'Help!' label that released the Free Action Inc LP. The truth is out there, somewhere.
album: Thunder And Lightning
Here's some brooding jazz rock with killer flute and big-band orchestration. I used this consistently-strong album, featuring a lot of psych guitar over various exciting compositions, back on the second Italian TDATS (link) and it deserves more attention. 'Mirageman' was pianist & composer Giovanni Fenati. Starting in the '50s with an orchestral repertoire, his style took on contemporary elements around the late '60s. As 'Mirageman', he issued three albums between 1970 and 1972.
album: Freedom Power
This is probably the closest to straight funk in this set, away from rock. But the riff drills home hard enough for TDATS I think, similarly to Giuliano Sorgini's 'Mad Town' above. The album this is from looks to be some of Gabriele Ducros's earliest works and it includes tracks from other guys including Silvano Chimenti who is in this set twice. Ducros has since worked on TV and film scores including 'Panama Sugar' starring Oliver Reed.
single b/w 'L'Anticicciolino'
Starting with fake audience applause, this disco glam track reveals itself to be more like some pulsating Hawkwind space rock. I cannot find evidence that Filippo Compatti was a real person, but there is a page of info at orrorea33giri.com (link) linking this single to Hungarian porn actress Ilona Staller (elected to Italian Parliament in 1987) in some incomprehensible way. Both sides of the single are attributed to different writers, including British ex-pat Alan Taylor, so maybe 'Filippo Compatti' was an alias. Answers on a postcard please!
Until next time.....Ciao!
Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 100: Reel Ravers [100th anniversary movie rock special]
The Day After The Sabbath 148: Heads Of Our Time [instrumental 2]
The Day After The Sabbath 69: No Troubled Sky [instrumental]
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