Ennio Morricone Orchestra ‎– Dedicato Al Mare Egeo (1979, LP, Italy)

Dedicato al mare Egeo is a forgotten and bizarre co-production produced between Italy and Japan from 1979, starring the famous Italian porn star Illona Staller (Cicciolina) and directed by the famous Japanese pinter, printmaker and novelist Masuo Ikeda (1934–1997) from his own script based on his novel “Ege-kai ni sasagu”, for which he won the Akutagawa Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Japan. Ikeda’s vigorous artistic activity even included screenplay writing and film directing. With this movie, Masuo Ikeda has undoubtedly left his mark on the ’70s Italian skin cinema.

The awesome, full melodic score composed, orchestrated and conducted by Ennio Morricone for this film was made available for listening on a Japanese LP (Columbia Records LX-7062) soon after the film came out in 1979. The album contained a selection of 11 tracks, and quickly became one of the most sought after items among collectors. The only CD reissue (SLCS-7119) of the score was produced in Japan in the label SLC in 1992. Apart from the original album content the CD also featured a cover version song of the main theme, arranged by Walter Rizzati and performed by Ruggero Gatti. The SLC CD was sold out very quickly and has been out of print for several years by now. Due to its extreme rarity and great artistic value, a new reissue of this score has been highly demanded by collectors. Quartet Records was fortunate enough to locate the original publisher and owner of both the music and movie rights, and kindly offered to realize a long awaited special re-issue of the score.