Alberto Baldan Bembo – L'Amica Di Mia Madre (1975, LP, Italy)

Originally released in 1975 this spellbinding soundtrack by the cult maestro Baldan Bembo is another Exotica jewel from the Italian film music golden era. Original music for the erotic drama movie L'AMICA DI MIA MADRE starring Barbara Bouchet & Carmen Villani, and directed by Mauro Ivaldi. Stunning, sophisticated and groovy orchestral themes and arrangements with refined Lounge softcore vibes / soft Jazz and Psychedelic cues with tribal, exotic and Disco driving moods dopeness. Superior score music alongside the strict partner Lingua D'Argento (SME 54) with dreamy orchestrations and Piano Fender / groovy Samba beats and bouncing Jazz / outstanding Bossa styles and bewitching Disco strings / Brazilian influcenced sound with exquisite tropical suites and so on. Original Italian OST of unique beauty reissued on fresh wax.

Kuusumun Profeetta – Kukin Kaappiaan Selässään Kantaa (2002, LP, Finland)

Tracklist:
A1 Vuosisadan Vaihteessa 4:33
A2 Kovin Lentäen Kotiin Kaipaan 7:06
A3 Kynttilät Syttyvät Varhain 3:00
B1 Kysymysten Sali 6:15
B2 Aamuyön Tunteina 3:03
B3 Akvaario 4:51

Musicians:
Bass – Mikko Elo
Drums, Percussion – Veli Nuorsaari
Guitar, Vocals – Teemu Majaluoma
Keyboards, Harmonica, Vocals – Mika Rättö

Finnish band KUUSUMUN PROFEETTA was born in 2001, a band that grew out of and initially partially co-existed with long time band Moon Fog Prophet. One might say that they in fact were the same band: Kuusumun Profeetta is just Finnish for Moon Fog Prophet after all. And the latter did release an album in 2002, which was to be their last under that moniker. But as the new band name also brought with it a slight change in stylistic expression, one might as well regard them as separate but closely related entities in their own right.

But even as their life as Moon Fog Prophet came to an end, they had already established their new identity as Kuusumun Profeetta, making their debut as a Finnish language act in 2001 with Kukin Kaappiaan Selässään Kantaa. And when playing live they were strengthened by Irina Niemelä on saxophone and Daniel James Finley on percussion and backing vocals at this point in time. Later on their live excursions might occasionally be strengthened by one or more of a group of additional musicians: Jyrki Laiho (guitars), Elli Keltto, Emmi Sydänmaa and Ilana Vähätupa (backing vocals). 2002 also saw their second release Jatkuvasti Maailmaa Pelastamaan Kyllästynyt Supersankari hit shelves, around the same time as Italian label Mellow Records decided to release the final Moon Fog Prophet disc Taunting Tin Bells Through The Mammal Void.

The following year Jyrki Laiho (guitars) and Samuli Peltoniemi (trumpet) became the latest permanent members of the band. In 2004 Sanansaattaja Oraakkeli Salamurha Hyökkäysvaunu was released, their third full length production as Kuusumun Profeetta. A popular album, and their first to hit the Finnish album charts.

At this time the band started cooperating with composer Harri Kerko, and 2006 saw the band release a new album that bore the fruits of this crative union: Hymyilevien Laivojen Satama. This cooperation was continued live as well, with two extensive performances that saw Kerko conducting and the band incorporating a multimedia show. But then matters returned to normal again, and when Lyhtykuja was released in 2008 it was a regular band effort. One year later they released Myrskyn Silmään, their first live DVD.

The next couple of years turned out to be silent ones for this Finnish act, due to the individual members being active elsewhere. Apart from a few live appearencs, the most noteworthy to report from this period was the inclusion of Harri Sippola (guitars) as a permanent member. But the band hadn't been completely at ease for this period, as documented when they announced that a new album was on it's way in May, the forthcoming production to be called Huutoja Hiljaisesta Huoneesta. With 2012 set as the tentative year of release. (progarchives)

Janko Nilovic – Vocal Impressions (1971, LP, Montenegro/France)

Tracklist:
A1. Week-End À Chelsea 2:07
A2. Ta Voix Du Fond Des Ondes 3:03
A3. Improvisation Pour Deux Voix 2:32
A4. Cantate Pour Deux Cœurs 3:05
A5. Il Est Loin Le Printemps 2:37
A6. Atchika Boum 2:16
B1. Du Soleil Camarade 2:47
B2. À L'ombre De Notre-Dame 2:53
B3. Rêverie À St-Germain-Des-Près 3:00
B4. Funky Village 2:32
B5. La... La... That's It 2:58
B6. Ballade Pour Marie 2:22

Conductor [Orchestra] – Janko Nilovic
Music By – Dave Sucky, Janko Nilovic

Bonafedegruppo Jazz – Locomotiva (1977, LP, Italy)

Tracklist:

A1 Locomotiva 9:44
A2 Verano 8:27
B1 Stranessa 6:16
B2 La Notte 6:00
B3 What's Up What's It 8:13

Musicians:
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Gianluigi Trovesi
Contrabass – Lucio Terzano (tracce: A1, A2, B2)
Drums – Paolo Pellegatti
Electric Bass – Paolo Marsano
Electric Guitar – Alberto Marchesini
Fortepiano – Luigi Bonafede

Japonize Elephants ‎– Mélodie Fantastique (2012, CD, Usa)

With cinematic melodies, surf guitar, spy soundtracks, Appalachian fiddling, lush string arrangements, knee-slapping banjo, country ballads, eastern modes, 4-part vocal harmonies, Mariachi flair and a heavy jazz influence, the new Japonize Elephants album is an inimitable take on the modern American experience. Songs about space travel, Publisher’s Clearing House, pirates, buses, whiskey, and dancing in the fast lane intermingle with instrumental numbers showcasing highly developed melodic and harmonic vocabularies. The sound is twisted and ambitious yet instantly recognizable, the result of nearly 20 years of collaborative experimentation.

When not performing with Radio Lab, Beats Antique, Donovan, Aaron Freeman (Ween), Feist, or John Vanderslice, the members of Japonize Elephants are hard at work conjuring an ensemble at once absurd and profound. Influences merge and diverge—the Stanley Brothers meet Zappa, the tenor sax meets the glockenspiel... and invite junk percussion, vibraphone, accordion, guitar, bass, flute, saxophones, trumpet, violin, banjo, and vocals to the fiesta. The Elephants’ talent runs as deep as the group’s instrumentation is diverse, steeped in the band’s long history and journey from Bloomington, Indiana to the coasts.

“Listening to The Japonize Elephants is like being at a supersonic hillbilly hoedown that has mysteriously been transplanted into a Transylvanian cartoon,” says the Denver Post. Blink and you’ll think you’re back in the orchestra of a French circus, with Mingus and Willie Nelson sitting in.

Morricone, Nicolai, Usuelli, Marinuzzi ‎– Drammatici E Musiche Di Tensione Psicologica 1 (1970, LP, Italy)

lato A

A1. Ennio Morricone/ Amanti D' Oltretomba - 2:19
A2. Ennio Morricone/ La Foresta Nera - 2:59
A3. Ennio Morricone/ Ballata Per Un Robot - 2:20
A4. Ennio Morricone/ Paura - 3:15
A5. Ennio Morricone/ Pavane Per Un Eroe - 2:22
lato B
B1. Teo Usuelli/ Toccata Drammatica - 2:27
B2. Gino Marinuzzi Jr./ Invocazione Tragica - 3:52
B3. Teo Usuelli/ Canto Proteso - 2:45
B4. Ennio Morricone/ Agguato - 2:28
B5. Ennio Morricone/ Attesa Di Tragedia - 2:26

Written By: E. Morricone (tracks: A1 to A5, B4, B5), G. Marinuzzi (tracks: B2), T. Usuelli (tracks: B1, B3)
Conductor: Bruno Nicolai (tracks: A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,B4,B5), Franco Ferrara (tracks: B1,B2,B3)

Claudio Angeleri Arp Quintet ‎– Gomma Arabica (1986, LP, Italy)

Tracklist:

A1. Gomma Arabica (7:40)

A2. Lungo Sogno (7:10)

A3. Spizz (3:50)

B1. Maracatú (9:28)

B2. Six By Four (9:34)

Musicians:

Bass – Paolo Dalla Porta

Drums, Percussion – Christian Meyer

Piano – Claudio Angeleri

Saxophone – Tino Tracanna

Trombone – Martin Dietrich Wehner

Tony Iglio ‎– Drugstore (1971, LP, Italy)

Tony Iglio, born in 1932, has been one of the most popular orchestral arrangers of RAI (Italian National Television) and has composed over 1500 songs. Son of art, over the years he has played with and for the most important figures of the last century in Italy. "Drugstore" was recorded in 1971 in a small theatre in Napoli by a combo of professional musicians and is rated the weirdest and most insane Italian library of the early 70’s mixing jazz, psychedelia, effects and purcussions.

Ennio Morricone ‎– Controfase (1973, LP, Italy)

SIDE A
1. Controfase
2. Temp
3. Soli
4. Come Sommersi
SIDE B
5. Con Ferma Ostinazione
6. Follia
7. Degenerazione
8. Eclissi Seconda

Controfase is an unknown (and almost lost) masterpiece.A shadowed giant of compositional skill and deft application - a moment when all the stars and their cycles align - unique, harmonious, undeniably perfect. From Walter Branchi’s skeletal web of processed VCS3 duetting with mournful violin, to Egisto Macchi’s demonstrative percussion jousting Edda Dell’Orso’s breathless siren’s call, Morricone and Nicolai have crafted a radiant, forbidden jewel.

First ever commercial release for this Holy Grail 1972 Library LP of brooding avant orchestral, abstract percussion and analogue synth genius. Special guest appearances from ‘Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza’ and Edda Dell’Orso.

Enrico Intra ‎– Messa D'Oggi (1970, LP, Italy)

Lato A
A1 Introito
A2 Kirie Eleison
A3 Gloria
A4 1a Lettura
A5 Alleluia
A6 2a Lettura
A7 Alleluia
Lato B
B1 Credo
B2 Canto Dell'Offerta
B3 Santo
B4 La Consacrazione
B5 Comunio
B6 Congedo

Musicians:
Bass – Bruno Crovetto
Cello – Carlo Milano
Flute – Giancarlo Barigozzi
Organ – Gianni Zilioli
Percussion – Carlo Sola
Piano – Enrico Intra
Vocals – Banny Foy
Written-By – Ennio Franco Celant

Neil Ardley, Ian Carr & Don Rendell - Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises (1970, LP, England)

Recorded in '69, Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises is irresistible on two counts. First, for its daringly conceived and brilliantly performed music, inspired by Greek folk songs and instrumental textures and deep enough to reveal all its treasures only after many repeated listenings. Second, for being recorded at the moment when the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet, a major force in British straight-ahead jazz since '62, had broken up and Carr's equally influential jazz-rock band Nucleus was rising from the ashes.

The first half of the album has composer Neil Ardley directing a fourteen-piece chamber orchestra featuring Rendell and Carr, plus a supporting cast of creme de la creme British musicians in "The Greek Variations," a six-part suite based on a traditional Greek folk tune. The second half features in turn a quintet led by Carr—Nucleus in all but name—and a quartet led by Rendell, on shorter suites maintaining a Greek flavour and ambience.
An undercurrent of brooding turbulence surfaces at various points in the "Variations" suite, as though some sort of tidal wave might erupt from the Aegean at any moment, but at other times the mood is sunnier and vivacious (or delicately moonlit), and there are lovely solo passages, both improvised and composed, from Frank Ricotti on marimba/vibraphone, Karl Jenkins on oboe, Rendell on alto flute (on which he has a voice as distinctive as on tenor sax) and Carr on flugelhorn. Comparisons with the Miles Davis and Gil Evans collaborations inevitably spring to mind. But Carr, though strongly influenced by Davis, is ultimately his own man, and Ardley is absolutely so too, and the result is an entirely fresh approach to composed/improvised orchestral jazz.
The three Carr-composed tracks are performed by Carr plus Nucleus founding members Brian Smith, Chris Spedding, Jeff Clyne and John Marhsall. "Wine Dark Lullaby" and "Orpheus" conjure up balmy Mediterranean nights, soft and lush, while "Persephone's Jive" is a wild Greek dance made ever more urgent by the sustained clatter of Afrobeat in Spedding's aggressive, staccato comping. Only a few minutes long, but still one of the highlights of the set.
The closing Rendell-composed tracks feature Rendell alongside Stan Robinson, Neville Whitehead and Trevor Tomkins. The wistful "Farewell Penelope" could almost come from a film noir soundtrack, with Rendell's tenor evoking a lonely night-time cityscape. "Odysseus, King of Ithaca" and "Veil of Ino" are fiercer, showing off his well loved ruff 'n' tuff side.
It's sad that Ardley, who died earlier this year (2004), didn't live long enough to witness this CD release and the growing renewal of interest in his work. But how very fortunate we are to have this wonderful album available again.