A CONVERSATION WITH LIONEL WOODMAN

This is an interview that was conducted with Producer Lionel Woodman in 2006.

 

 

 

When did you become interested in film music ?

 

This would have been around 1965, when I first went to see A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.

 

 

What was your first soundtrack purchase as a collector?

 

My first LP was A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS AND FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, these were on one record, on the RCA Camden label.

 

You began in business as a mail order company, when did you decide to branch out and move into production ?

 

 

I had been selling LP,s etc via a mail order company for a while, but did not decide to go into the production side of things till 1990.

 

Why did you decide to focus all your efforts upon Italian film music ?

 
Because that was the music I liked the best, I also love Italy, and when I met the Zamori family for the first time, it was always an excuse for me too go back for the wonderful cuisine of Paola (Roberto’s wife)

 

How do you begin the process of releasing a soundtrack ?

 

It was quite simple, once I had produced my first CD I offered it to my mail order customers, this sold well and after that it all just came easily.

 
You have released a number of soundtracks now, are there any that you have wanted to issue that have not been available, either because the tapes were lost or maybe they were in such awful condition ?

 
There have been plenty that have been in awful condition, especially by Marcello Giombini, There are also a number of Morricone scores that are in pretty bad condition, ROME COME CHICAGO for example.

 

Out of all the scores on your label which would you say you liked the most ?

 

 
Without a doubt, INDIO BLACK by Bruno Nicolai so far.

 

 

Have you a favourite composer, or a composer that you give preference to at all ?

 

Purely for commercial purposes, I have to say Morricone, but I also like the works of Gianni Marchetti, Sante Maria Romitelli, Stelvio Cipriani and Giacamo Dell Orso, and would give these composers preference over others.

Joe! Cercati Un Posto Per Morire

 

Le pistole non discutono

You always restrict your CD releases to a run of 500 or 1,000 why is this ?

 

It’s very difficult to sell more, it is sometimes difficult to sell 500,but this really depends on the title,the composer and also the genre of film.

 

 

 

You work very closely at times with Roberto Zamori, how did you first come into contact with the Professor ?

 

It was through the mail, I think Roberto had seen one of my adverts in FILMS AND FILMING, I used to advertise there in the early 1970,s. But we did not meet in person until 1981.

ROBERTO ZAMORI.

You also have a good friendship with Alessandro Alessandroni, is he still writing music ?

 

Yes he is, he is also very active playing jazz and other types of music.

Alessandro Alessandroni

Have you ever considered releasing a non Italian score, or if you could do any English score what one would it be and why ?

 

Yes, I have considered doing this on a few occasions, I would have liked to have done something by either Ron Goodwin or Michael J Lewis, or both.

 
As the producer of the Cd’s do you have the final say on what the discs content will be?

 

One Step To Hell

 

Black Killer

 

Yes because I can always refuse the production if the music is not what I want.

 
There seems to be a lot of rivalry between record companies in Italy, does it worry you if another company releases a score that maybe you might have liked to have done, or do you see it as a good thing that so many CD,s are now being issued ?

 
It’s a good thing as far as I am concerned, there are so many scores available and many of them I would never produce, because I don’t think that they would sell for me. So I am very pleased when one of those is released.

CORRI UOMO CORRI.

 

How do you review a classic, now that’s what I thought when I sat down to write this review. I have been lucky enough to have this soundtrack in my collection since way back in 1969 when I got the original CAM LP from Michael Jones in the arts theatre foyer. This I think is probably one of Nicolai’s best western scores, it is filled to overflowing with rhythmic and infectious themes, all done in a way that is instantly recognisable as the style and sound of Bruno Nicolai. The good thing about this release is firstly the amount of extra music included, a total of 16 tracks and an alternate version of the theme song performed by Tomas Milian, I know the CD does state that this version has not been issued on compact disc before, but it actually did appear on THE SPAGHETTI WESTERN ENCYCLOPEDIA VOL 3 track 13, this aside all the tracks are previously unreleased and are a joy to listen to, there is a whistling version of the central theme and various versions of this theme crop up during the compact disc’s running time, but they are arranged and orchestrated in such an excellent fashion that the listener will never tire of them. CAM did re-issue the soundtrack on CD back in 1991 but this was just a straight re-issue of the LP, so this Digit Movies version is for me very welcome and is obviously the definitive edition of the score. For anyone not familiar with this soundtrack, I urge you go and buy it straight away, it looks as if it will be very scarce anyway as Digit movies informed us that they had sold out of the title after just 9 days of it being available, it is at the moment being re-pressed how many are being done I do not know, but it will like the original LP be something of a rarity. As well as the central theme from the score stand out cues include TEMA DOLORES, DUELLO and AMERICANA but the entire soundtrack is certainly a classic piece of Italian film music history. I am confident that collectors of Italian soundtracks will be in raptures when they put this disc in the player, and I am also sure that it will be a disc that stays in the player for a long while. The sound quality is amazing, and once again Digit Movies provide us with eye arresting art work and informative liner notes. Be quick on this one guys, you will be sorry if you miss out….

L’UOMO DALLA PISTOLA D’ORO .

Another unexpected treasure from Hillside CD productions, I have always considered Lavagnino as a first class composer and also an underrated talent in film scoring. It is a great pity that a number of collectors seem to ignore his scores but if the truth is known many Italian composers such as De Masi and even Morricone owe a lot to this stalwart composer who did for Italian film music what Muir Matheison did for British movie scoring. I loved his music for SALADINO, THE SPECIALIST and VENERE IMPERIALE plus numerous other soundtracks that this veteran film music composer signed his name to. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN,(not to be confused with the James bond movie of the same name or Ringo and his Golden Pistol) or THE MAN WHO CAME TO KILL  was released in 1966, which was a busy year for the composer as he worked on ten movies. Considering that the style of the Italian western score had not really been established fully at this time the soundtrack to L’UOMO DALLA PISTOLA D’ORO  contains a number of the now standard musical trademarks of the genre , as in trumpet solos, racing snare drums, Spanish guitar solos, harmonica passages and the obligatory title song. I found this to be an interesting and an enjoyable listen with its evenly balanced inclusion of saloon tracks, low key romantic and poignant sounding cues and also its action tracks with the aforementioned racing snares acting as support to a soaring trumpet solo. I would recommend that any fan of the Italian western score should purchase this Compact disc. The sound quality is excellent and the art work is eye arresting, it is a ltd edition of just 750, so don’t drag your feet, just buy it now.