PER IL GUSTO DI UCCIDERE ( A TASTE OF KILLING)

Released in 1966 and directed by Tonino Valerii, PER IL GUSTO DI UCCIDERE (the taste of killing) was an action packed Spaghetti western that contained a storyline that involved a bounty hunter who preferred to do things a little different, Hank Fellows (Craig Hill) watched various robberies on banks and stagecoaches and instead of intervening he would track the robbers to their hideout and then dispatch them thus getting the bounty for them and also recovering the stolen booty which he returned to the rightful owners for a big pay out. When fellows encounters a bandit Guy Kenneback the job becomes more personal as Kenneback was responsible for the death of Fellows brother. The musical score is the work of Nico Fidenco, this composer was particularly active during the 1960,s and worked on many westerns that were seen as B movie features but still added much to the reputation of the spaghetti western genre. Fidenco was at times hired because composers such as Morricone and Nicolai were not available and his sound is not dissimilar to that of the two Maestro,s mainly due to his connections with Alessandro Alessandroni and his IL CANTORI MODERNI, Fidenco started his musical career as a singer and would often record cover versions of famous film songs, he would also perform on his own soundtracks which he does on THE TASTE OF KILLING contributing the vocals for THE YANKEE FELLOW a vocal that is reprised later in the score as THE LANKY FELLOW by the Wilder Brothers. The score is conducted by Willy Brezza who also wrote a number of film scores and too was a singer, Fidenco would also utilise the conducting skills of Giacamo Dell Orso, on a number of his scores this talented composer and arranger would not only direct but at times would actually compose sections of the scores for Fidenco. THE TASTE OF KILLING is in many ways a typical spaghetti western score, the instrumentation containing soaring trumpet solos, racing snares, electric guitar solos, chorale work and galloping percussion. The track THE LANKY GUNMAN as it was then titled was issued on the double LP set THE BEST OF THE BLOODY WESTERNS which was on the Japanese seven seas label, it then re-appeared in a slightly different arrangement on the King records four CD set THE SPAGHETTI WESTERN ENCYCLOPEDIA and on a handful of other compilations before the score was released in its complete form on the GDM/HILLSIDE label in 2010, the recording included 12 cues in stereo and a further 23 in mono which were taken directly from the film score. Presented well by Hillside unfortunately devoid of notes, but containing various examples of the publicity posters for the movie within its eight page booklet and an eye catching front cover this is a soundtrack worth adding to your collection, sound is surprisingly clear and crisp. Recommended.