Any soundtrack by Maestro Gianni Marchetti is always a welcome sight to me and I am sure to other collectors of Italian/European film music. Even in this instance when it is a re-release of a Marchetti score it is still one that is a must have purchase, even if you do already have the original compact disc release. L’OCCHIO SELVAGGIO (WILD EYE) was directed by Paolo Carvara in 1967 and has always been a work for film by the composer that many have cited as his best and ultimately the score that collectors and critics alike associate with the Maestro. Marchetti was very active during the mid 1960,s through to the end of the 1970,s and his music not only suited well the movies he worked on but had and still has the ability to stand on its own as just music purely to listen to and to be entertained by. Marchetti,s style of composition was in many ways akin to fellow Italian composers, Morricone, Nicolai, Fidenco and Ferrio but for some reason the composer never found recognition outside of his native Italy, always seeming to be overshadowed by the likes of Morricone. Marchetti employed a fusion of pop orientated catchy tunes with dramatic and energetic passages within many of his film scores and although the thrilling and hard hitting style and the lighter material at times seemed to be musically worlds apart they somehow still managed to compliment each other and work well for the picture, this was I think because of the composers obvious talent for orchestration and arranging and his ability to easily adapt to each and every scenario he was presented with. L’OCCHIO SELVAGGIO was released on long playing record on CAM in 1967,(sag9001) and is listed as a promo, the soundtrack was also issued on the RCA Victor label in 1968 in the United States and Canada, this version contained a song TWO LOVERS which was performed by Rufus Lumley and arranged and conducted by Marty Manning (which is not present on this latest release).The compact disc version appeared in 1991 and was originally part of the CAM original soundtracks encyclopaedia which was a set of 100 titles all classic Italian soundtracks that were released on CD for the first time. In 2007 the score received another release on The King Records/Seven Seas label in Japan which up until the release of this new recording was in my opinion the better version. As I have already stated it was a popular soundtrack and was quickly snapped up by collectors, the score is filled with tense and suspense filled cues that are accompanied by as many cues that lean towards steamy and Smokey jazz interludes, the Maestro flawlessly and seamlessly mixing the varying styles and sounds to create a rewarding and haunting work.
This particular edition of the soundtrack which is released on BEAT records contains 9 extra tracks that are previously unreleased and has been re-mastered to a high standard by Claudio Fuiano, it also contains some interesting liner notes by Fabio Babini and stills from the movie. This for me is Marchetti,s swansong, his tour de force and the score that I will always associate with the composer and affectionately look upon it as one of the great Italian film scores from the 1960,s and one that evokes many memories of my early days of collecting. A must have release even if you have the original, you still need to have this too.
http://www.beatrecords.it/shop.asp?idprodotto=BCM9564&lingua=i
MOVIE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL. (MMI) . 