joi, 16 iulie 2020

The Rolling Stones- Criss Cross (SOTD)

A real treat !!! A track hidden for 47 years is out ! and it's areal gem, the great video highlights the wildness, sexuality and freedom spirit of the song !
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Criss Cross is one of the three unreleased Rolling Stones track that was supposed to be included in their 1973 album, Goats Head Soup. The song was officially released on July 9, 2020 along with its music video directed by Diana Kunst, featuring the model GuindillaOntanaya.

The nearly five-minute montage is described as “a video diary” by Kunst. It was recorded between 2015 and 2020.

lyrics here !
more info here !

luni, 6 iulie 2020

RIP Ennio Morricone

July 6th 2020. A sad sad day for all film and music lovers !
Ennio, il maestro Morricone is no more...
He was 91 (born November 10th 1928). He even conducted a concert in Rome this January !
I wrote a LMA piece on his carrer and influence by the time of too long awaited Oscar and the score of The Hateful Eight  in the Sunete magazine! Time to republish soon.
I saw him with my buddies Andrei & Relu in 2004, live in Budapest.  The Arena Concerto series. 
Saw him again in 2012 in Cannes, at the anniversary projection of restored Once Upon a Time in America.  The best partnership ever, Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone, unmatched even by the Prokofiev-Einsenstein collaboration, or the Bernard Herrmann-Hitchcock, or Nino Rota with Fellini. 
He did great scores for many directors, three for Brian De Palma (Untouchables, Casualties of War, Mission to Mars), three for Gillo Pontercorvo (Battle of Algiers, Burn/Chiemada, Ogro), for Polanski (Frantic), Joffe (the Mission), John Carpenter (The Thing), Warren Beatty (Bugsy), oh so many, and so many perfect brilliant ones. The giallos, starting with the first Argento films, to Spasmo and The Black Belly of Tarantula, gli polizioteschi, from Revolver to les  French -Le Clan des siciliens, to Peur sur la Ville, to Chi Mai in Le Profesionnel, Le Marginal. Last score of his I heard was in Jose Giovanni, Le Ruffian (1983), that I cought-up with last month.
Love his psychedelic score for The Exorcist II  (The Heretic) !!! Love the parodic score for Ochhio a la Pena ! (Buddy Goes West/ Atentie la pana de vultur!), which wierdly he did for Michele Lupo (ans Bud Spencer, and Amidou!). Or the original parodic My Name is Nobody/Mio nome e nessuno.  The beautiful Il Grande Silenzio for Sergio Corbucci. Pop-ish Danger Diabolik for Mario Bava ! And of course the dramatic TV series La Piovra !
Finally after forgiving him of using-remashing up -his music and themes he made some music for his fan, Quentin Tarantino in /for The Hateful Eight. That uncanilly got him his only Oscar of his career ! He got a Honorary one in 2007 after many nominations, first of which only in 1979 (!)  for Malick's Days of Heaven ! Last score for his friend, another T-as in Tornatore, for whom he was an attached composer, for La Corrispondenza, in 2016.  Unarguably he did some of his finest music for Tornatore, from Nuovo Cinama Paradiso to Malena to Legend of 1900.
The most influential film score composer of all time, over 500 films, my favourite film composer and one of the best musicians EVER ! 
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“If you scroll through all the movies I’ve worked on, you can understand how I was a specialist in westerns, love stories, political movies, action thrillers, horror movies and so on. So in other words, I’m no specialist, because I’ve done everything. I’m a specialist in music. 
                                                                  Ennio Morricone
Here's a post from Film Stage which contains his best 20 scores -in their opinion -almost agreed
-and here's Rolling Stone Top Ten Morricone scores-even better !
Metallica: R.I.P. Ennio Morricone
Your career was legendary, your compositions were timeless. Thank you for setting the mood for so many of our shows since 1983.
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Brilliant composer Ennio Morricone has passed away. A friend and collaborator, his talent was inestimable. I will miss him