Composer : Ennio Morricone
Label / No. : Ipecac Records IPC66
Year of release : 1969-1974
CD release: 2005
Total duration : 101:00
Ennio Morricone
Crime and Dissonance
“In Crime and Dissonance, Mike Patton has pulled together a rare collection of Morricone tracks that reflect his connection to the Maestro via a shared passion and commitment to the extreme and the experimental. Psychedelic Sitars, heavy breathing, screams, screeches, electric guitar feedback... much of Morricone's language here keenly intersects with the abstract metal soundscapes of Patton's own music giving us fresh insights into their deeply powerful and uncompromising aesthetics. Both artists have straddled the pop and experimental worlds throughout their careers, creating a body of work that is honest, authentic, meticulously crafted, imaginative and cathartic. Both artists have also suffered from a measure of misunderstanding. But the music lives on. Like all great music the bizarre miniatures that comprise this remarkable set are still as fresh as the day they were recorded (some thirty to forty years ago) and now through the generosity and vision of a youthful and committed contemporary music master, they reach a new generation of ears to inspire even newer vistas of creativity. It is the responsibility of the few to carry the torch of truth and integrity through the dark ages we find ourselves in and this heroic set of soundtrack rarities shows us that the spirit of freedom is, has been and always will be alive and well. One only has to look for it.”
- John Zorn NYC 2005
Ennio Morricone is arguably the most prolific film composer of the modern era, having scored in excess of five hundred films since the mid-20th century. Having worked with the greatest directors of our generation (including Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Roman Polanski and Quentin Tarantino), Morricone’s most widely recognized contribution to film scores is to the Spaghetti Western genre that director Sergio Leone brought to mainstream audiences starting in the 1960’s. With Morricone’s astute insight into music’s emotional impact on an audience, Leone was able to make A Fistful of Dollars a total sensory experience that wowed international audiences and popularized the new genre.
To singularly align Morricone with one style of music however would be to overlook a tremendous body of work that spans nearly every predefined genre, and some styles that people have yet to pinpoint as a genre. His impact on film goers and music fans has been so wide and his musical compositions so ingrained in the general populous’ psyche it would be a difficult job to say exactly how many artists were touched by his innovations.
Few musicians have been as inspired by Morricone’s body of work as John Zorn and Mike Patton. With Crime and Dissonance, Patton’s own Ipecac Recordings present thirty songs over a two-disc set that highlights Morricone’s works from the late sixties through the mid-70’s. The selections were hand picked by Alan Bishop, chosen for their rarity and musicianship with liner notes by John Zorn.
All selections composed by Ennio Morricone except: “Memento” (from the film L’Istruttoria E’ Chiusa: Dimentichi) by Ennio Morricone with the collaboration of Walter Branchi for the electronic music; “Seguita” (from the film Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura) by Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza; “Il Buio” (from the film L’Anticristo) by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai; “Folle Folle” (from the film Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura) by Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza
Produced by Filippo Salvadori
Compiled by Alan Bishop
Associate Producers Mike Patton & Greg Werckman
Release date: November 29th, 2005
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This two-disc compilation presents a rare view of material written and recorded by Morricone between 1969 and 1974. It is selected by Alan Bishop from American Jazz experimentalist Sun City Girls and produced by Filippo Salvadori. Morricone has scored well over 450 films and this album proves just how experimental and hungry his journeys have been and the debt he owes to experimentalist like John Cage in helping him establish his soundtrack voice; especially when confronted by a small budget and a limited number of musicians.
The album opens up with excerpts from the 1971 Italian thriller Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna (A Lizard In A Women’s Skin) set in London’s swinging 1960s. ‘Giorno Di Notte’ is a cacophony of furious discordant squealing deliberately naff electric guitars, drifting around drunken piano stabs, twisting 1970s rock bass lines topped off with stretching wire sounds. It is a strange off-centre track that sets the tone but also belies the beauty of some of the music to come. The album has been complied so that rather than grouping all the tracks from the same film together, they are scattered across the two discs. Tracks from Morricone’s score for L’Ucello Dalle Piume Di Cristtallo (The Bird With The Crystal Plumage) and Il Gatto A Nove Code (The Cat O’ Nine Tails) from 1969 and 1971 respectively are well represented. Throughout, Morricone’s desire to experiment is consistently shown with heavy use of processed sitars, radio vocal collage, cut up sound, heavy breathing, screams, screeches and influences from what might be described as abstract metal soundscapes.
Morricone’s orchestrations and claustrophobic rhythms punctuated by harpsichord and frightened bass are well served on ‘Sequenza 10’ from Sesso In Confessionale, a 1974 documentary on sex, religion and society. In other places the jazz influence is very strong. Miles Davis inspired minimal muted trumpet works around pulsing staccato drums, chiming bells and simple bass lines. Dark church organ pieces get a look in to convey a more frightening mood. Morricone’s writing for soprano and alto voices is well served here and the emotional tug of yearning melodic strings is never far away with small string and brass sections and light percussion often the bed upon which Morricone built a trademark voice.
The album ends in sombre mood with a slow haunting track full of distant murky flutes, mutated disrupted piano phrases and haunting African Tom Tom drums that all give way to uplifting lilting muted trumpet and a bass line that takes the central melody before fading into a bleak darkness. Proof of Morricone’s unique approach that follows his use of energy to convey the strength of a films images, space for the listener and a tempo that allows the music to emerge slowly into a listener’s conscience. 'Crime And Dissonance' is a bold sonic journey that above all proves that it is possible to be experimental, emotional, take risks and remain highly melodic and still have integrity to spare.
Track List:
Disc 1
1. Giorno Di Notte Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna) 1971
2. Astratto 3 (From the film Veruschka [Poesia Di Una Donna]) 1971
3. Corsa Sui Tetti Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film L’Uccello Con Le Piume Di Cristallo) 1969
4. Ric Happening Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Metti Una, Sera A Cena) 1969
5. Memento (From the film L’Istruttoria E’ Chiusa: Dimentichi) 1971
6. Ricreazione Divertita Conducted by Bruno Nicolai (From the film Cuore Di Mamma) 1969
7. Studio Di Colore Conducted by Bruno Nicolai (From the film L’Assoluto Naturale) 1970
8. Forza G (Quella Donna) Conducted by Bruno Nicolai (From the film Forza G) 1972
9. Placcaggio Conducted by Bruno Nicolai (From the film Il Gatto A Nove Code) 1971
10. Seguita Performed by Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. (From the film Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura) 1971
11. Postludio Alla Terza Moglie Conducted by Franco Tamponi (From the film Barbablu’) 1972
12. L’Uccello Con Le Piume Di Cristallo (Titoli) Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film L’Uccello Con Le Piume Di Cristallo) 1969
13. Il Buio Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film L’Anticristo) 1974
14. Rapimento In Campo Aperto Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film La Moglie Piu’ Bella) 1970
15. Le Fotografie (From the film Veruschka [Poesia Di Una Donna]) 1971
16. Spiriti Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Una Lucertola, Con La Pelle Di Donna) 1971
17. Ninna Nanna Per Adulteri Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Cuore Di Mamma) 1969
18. Astrazione Con Ritmo (From the film Il Serpente) 1973
Disc 2
1. Trafelato (From the film Giornata Nera Per L’Ariete) 1971
2. Sensi (From the film Un Bellissimo Novembre) 1969
3. Gli Intoccabili (Titoli) Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Gli Intoccabili) 1968
4. Fondate Paure Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna) 1971
5. L’Attentato (alternate version 1) Conducted by Nicola Samale. (From the film L’Attentato) 1972
6. Fumeria D’Oppio Conducted by Franco Tamponi (From the film La Storia Vera Della Signora Dalle Camelie) 1981
7. 1970 Conducted by Bruno Nicolai. (From the film Il Gatto A Nove Code) 1971
8. Esplicitamente Sospeso (From the film Il Serpente) 1973
9. Sequenza 10 (From the film Sesso In Confessionale) 1974
10. Paura E Aggressione (short version) (From the film Giornata Nera Per L’Ariete) 1971
11. Folle Folle Performed by Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. (From the film Gli Occhi Freddi Della Paura) 1971
12. Un Uomo Da Rispettare (Titoli) Conducted by Nicola Samale. (From the film Un Uomo Da Rispettare) 1973
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