Ennio Morricone – Morricone Segreto: Collector’s Edition (Colored Vinyl 2LP + 7″ Box Set) * * *

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The career of the influential Italian composer Ennio Morricone is celebrated by the new Decca Records collection, Morricone Segreto! The 27-track double vinyl LP affair features seven previously unreleased tracks and explores what is possibly Morricone’s richest creative period, between the end of the 1960s to the early 80s, demonstrating Morricone’s long lasting influence for generations of musicians and film directors to this day.

The world-renowned Italian composer sadly passed away at the age of 91 earlier in 2020. During an extraordinary career which spanned more than six decades, he created over 600 original compositions. He was, without a doubt, the most important Italian artist of the last 60 years and possibly the most well-known film music composer of the 20th century. Yet, behind the mainstream Morricone hugely celebrated by critics and acclaimed by his audience, there is a hidden Morricone, a Morricone Segreto: an eccentric, underground genius who used his refined education, to implant cultured materials in a daily, popular context. This side of the Maestro that is mostly unknown to the broader audience, but deeply appreciated and influential for so many artists and connoisseurs.

That’s the Morricone from apparently “minor” movies, which gave birth to his most remarkable sheet music, as the creative freedom provided by the bis cinema system made his work a long lasting influence for the generations of musicians that came after him, especially in the rock, pop and dance world; fascinated by his Morricone Segreto: the hidden, dark-tinged and psychedelic side of the maestro with ability to merge vanguard pulses and pop culture, atonal mazes and compelling melodies, psycho flavors, and innovative arrangements, in a unique and unrepeatable short circuit between high and low, dark and light. The results were so modern for his time that they sound incredibly current still to this day.

This compilation explores what perhaps is the richest creative period of the Maestro, between the end of the 60s and the early 80s. Movies spanning from psychological thriller to Giallo lounge, crime flick and polar from all over the ‘70s; all genres for which the Maestro managed to create a unique and unmistakable style, blending avant-garde solutions with the finest pop-psych attitude. Not a mere best-of, but an acid-tinged journey amongst mysterious voices, fuzz guitars, airy strings, eerie synths, solid drums, and various percussions: a path between modern grooves and less obvious ones coming from a genius composer who was able to predict trends and to dictate alternative styles without ever forgetting his relationship with his core audience.

This Morricone Segreto sonic journey was made possible by a deep digging among the historical archives of CAM Sugar, uncovering a treasure of rare and forgotten pieces, including a fistful of precious unreleased tracks and alternative takes that were never before published, extracted from Il Clan Dei Siciliani, Quando l’amore è sensualità, Stark System, Macchie Solari, Lui Per Lei, La Smagliatura and many other films that are rarely taken into account within the historiography of the Maestro. Morricone Segreto is proof that even a celebrated and renowned legend like Ennio Morricone can still hold secrets yet to be unveiled.

The Morricone Segreto: Collector’s Edition includes plenty for fans of the Maestro to enjoy, including previously unreleased audio of Morricone in the studio on colored 7″ vinyl and brand new artwork and photos from Morricone’s personal collection. This deluxe edition box set also includes an exclusive poster, with an unreleased photo of Morricone in the front, as well as anecdotes about the films and soundtracks on the back.

Features:
• Collector’s Edition colored vinyl 2LP + 7″ box set
• Special one-sided 7″ single documenting the Maestro and his musicians in studio
• Alternate cover portraying the Maestro within the wall of his villa in Mentana
• 60 x 90cm poster plus comprehensive in-depth focus on every track