Goblin — The Awakening
The six discs come in a rather nice ‘n’ moody looking black box that features on it’s front blood red text along with a still from Argento’s Profondo Rosso /Deep Red. The six discs all come in their own individual cardboard slip cases that feature the original album artwork from their Cinevox Records releases. The set also includes a 12 page booklet that features a two page mixture of quotes about the band, and a brief write-up about the bands history. Along with a few colour stills from Argento movies, and full album credits for the six releases.
The box sets first release takes in the bands very first release from 1975, and this came in the form of the soundtrack for Profondo Rosso, which was also their first soundtrack work with Mr Argento. Profondo Rosso is probably the most known, and respected of Argento’s Giallo movies- it was his firth film, and it was released in 1975. The plot followed a musician ( English actor David Hemmings ) who witnesses the murder of a famous psychic, and then teams up with a feisty reporter (Daria Nicolodi) to find the killer while evading attempts on their lives by the unseen killer bent on keeping a dark secret buried. The movie was filled with brutal, dwelling & often elaborate killing scenes, and often arty sets. Argento originally asked Italian jazz pianist and composer Giorgio Gaslini to score the film, but he became unhappy with his work so he called in the then unknown Goblin to score the film instead. The originally released soundtrack conists of four Goblin composed tracks, and three Gaslini composed tracks; though Goblin played the whole soundtrack. This release brings together the seven original tracks with a massive 27 bonus/ alternative versions of tracks. The original album tracks move from the building tension of the title theme which switchers between hypnotic ‘n’ intricate acoustic guitar, bass & keyboard weaves, to more bounding church organ & bass runs. Though to locked funk bass groove, skittering drums, and layers of rising organ & synth work of “Mad Puppet”. Onto the angular & taut jazz/rock groove of “Deep Shadows”; which breaks down midway for a mixture of cascading ‘n’ snaking piano weaves, bass runs & guitar seers. Through to the more traditional soundtrack sound of “School At” with it’s jaunting ‘n’ sinister string swooned lullaby melody. The other 27 tracks take in some interesting & creative variations on the original album tracks, and push the albums original 29.15 runtime to well over 70 minutes. On the whole this was an extremely impressive debut release that saw the bands signature sound already very much in place, and offered up a often taut & edgy mixture of jazz rock, prog, jazz, and more traditional scored sound tracking.
Next in the set we have “Roller” from 1976, and this was the bands second release, it’s one of the two none soundtrack albums of their career. The pounding, moody & often taut mixture of throbbing bass, pressing synth & sometimes cathedral-style organ, atmospheric rock guitar & skittering jazz rock drums are present in most of the tracks here. The band also added in a second keyboard player to deepen & enhance that side of the bands sound. The album featured 11 tracks in all which ran between just under the three minute mark, and just over eleven minute mark. Through the whole album very much follows Goblin’s more signature bass & synth heavy sound, there’s a fair amount of variation from track to track with some nice dips into intricate & pretty mixes of piano & acoustic guitar too. The album is often overlooked for the bands more know soundtrack work, but there’s a lot here to like here. The album I guess would be classified as a instrumental prog rock album weaved with synth/soundtrack elements, and the odd jazzy/ classical touches. This reissue of the album adds in two extra none album tracks in the form of “Chi? Part one & two”, which made up two sides of a 7inch single released in 1976. The tracks were composed apparently for a Italian TV of the same name(IMDB has a page for the show, though there’s no indication of what it was about or who was in it). The two three minute tracks move from intricate & edgy synth lines ‘n’ bass fluctuations, to more pounding & up-beat funk bound prog rock runs- these are nice edition to the album, and work well in context to the rest of the album, which you don’t often find happening with bonus tracks.
Next up we have Goblin’s most known & celebrated album- the soundtrack for Dario Argento’s “Suspiria”. The album is a highly original mixture of prog rock, pounding & primal modern classical composition gone rock, eerier & avant grade tinged sound tracking & loud ritualistic percussive composition. The original soundtrack album featured seven tracks in all, and these go from bizarre & creepy title track which starts out mixing together celesta, bells & deranged whispers, with pulsing tribal/ ritual sounding percussion & swirling eerier synth textures, before later into kicking up a gear into ritual charged & slightly funky prog rock. Onto “Witch” with it’s loud ‘n’ off angular mixture of battering ritual drums, weird warbling witch like wails, sinister synth bays, and uneasy bass fluctuations. Through to the more conventional prog/ jazz/ funk vibe of “ Black Forest/Blind Concert” with it’s mixture of wondering to funky bass lines, layers of synth, smoky sax playing, and guitar that goes from repetitious melody picking to more rocked-out / metal soloing. On the whole “Suspiria” is one of the most distinctive & original horror soundtracks you’ll ever have heard, but it also makes for a very approachable & creative stand alone album that really defies any kind of genre classification. This version of the soundtrack just adds in five alternative takes of album tracks as it’s bonus material.
Next in the box set we have "I'll Fantastico Viaggio del Bagarozzo Mark” from 1978, and this was the bands second stab at another none soundtrack album; but sadly this is no “Roller”. The original album featured eight tracks in, and I guess are most of these are best described as a fairly up-beat mixture of euro prog rock, euro rock pop & the odd dart into more flamboyant Keith Emerson like keyboard playing. The album also adds in singing to quite a few of the tracks too, but sadly these comes across as either pale Italian takes on Peter Gabriel type singing or chessy Italian pop rock singing. On the whole the album really sounds like another band, with only the odd hints ever so often at the bands original sound, but mostly this is over indulgent euro prog with some very cheesy pop styling’s. This really is the low point in the collection for me, but I guess if you enjoy very 70’s sounding & showy euro prog you may get on with this. This reissue adds in the A side of a 1978 single which was apparently the theme tune to a Italian horror analogy series entitled “Sette Storie Per Non Dormire” (Seven Stories For Not Sleeping)- the tracks are an ok example of the more familiar/ original Goblin soundtrack sound, but there nothing spectacular.
Next in the box set we’re back in soundtrack territory again, and it’s another influential & key album for Goblin- 1978’s soundtrack for European/ world cut of George A. Romero’s 1970’s zombie classic Dawn of the Dead/ Zombi. The original soundtrack featured ten tracks, and once again it’s quite varied in both mood & sonic style. The album starts off with the "L'alba Dei Morti Viventi" which is a slow marching mix of a four note bass line, synth layers & bass drums- the track very much brings to mind the slow lumbering march of a mass of zombies, and this track alone was a huge influence on many Italian zombie & horror movie soundtracks of the 1980’s. After this we go onto the title track which is a more up-beat, action based yet still moody mixture of darting guitar, stabbing ‘n’ funky bass , ethnic laced percussion & droning voice like synth textures. Then we’re onto to "Safari" which goes very African & ethic with locked ritual percussion & layers of chanted voices /calls. Later on the soundtrack even drops into sun glazed & mellow yet up-beat American country rock with “Tirassegno”, there are also of course horror prog based moments along with more mellow/ dramatic moments which touch down in classical piano playing , and more jazzy fair too- all told it’s a very varied & accomplished soundtrack. The extras on offer here are seven extra tracks which consist of often quite rewarding different versions of the original soundtrack tracks.
Lastly in the set we have the soundtrack for Dario Argento’s slick early 1980’s Giallo movie Tenebre. The album was not official a Goblin album( as the band had split), but it featured three of the bands members- keyboard player & main composer Claudio Simonetti, bass player Fabio Pignatelli, and guitarist Massimo Morante. The sound here is still very much Goblin like with it’s mixture of bass & synth/organ heavy often hypnotic horror/dramatic based song craft, but there’s a more early 80’s electronica laced feel too- with dance like often electro beats, vocoder fed vocalising, & programmed synth layers. Yet there are also dips into more off angle & unsettling sonic territory too when the trio mix together weird wavering music box harmonics, squelching electro water sounds, and creepy/ psychotic synth & guitar mixers. Again it’s another very competent soundtrack which also stands well as stand alone great album too, through it’s maybe not as adventurous or varied as their past soundtrack work. The original soundtrack is made up of eight tracks in all with eleven extra tracks featured here, and these take in alternative & remixed version of original album tracks.
Simply put “The Awakening” is a great & nearly wholly consistent collection of this bands most known & celebrated soundtracks, with their two stand alone albums added in too- with the only major miss-step here been the second album "I'll Fantastico Viaggio del Bagarozzo Mark”. To sum this is a well put together collection that’s a must for those who have never heard this unique bands work before. But it’s also well worth a look if you already a fan of this project’s work as the set so nicely presented & put together, and of course you’ll get all the project's greatest work together in one place too.