HU-HUH, HUHUH

Back when thrift stores were rife with vinyl, there wasn't much in the way of classic rock and pop schmaltz that you had to wade through, because most of those records were still being played. But there were a lot of other opportunities to pick up some keepers. Old Stones, some Tommy James, Aretha, radio station "Boss 30" compilations, you catch the drift. One of my friends had managed to score three copies of the first Stooges LP. My brother bought the first Wailers LP, and he didn't even know what he had (though I do remember "Dirty Robber" getting a lot of plays). Everybody I knew had their pick of just about any Martin Denny LP that was ever released (those suckers were everywhere). Another LP that was practically inescapable was the soundtrack to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly featuring the music of Ennio Morricone. Because the Sergio Leone "Dollars Trilogy" (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) were played all the time on TV, just about everybody I knew was familiar with at least some of the cuts. So, it was wasn't unusual, in fact it was probable, that every collection that had any thrift store finds at all, had the Morricone soundtrack (if not the Hugo Montenegro cash-in LPs that covered the trilogy soundtracks over the course of two consecutive albums). And, that for many years, was all the Morricone music I knew.

After a few years of listening to that soundtrack album, I had, what seemed like a divine moment. Traveling through Europe solo, Florence, Italy was a no-brainer. I love art, and if ever there was an art city, Florence is it. I swear, you can through a rock in just about any direction and hit a Michelangelo piece. Anyways, so that's what I was there to do. I have a few vivid memories of my few days in Florence. One was looking at Michelangelo's David, for the first time, surrounded by several unfinished sculptures. The room was crowded, so rather than listen to the crowd, I put a tape that I'd just bought in my Walkman, "Lou Reed's Live In Italy." I listened to "Sister Ray" with Robert Quine on guitar, full blast. That's one memory. The other Florence moment was one of the highlights of my trip.

I was staying in a pensione, and as I was leaving one afternoon to go wandering, I passed the break room for the workers there. In the room were three guys, in their mid-twenties, taking a break. They were watching TV while they ate, and on the screen was one of Leone's films. I thought to myself "...classic". Then I noticed what they were eating. You guessed it, spaghetti. So now I still have that association, every time I hear anything from those soundtracks.

Morricone did more, much more, than just spaghetti western soundtracks. As innovative as those were, he did some that were way more out there.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

From The Good, the Bad ad the Ugly:
Ennio Morricone- Il Buono, Il Cattivo, Il Brutto (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly) mp3 at The Tape Is Not Sticky
Ennio Morricone- L’Estasi Dell’oro (The Ecstasy Of Gold) mp3 at The Tape Is Not Sticky
Hugo Montenegro - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (streaming) at Music.History.
Other work:
Ennio Morricone - Cavallina A Cavello mp3 at Impose Magazine
Ennio Morricone - Farewell to Cheyenne mp3 at Art Decade
Ennio Morricone - Valmonts Go Go Pad mp3 at The Cargo Culte
Ennio Morricone - Beat N.3 mp3 at The Cargo Culte
Ennio Morricone - Ninna Nanna Per Adulti mp3 at Clumsy & Shy
Ennio Morricone -Una Spiaggia A Mezzagiorno mp3 at Clumsy & Shy
Read:
Ennio Morricone at Wikipedia