COLLECTING RARE FILM MUSIC SOUNDTRACK LPS FROM EUROPE

In this 4th segment of our series, we're going to give you a historical background and some guidelines in the pursuit of film music soundtrack LPs that were released in Europe.  When we established this business in 1972, the soundtrack LP collectors' market was still in its infancy.  We really didn't know what to sell or how much to sell it for, so we were being directed by what customers told us they were searching for in soundtrack LPs.  It took about half a year for them to begin requesting European film scores.  At first, we were obtaining mostly 'Spaghetti Western' and 'Sci-fi/Horror' genre soundtrack LPs.  Then we began to get requests especially for film scores composed by the legendary ENNIO MORRICONE, who first gained notoriety when Clint Eastwood went to Europe and starred in 'Fistful of Dollars' directed by Sergio Leone.  This was the first film in the 'Spaghetti Western' genre to capture the attention of the American audience, as it was so different from the American western.  When cowboys got shot in Leone's western, you really thought it was real.  Leone utilized the Ingmar Bergman technique of extended close-ups of the actors' faces to communicate their fear, anger, greed and other emotions.  In conjunction with that, the film music on the soundtrack composed by the then unknown Morricone utilized a mix of a male chorus singing an unintelligible series of sounds, electric guitar, trumpets (Morricone started as a trumpet player) in an echo chamber--a musical style unlike anything heard before in a western score. The score was so electrifying that Hugo Montenegro went on to do a 'cover' of the 'Main Theme' and sold a million copies--an unheard of triumph for a non-vocal film-related music single! In relating the impact of this successful box office hit, most viewers said it was the music which created much of the emotional impact, and Morricone went on to do the other two scores of Leone's western trilogy: 'For A Few Dollars More' and 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly'.  As the 'Spaghetti Western' was running its course in the 1960s and 1970s, Morricone did a host of other western film scores for Leone and others--'Once Upon A Time In The West', 'Return Of Ringo', 'Big Gundown', 'Death Rides A Horse', 'Mercenary', 'Two Mules For Sister Sara' and 'Duck You Sucker' among them.  This 'Spaghetti Western' was the replacement for the multitude of 'Sword and Sandal' films that ran their course beginning with Steve Reeves in "Hercules" in 1959 and into the 1960s. As a result of his successes and demands for his film score compositions, Morricone pursued a breakneck schedule of scoring hundreds of films.  To aid in his film score efforts, he took on a collaborator, BRUNO NICOLAI, who did a lot of the arrangements and some musical input as well.  Nicolai also conducted a number of Morricone's scores, which then gave him the notoriety and experience to go off and start doing film scores on his own.  Morricone's soundtrack LP releases are considerable, and he is the most collected film composer in the world today!  So much of his film music has been released on either soundtrack LPs or on 45s in Europe that to accumulate a complete collection would require almost a king's ransom.  In addition to the 'commercial' soundtrack LPs that Morricone has had released, he and others have dedicated themselves to preserving many of his overlooked film scores through private pressings. Morricone personally released some of his works on Cometa Records. But there are others released on private pressings, on non-commercial labels like Gemelli and the RCA 'SP' series (a limited 10 LP boxed set released in the 1970s will now command a price of over $2,000 mint!).  Nicolai also commands some premier pricing on much of his soundtrack LP releases.

As time went by and we became more successful in this endeavor, we made numerous trips to Europe to establish some suppliers. Eventually, we found two large sources in Great Britain, another two in France, and two more in Italy.  With these sources, as we became larger and our orders increased too, we had the opportunity to obtain some of the creme-de-la-creme soundtrack LP titles. Looking back on it now, it's hard to believe that we moved so much inventory in the 1970s---but it all began to slowly go down beginning in 1979 with the advent of the cassette's popularity and then the compact disc. But during this period of fevered interest in soundtrack LPs, we began to see a trend in what our customers were most interested in with respect to the soundtrack market. The European film composers of most interest were:  MALCOLM ARNOLD, JOHN BARRY, RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT, GEORGES DELERUE, RON GOODWIN, MAURICE JARRE, FRANCIS LAI, ANGELO FRANCESCO LAVAGNINO, MICHEL LEGRAND, ENNIO MORRICONE, MARIO NASCIMBENE, BRUNO NICOLAI, NINO ROTA, and CARLO RUSTICHELLI.  We have to mention that unlike the United States during that period of the 1970s when most 'original film background scores' were NOT released on soundtrack LPs, the European record companies supported film music by releasing a large number of soundtrack LPs BUT IN LIMITED QUANTITIES!  Film projects in Europe following the popularity of the 'New Wave' in the 1950s were mainly done by small independent producers, with limited box office revenues.  However, the number of film projects, and thus, the number of soundtrack LP releases, was larger as many small films had soundtracks released from them--it was another source of revenue to help underwrite the next film project which usually began every few months not years.  The result of this proliferation of soundtrack LP releases is that due to their smaller production, they are rarer, and in many cases, we've not been able to document if/when some were released and what the record numbers are.  As stated in previous columns, it's an ongoing project to update the existence of many of these obscure soundtrack LP releases in the various European countries. In addition to the regular releases, the Europeans have also shown their appreciation of American film scores and have run limited productions of reissues dedicated to the rarer soundtrack LPs.  This is an area which will have to be covered in a separate column to do justice to their efforts to preserve this film music on soundtrack LPs.

Pictured above are four examples of European soundtrack LPs which are quite collectible today: the first is 1975's Manuel De Sica film score to the true period drama 'Cagliostro' with De Sica performing on piano. Released on CBS Italy Records, it is a cult film collector's favorite today. Next is a 1973 soundtrack LP composed by Laurie Johnson (most notably remembered here for his music to the tv series, 'The Avengers') for 'The Belstone Fox'. It's a nice presentation with a foldout cover and a gallery of photographs from the film on the inside in full color. It's a British pressing released on Ronco Records, another cult favorite. Then there's 1975's film score composed by Maurice Jarre for the Charles Dickens' story of  'Great Expectations' starring Sarah Miles, Michael York  and James Mason. It was released on Pye Records with a gallery of the film's stars on the back cover. Finally, from 1975 is the sensual score to the period drama composed by Michel Magne for 'Angelique Marquise Des Anges' starring Michele Mercier and Robert Hossein, released on Pathe Marconi France Records.  Another title to pique the interest of the cult film follower.   These four titles represent the thousands of titles released in Europe on soundtrack LPs. Again, the major composers listed above consistently garner the highest prices for their soundtrack LPs, but cult film scores fare well too!  Also, there are valuable titles from genres like 'Science-Fiction', 'Horror', 'Spaghetti Westerns', 'Erotic Thrillers' (also known as 'Giallos').  The canvas for collecting European soundtrack LPs is very broad, so your pursuit can be endless.  The only problem, of course, is that the available supply dwindles with each passing day because they aren't producing soundtrack LPs anymore! 

If you want to see what we have available in European soundtrack LPs, please click on our Ebay Store button upper right at 'RTS Rarities' for the current selection. Please note that we also carry other domestic soundtrack LPs, original casts / Broadway Shows, classical, jazz & radio recordings (some in cassette and CDs too!) along with videos, books and collectibles. Come visit our Ebay Store!  If you'd like to see what various soundtracks, original casts, television, imports, 45s are valued at (with over 8,000 listings!) please order our RTS PRICE GUIDE, 11th Edition, which includes credits for film/show composers, record numbers and collecting guidelines. Price is $10 postpaid USA to RTS, Box 93897, Las Vegas, NV 89193.

Look for our next edition in this series soon!