Occhio alla penna

Digitmovies continues the musical voyage of exploring the original soundtracks written for movies starring the mythical Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill publishing this time a special edition CD of Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack “Occhio alla penna” from 1981 (directed by Michele Lupo and starring Bud Spencer). That time Cinevox Record released a long play album (MDF 33.145) containing 15 selections, followed by a Canadian LP re-issue in the same year (Modulation MN-33005). The first CD re-issue was produced in Germany in 1990 (Alhambra A8916) but the sound quality was rather mediocre because the album master had deteriorated over those few years. Searching for the original 1981 session mastertapes considered to be lost for 20 years has been long until a very recent discovery: the original stereo session mastertapes were located in a very good condition. Certainly the biggest problem was that the album mastertape was completely unusable for this re-release. We were afraid that the tracks used for the original album would be missing from the session tapes, like it happened with many original soundtrack session tapes where the album tracks were simply cut and removed for the use for international discographic releases. Luckily the album tracks have also been conserved on the session tapes and the sound quality is simply fabulous. After the original album sequence we included alternate versions of the main themes: variations of the cheerful main theme (Tr.16, Tr.27), variations of the grotesque theme considered as a parody of “Addio a Cheyenne” from “C’era una volta il West” (Tr.18, Tr.25), Honky Tonky saloon music (Tr.19, Tr.22, Tr.24). The epical atmosphere characteristic for the Cinema of Sergio Leone is reflected in “Passaggio dal male al bene” (Tr.17), a faster reprise compared with the original album version. Further curiosities are an alternative, slower take of “Solo il piccolone” (Tr.20) and an alternate version of “Vaohanana manitu'” (Tr.21) without the voice of the noted actor and voice actor Ferruccio Amendola (sadly passed away a few years ago). This CD will undoubtedly bring a feast for the fans of Bud Spencer, Terence, Hill, Michele Lupo, Ennio Morricone and of the Italian Western. And the musical voyage dedicated to Bud & Terence will be continued …