Audio Watchdog By Douglas E. Winter After Argento: A Young Person's Guide to the Rest of Goblin
(“Deep Red,” 1975)—a soundtrack whose Italian liner notes refer to “music by” Gaslini and “ideas, arrangement and execution by” Goblin. By this time, Walter Martino had left the group to form his own band,
I Libra, and was replaced by
Agostino Marangolo, formerly of Etna and Flea, a progressive fusion band whose album TOPI O UOMINI is available on CD (1989, Fonit Cetra CDM 2030, Italy, approx. $23.99, 36m 59s). Maurizio Guarino briefly provided additional key­ boards for Goblin in the mid-1970s and returned as principal keyboardist when Simonetti later departed on a solo career. Although Goblin is best known for its work
CENTRAL TO LAST ISSUE’S SURVEY of the film music of Dario Argento were the contributions of Goblin and its key­
board wizard, Claudio Simonetti. Many of Goblin’s now-classic recordings have been issued on compact disc—haphazardly and often only in Japan—but the band, despite its seminal role in the integration of the rock idiom into film music, has remained something of an enigma. The persistent myth is that Goblin was a
construct of Argento’s imagination, if not a front for his own musical talents. In fact, the band rose out of the Italian progressive rock movement of the early 1970s as a “supergroup” in the tradition of Blind Faith and Emerson Lake & Palmer. Before there was Goblin, there was Ritratto di Dorian Gray, a keyboard-driven band featuring Claudio Simonetti (who earlier had performed with / Rogers) and drummer Walter Martino. From Era di Acquario came guitarist Massimo Morante and, from Rivelazioni, the prodigious bass guitarist Fabio Pignatelli—and Goblin (sometimes called “The Goblins” in motion pic­ ture credits) was born. Goblin catapulted to fame when it supplanted
jazz great Giorgio Gaslini on PROFONDO ROSSO 72
with Argento, the band recorded eight singles, twelve albums (with a thirteenth “greatest hits” package) and worked on a variety of projects in and out of film. Thus, in 1975, Simonetti and Morante joined forces with the creators of OP­ ERA PRIMA (1991, RCA Italiana ND 74115, Italy, approx. $22.00,40m 49s) under the name Cherry Five. Their sole, eponymous album is available on Japanese CD (1986, King/Nexus K32Y 2054, Japan, ¥3,200, 43m 13s) and songs like “Coun­ try Graveyard” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” emphasize the Gothic predispositions of the performers. The 1976 Goblin studio album ROLLER (1987, King/Nexus European Rock Col­ lection K32Y 2053, Japan, ¥3,200, 34m 22s), included themes for Wampir (Germany’s re- edited, re-scored version of George A. Romero’s MARTIN), while in 1977, the band recorded both SÜSPIRIA and the “concept album”
TASTICO VIAGGIO DEL “BAGAROZZO" MARK
(1992, King/Crime European Rock Collection KICP 2213, Japan, ¥2,200, 37m 07s), which included vocals by Morante. As the ’70s ended, however, Goblin was
composing and performing almost exclusively for film—especially the horror film. The distinc­ tive sound that haunted Mario Bava’s last fea­ ture, BEYOND THE DOOR 2 [Schock, 1977], fueled persistent rumors that the soundtrack artists were Goblin [see VW 22:59], but the score was in fact composed by former member Walter Martino. The soundtrack for Antonio Bido’s Solamento nero (1978), although credited to Stelvio Cipriani, spawned similar rumors... which were true. Goblin composed the score, but when legal difficulties torpedoed the band’s perfor­ mance, Cipriani arranged their music, added some of his own, and produced the recording used in the film. In 1978, Richard Franklin’s PATRICK was released in Europe, and the suddenly popular
IL FAN­
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