Search - Les Baxter, Roberto Nicolosi, Stelvio Cipriani :: Black Sunday (1960 Film) & Baron Blood (1972 Film): Original Motion Picture Soundtracks

Black Sunday -- Brilliant Horror Score To Italian Classic

Thomas M. Scofield | Olathe, Kansas | 01/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY is one of the finest fantasy/horror films ever, bar none. The film is justly famous in horror circles and should be more widely known, as it is also a magnificent work of art.When American-International imported this film into the United States back in 1961, they knew they had a classic, but they also realized the film had one major flaw -- a dreary score by Roberto Nicolosi (one of Italy's worst film composers) that seriously hampered the effectiveness of this otherwise flawless shocker.AIP president James H. Nicholson, a man of taste and intellegence, sought out the gifted "Godfather of Exotica" Les Baxter to prepare a suitably lush and scary score more in tune with Bava's haunting and visionary work of art.Baxter was a vastly underrated talent. His work in the pop music field was phenomenally successful (his recording of THE POOR PEOPLE OF PARIS, a song he personally hated, was the single most popular record sold in the 1950s), yet he would never receive the big A-movie assignments that much less gifted pop talents would receive, because Baxter relished the comparative freedom that scoring B-films allowed. Yet within the area of low budget films, Les Baxter would produce a superb body of work including Roger Corman's Poe films THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM and THE RAVEN; William Witney's MASTER OF THE WORLD (one of THE great film scores), Alexander MacKendrick's A BOY TEN FEET TALL/SAMMY GOING SOUTH, William Castle's MACABRE, Nicholas Ray's HOT BLOOD and Ingmar Bergman's MONIKA. Even among Baxter's many anonymous films can be found scores of great beauty.Here on this recording can be found Baxter's outstanding score to BLACK SUNDAY, a masterwork of macabre musical atmosphere. Even Bava purist Tim Lucas, the gifted editor of the great film journal VIDEO WATCHDOG, approves of Baxter's score, and knowing Tim's opinions about reworked films, that is the ultimate compliment.Rounding off the album is Baxter's very fun score to the lesser (but still inspired) Bava film BARON BLOOD. Happy nightmares."

Another Side of Les Baxter

Patrick More | Columbus, OH USA | 03/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"People who know Les Baxter only from his easy listening product, lounge music in the vein of Martin Denny and Esqivel, will be set back on their heels by the dissonance in this CD.Background music in movies has offered composers a certain freedom, and horror movie scores especially invite uncomforting harmonies. In places, this soundtrack resembles Edgard Varese compositions like Deserts and Ameriques. Lounge music lovers' teeth will be set on edge, a good thing.In a separate CD, Citadel Records has also issued Baxter's soundtrack suite for "Cry of the Banshee," along with a suite of his music for Roger Corman's Poe flicks, plus something else by another composer I forget. Very hip stuff."