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LA VIA DELLA DROGA (OST)

Goblin

Rock Progressivo Italiano


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Goblin La Via Della Droga (OST) album cover
3.10 | 21 ratings | 2 reviews | 10% 5 stars

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Studio Album, released in 1999

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. La Via Della Droga (Seq.1 - Main Titles) (2:04)
2. La Via Della Droga (Seq.2) (1:39)
3. La Via Della Droga (Seq.3) (2:03)
4. La Via Della Droga (Seq.4) (2:24)
5. La Via Della Droga (Seq.5) (4:36)
6. La Via Della Droga (Seq.6) (2:52)
7. La Via Della Droga (Seq.7) (1:06)
8. La Via Della Droga (Seq.8) (1:40)
9. La Via Della Droga (Seq.9) (2:31)
10. La Via Della Droga (Seq.10) (3:06)
11. La Via Della Droga (Seq.11) (1:36)
12. La Via Della Droga (Seq.12) (3:08)
13. La Via Della Droga (Seq.13 - Finale) (6:30)

Total time 35:15

Line-up / Musicians

- Massimo Morante / guitars
- Claudio Simonetti / keyboards
- Fabio Pignatelli / bass
- Agostino Marangolo / drums, percussion

Note : The actual instrumentation could not be fully confirmed at this moment

Releases information

Soundtrack to the 1977 Italian movie (English: "The Heroin Busters") directed by Enzo Castellari

CD Cinevox ‎- CD MDF 319 (1998, Italy)
CD Cinevox ‎- CD OST-PK 015 (2015, Italy) New cover

LP AMS Records ‎- AMS LP 103 (2016, Italy) New cover

Thanks to UMUR for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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Buy GOBLIN La Via Della Droga (OST) Music



GOBLIN La Via Della Droga (OST) ratings distribution


3.10
(21 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(10%)
10%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(29%)
29%
Good, but non-essential (48%)
48%
Collectors/fans only (10%)
10%
Poor. Only for completionists (5%)
5%

GOBLIN La Via Della Droga (OST) reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Rune2000
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars La Via Della Droga a.k.a. The Heroin Busters is an Italian crime thriller from 1977 directed by Enzo G. Castellari who most of us know as the director of The Inglorious Bastards from 1978. This is also one of the few movies that Goblin wrote music for despite it not being a horror flick.

This complete version of the soundtrack was released by Cinevox towards the end of the '90s when the demand for Goblin's material was bigger than ever among fans of giallo films. This was ofcourse unfair to the fans of movies like Suspiria and Profondo Rosso since this soundtrack has very little in common with those classical scores. If anything, this soundtrack reminds me more of the '70s television police dramas and although Goblin does a nice job here the result isn't that impressive.

I would actually like to state that La Via Della Droga would appeal more to fans of progressive rock than then horror soundtrack fans because of Sequences 3, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 which are quite funky and sometimes cross over to the Jazz Rock/Fusion territory. The main title theme is very pleasant with it's playful melody played on the guitar while Sequence 2 is the closest Goblin gets to sounding like the band we all know them as.

Despite some nice material and occasional hints of progressive rock I just can't bring myself to awarding this soundtrack anything but an average rating. La Via Della Droga is a good but non-essential reminder of Goblins great material from the '70s.

**** star songs: La Via Della Droga - Seq. 1 - Main Titles (2:09) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 2 (2:03) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 3 (2:06) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 5 (4:39) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 8 (1:44) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 9 (2:30) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 10 (3:16) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 11 (1:36) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 13 - Finale (6:34)

*** star songs: La Via Della Droga - Seq. 4 (2:25) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 6 (2:53) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 7 (1:08) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 12 (2:21)

Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars `La Via Della Droga' is another mostly unknown and forgotten soundtrack from Italian legends Goblin. I was lucky enough to pick up a CD of this years ago at a record fair, where I paid WAY more than what it was worth, but it's not exactly a dud album. Although not a horror soundtrack, rather from my understanding a police/drug/crime film, it still has typical Goblin characteristics and trademark sounds scattered amongst the low-key and tasteful jazz/fusion playing and arrangements. Special mention must go to the Fabio Pignatelli's murmuring dank bass playing and Agnostino Marangolo's ton of varying percussion sounds, but of course Claudio Simonetti and Massimo Morante are reliable as ever.

Although the CD tracklisting would pass the album off as one single 13 part piece, it's really a collection of separate isolated chunks that don't have individual song titles. Sorry, prog fans, no album-long piece or multi-part epic suite here!

The album begins and ends with the main theme, featuring lovely subtle synths (or is that Mellotron mixed way back?) with a typical wailing Massimo guitar solo. The next few tracks have hypnotic looping electronics with metallic percussion and droning male wordless vocals, slightly funky repetitive jazzy percussion with lovely murky sliding bass and tense electric piano. Nice wavering synths and Latin percussion pop in too. Like most of the pieces on this album, these bits usually run about two minutes.

But finally a longer track, and it begins rather like a more typical Goblin piece - more please! `Sequence 5' begins with very eerie shimmering synths and random loopy electronic effects with numbing plodding drumwork and nimble acoustic guitar, before fading out as very harsh and violent stabbing percussion enter, with aggressive bass and wild acoustic guitar strums over colourful dancing synth runs. Going by the theme of the movie the music is based on, perhaps it's meant to represent a disorientating drug-trip? Anyway, it's far and away the standout track on the album, and one more casual Goblin fans will probably appreciate most.

Sequence 6 onwards has bashing electronic abrasive percussion and cold computer effects assaulting the listener over hypnotic near-tribal beats, before returning for a run of loose jazzy sections full of busy drumming, funky driving guitar and more of that supremely dirty bass playing! Lots of different percussion sounds through these moments as well. Sure, it's disjointed, but full of lots of different sounds and ideas to keep you interested. The final part is a downbeat and slightly sinister movement with slowly unwinding dark guitar lines.

It's a shame that most of the pieces are so short, because pretty much every fragment has enough musical potential that would have been even better if they'd been worked on a little more and expanded. This music was probably never even meant for a proper album, but the demand for more Goblin product resulted in this product. Goblin have a few of these sort of belated CD releases, and I think it would be better if they could be packaged together on a few multi-disc sets to keep the costs down and make them more attractive and affordable. It would be nice having them all in one place too, and opposed to searching them down individually.

As it stands, `La Via Della Droga' is a perfectly laidback, subtle and restrained instrumental album that probably occasionally drifts into the realm of forgettable and a little unremarkable from time to time. Certainly don't pay a high price for it like I did, but if you do come across it cheap and happen to be a Goblin fan who appreciates their lesser known work as well as their classics, by all means give the album a try. It makes for a perfectly rewarding background light prog instrumental album played by great musicians.

Three stars.

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