PHENOMENA (OST)

With the exception of the leading theme that has it's groovy, catchy and extremely chilling blood ambience, the rest of the album is rather mediocre. Phenomena is an other soundtrack written for the master of italian horror-gore-macabre cinema Dario Argento but as the movie itself, the music is not at the top of the genre. The best Goblin's soundtracks clearly belong to the seventies with a large collection of little masterpieces as Profondo Rosso, Suspiria, La via della Droga that always contain an original and very personal fusion of styles, mixing mad jazzy-groovy sections with inspired fuzzy weird (sometimes scary) keyboards interludes. Just as the average Tenebre, Phenomena is really more into the 80's and the sound of this album is rather poor, asceptical and without soul. This is a more synthesised Goblin's affair within a more simplistic approach and it remains only functional for the movie. The instrumental sections contain a few astonishing ghotic-like ambiences, largely made by moving-doom-bass lines, catchy synth lines & church like organs . However the drum is massive and artificial, it's a shame when I think about the impressive technical drum parts delivered in previous efforts. The result is rather kitschy. Not the best prog rock horror soundtrack by these intriguing italians but recommended for those who have a strong interest for vintage shocking horror eurotrash soundtrack / cinema.

Phenomena is probably the Dario Argento-movie that have benefited the most from it's Goblinfied soundtrack since the film itself leaves much to be desired.

The original soundtrack that was released in 1984 featured a total of five Goblin compositions while the remaining eight tracks were already famous songs by Iron Maiden, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and even Motörhead! That soundtrack really feels like a weird combination and I'm really happy about this 1997 compilation that consists entirely of the original Goblin material. The downside here is that it consists basically of the same five compositions that were featured on the original release plus one bonus track entitled The Monster Child which can barely be called a track. But the fun doesn't end here since each of the five original tracks has at least one alternate counterpart featured here and in some cases like the main title theme gets a whooping total of five different versions of it spread over the album.

The original material is phenomenal (*pun intended*) and should definitely have a place among Goblin's greatest masterpieces. Among these fine tunes is also Jennifer which is my personal favorite. The composition starts like an 80's sounding instrumental ballad but halfway through its running time Jennifer transforms into a wonderful up-tempo theme. The alternate versions of the material sticks, in most cases, relatively close to the originals but there are a few exceptions. The Wind - "Insects" - film version suite 2 is a seven minute version of the original just over a minute long composition. This wasn't a good sign from the get go but things actually get even worse once I experienced this abomination. Let's just say that it involves a lot of high pitch sounds that will make Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music sound like complete masterpiece!

The music on Phenomena - The Complete Soundtrack is not without its flaws where my most prominent concern is the 80's sounding drum sounds, which can of course be easily blamed on Phil Collins for creating such a pointless gimmick as gated drum sound. But ultimately it's every artists own responsibility to enhance their music and not go over board in the production department.

I know that I'm probably being generous for calling this anything else but a collectors/fans only album but I just can't help it since the original material is really great.

***** star songs: Jennifer (3:53)

**** star songs: Phenomena (4:26) The Wind (1:18) Sleepwalking (3:51) Jennifer's Friends (3:29) Phenomena - Film version 1 (1:25) Phenomena - Film version 2 (1:56) Phenomena - Piano solo - film version 3 (1:01) Sleepwalking - Alternate version (3:56) The Wind - Film version suite 1 (2:35) Jennifer's Friends - Alternate version (3:30) Jennifer - End titles (4:51) Phenomena - Video clip version - bonus track 2 (4:08) Phenomena - Alternate version - bonus track 3 (3:09)

*** star songs: The Monster Child - Spfx bonus track 1 (2:07)

** star songs: The Wind - "Insects" - film version suite 2 (6:57)

A daft but thoroughly enjoyable Euro-pudding from cult Italian filmmaker Dario Argento, the 1985 shocker 'Phenomena' features a youthful Jennifer Connolly(as a spoilt teenager able to communicate with insects.) and a not-so-youthful, wheelchair-bound Donald Pleasance(as a grouchy Scottish entymologist) working together(with a monkey) to track down a mysterious murderer with a penchant for slicing up posh school-girls. Set in Switzerland, featuring a fairly incomprehensible plot(a trademark of Argento's films which sadly marred much of his bravura, stylistic excess) and some truly bizarre moments(pits of maggots, decapitation-by-scissors, deformed imps etc) 'Phenomena' the film is, simply put, barking. Yet it's also quite fun. Despite some distracting elements, such the dreadful mid-Atlantic dubbing forced upon the European supporting cast and the frankly rather odd addition of a clutch of NWOBHM tracks - by the likes of Iron Maiden, Andy Sex Gang, Accept, Motley Crue to name but a few - to the soundtrack, the film features a strong visual aesthetic and some superbly-mounted, stylishly-executed set-pieces. Accompanied by Goblin's ethereal, synthesizer-heavy score, the music is once again a central part of Argento's tension-building technique, just as it was in his two best feature films, 1975's Hitchcockian thriller 'Deep Red' and the seminal supernatural piece 'Suspiria', both of which featured classic Goblin compositions in the shape of their respective theme tunes. The 'Phenomena' album isn't quite of that calibre - Goblin's best efforts all came in a brief period during the mid-to-late-seventies - yet it's still a strong release, both as a soundtrack piece AND as a stand-alone slice of symphonic synth-prog. Highlights include the classically-spiked title track, the keyboard- washed 'Jennifer', and the suitably spooky 'The Wind', a delicate track laced with a slight experimental bent a la early Tangerine Dream. Ignoring the awful 1980's metal(which Argento himself hated) this should more than please Goblin's legion of hardcore fans, the group's overall sound perfectly suited(once again) to the blood- drenched visuals of Argento's films.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012