IL REALE IMPERO BRITANNICO: PERCHÉ SI UCCIDONO (OST)

"Perché Si Uccidono" is a soundtrack album by Italian progressive rock act Goblin for the movie "Perché Si Uccidono - La Merde" which was written and directed by Mauro Macario. The album was originally released on LP through Cinevox in 1976 but became available on CD through Cinevox in 1999. Goblin were forced to change their name due to the controversial subject matter of the movie which revolves around drug abuse/addiction. Therefore this soundtrack album was released under the Il Reale Impero Britannico monicker, but it is essentially a Goblin album. It´s the only time Goblin changed their name and when you think about the gory nature of many of the movies Goblin have produced soundtracks for, the name change doesn´t make much sense. On the other hand it is a film score and it´s actuallya collaborative effort (which makes the name change a bit more sensible) as the band wrote most of the material with Fabio Frizzi and the rest of the music for the original soundtrack were written by Willy Brezza.

The music on the album is unmistakably the sound of Goblin whatever name they opted to use for this particular project. Lots of mellotron, organ, and moog on top of a combined jazz/Rock/fusion/funk rhythm section. The music comes off as rather kitchy at times but also pretty laid back and cool and it´s the combination of the kitchy and the cool that Goblin succeed so well in delivering. Tracks like "Epopea" and "R.I.B" are highlights but most tracks on the album are pretty strong. While the album is predominantly instrumental there are vocals on a couple of tracks. "Edda" features female vocals which are sung by Edda Dell'Orso and "My Damned Shit" features some soul type male vocals.

The level of musicianship on the album is high. Goblin is both a professional and very skilled act. And as "Perché Si Uccidono" is packed in an incredibly well sounding production, which is both warm, powerful and organic, it´s hard not to be impressed by the album. It´s just slightly less accomplished compared to "Profondo Rosso (1975)" and "Roller (1976)", but still well worth the time and money for fans of Goblin. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Perché Si Uccidono has so far been my latest Goblin-related purchase and I owe it mainly to the intriguing review posted by UMUR! After browsing the web I finally settled for the MP3 format version of the album off Amazon mainly because it would cost me at least $30 to get the real deal.

To tell you the truth I was originally disappointed by this album because I didn't feel that the music sounded like Goblin. I even compared the tracks with the samples available on other websites just to be sure that I've got the real album. I think that I was concerned by the fact that this album was originally released in the same year as Roller and I just couldn't believe that the style would change so drastically as it did here. Luckily the more I listened to Perché Si Uccidono the more I got into it and today I believe that my original comparison was indeed unjust.

The first two tracks may not sound like either Roller or Suspiria but they are great in their own special way. Both are very melodic instrumentals and I especially like Ammoniaca for its slow pace and nice keyboard work. The similar themes will be touched upon during Dodici E Un Quarto which roughly translates to "Twelve-fifteen" but before we get there we'll have to make acquaintance with the inferior middle section of the album.

Kalu at it's almost five minute running time is the longest composition here but it's also the one I enjoy the least because of its flirtation with the disco-styled sounds and rhythms. I would also probably have appreciated My Damned Shit a lot more without the vocals and although I have no problem with the performance the Italian accent of the singer just rubs me the wrong way every time I hear it.

The album's final 14 minutes (out of the 32 minutes) put the album once again on the right track with compositions like R.I.B. and Apotheke adding sort of a Jazz Rock/Fusion flavor in the overall mix. I like the versatile mix of compositions featured on this album which is something that Goblin will explore even more on their future releases, but strangely enough I feel like there are very few indications of the band that was featured on their previous album. Out of the 11 tracks here only compositions like Block and Distrazioni could have made sense on Roller.

Primarily I would recommend this album for fans of the later Goblin soundtracks while newcomers should probably start with albums like Roller, Suspiria and Profondo Rosso. Still this release is far from collectors/fans only material so I'll move it up a notch!

**** star songs: Epopea (2:55) Ammoniaca (2:25) Edda (3:02) Dodici E Un Quarto (1:58) Block (2:41) R.I.B. (4:16) Apotheke (2:32) Distrazioni (2:33)

*** star songs: Kalu (4:55) Epopea (Reprise) (1:27) My Damned Shit (3:09)