Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: Over the course of his long and successful career, Ennio Morricone composed many dance songs in step with the fashions of the late 60s and early 70s. These were themes not necessarily directly connected with his films' synopses, but which were nonetheless played in disco clubs, on jukeboxes, turntables and on the radio. This collection contains a selection of pieces such as the brilliant main theme from Grand Slam (1967); the shake rock (opening credits) from Dario Argento's classic Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971) the danceable from the noir film Violent City (1970); the beat version of the opening credits of 'Pioggia Sul Tuo Viso' by the Sorrows, from How I Learned to Love Women (1966); 'Per Vittorio (Bossa)', an elegant bossa nova with flute and percussions from The Success (1963); the tribal shake from I Cantori Moderni, which winks at the dies irae from Garden of Delights (1967); 'Scuola di Ballo al sole', a wild surf piece from the Hawks and the Sparrows (1966); the supreme bossa nova from One Night at Dinner (1969) with the super iconic voice of Edda Dell'orso; the shake music of "'Ostinazione al Limone from What Have you Done to Solange? (1972); and 'Donnabossa' from Full Hearts and Empty Pockets (1964), a delicate bossa nova piece with a prominent harpsichord.

Review: RECOMMENDED
It has been just over 12 months since Ennio Morricone passed away, aged 91, and if it were up to use there would have been a non-stop stream of reissues from the Italian maestro's back catalogue to help people either remember or discover what made his work so important. It's hard to comprehend, but during his career he wrote more than 400 scores for TV and cinema, alongside around 100 classical works. That's some contribution.

Giu' La Testa is one of many he worked on to accompany a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western - with the pair collaborating on all but the latter's directorial debut. From whichever angle you're listening, this is the epitome of that relationship, with tracks veering from deeply atmospheric to playful, Romantic and wistful to cautiously adventurous. Exceptional stuff from a genuinely irreplaceable practitioner.