As I've written before, Mario Bava, who directed Five Dolls for an August Moon (5 bambole per la luna d'agosto), historically discounted the film. In fact, apparently he cited it as his worst. Well, whether or not that's the case, it was definitely the best work of Piero Umiliani, who composed the film's very groovy, mostly upbeat soundtrack. Full of swingin' electric organ and very engaging and diverse percussion, it's a terrific exercise in theme and variation. I personally put this on par with the soundtrack from Jesus Franco's Vampiros Lesbos of 1971. They're terrific in their own right, and both exceed in quality the film for which they were composed.
Above, a scene from the film when Professor Farrell burns his secret formula everyone is hot to get their murderous little hands on - and the organ goes crazy! Well, I won't lie - from Ray Manzarek's keyboard work for The Doors, to Italian cinematic jazz, and everything in between - electric organ from the '60s and '70s fascinates me. Then of course and somewhat sadly the synthesizer came to the fore and the organ pretty much died away in pop and cinematic applications. And though it did retain a small niche in jazz, to me it will always be the sound of an era, really.
Here, more tracks - breezier, sexier, probably more typical of the album. Listen to these when you drive your car at night in the summertime, with the sunroof open and all the windows down...
The Five Dolls/5 Bambole soundtrack is available from iTunes in 22 tracks, but eMusic.com, while cheaper, is also offering a 34 track version, with even more variation on Umiliani's catchy riffs.
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