Sesso Matto: Greatest Seventies Italian Sex Comedy Soundtrack of All?
08.25.2009
06:13 pm

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Music

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soundtracks
Sesso Matto

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It gets my vote! When I was in Tokyo in the mid-1990s, there was a dance-floor craze for the soundtrack of Sesso Matto, a silly 70s Italian sex comedy starring Giancarlo Giannini and sexy screen siren Laura Antonelli (in multiple roles, as you can see in the video). I brought a copy home with me and it has occupied an honored position in my record collection ever since and is a front line choice for inclusion on most of my (coveted!) mixed CDs. The film? The film is nothing great, it’s just stupid and crude, but the soundtrack OMG is that soundtrack ever FUNKY! It’s an absolute revelation. Composer Armando Trovajoli’s memorable score featured funky keyboards, horn sections, Mini-Moogs, the sounds of a female in loud orgasmic bliss and bongo drums. What could be more perfect? It’s a weird and groovy pastiche of sounds that shouldn’t work together, but DO. It even has a Rossini number played on the Arp synthesizer, which is a close cousin of Popcorn (and so therefore, it’s awesome).

In 1977 West End Records put out a 12” disco mix of the title theme which was well known to New York DJs and heard in places like The Loft and Studio 54. Sesso Matto is part of hip hop’s DNA, heard in many of the earliest rap hits thanks to Grandmaster Flash’s frequent use of its several break beats (listen to the extended version here, you can totally hear it now in all kinds of early hip hop, can’t you?). A few years ago, Beat Records, the Italian label who first released the Sesso Matto soundtrack released an extended collectors version with over 30 minutes of additional music from Trovajoli.

 

Posted by Richard Metzger | 1 Comment
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Comments:
Aug 26, 2009
Jason H. Thornton says:

Oh man! I’ve been trying to do a complete run of the West End record label for decades and so far, I’m over 80% of the way finished. “Sessomato” has been a stumbling block for many years but I was at the Miami Winter Music Conference Record show digging through some stuff and BAM! Got a stone mint copy for $10! Now the hard work is over. Only two more really hard ones and the rest is a cakewalk. But “Sessomato” is undoubtedly the crown jewel! It’s the inaugural release on West End. What a way to kick off a record label!

Seeing these movie graphics is surreal to me!

Thanks for posting this!

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