Liberi Armati Pericolosi

BEAT records in Italy pull another great score out of their what seems to be bottomless vaults, this cop thriller from 1976 was directed by Romolo Guerrieri and starred Stefano Patrizi, Max Delvs and also respected actor Tomas Milian. The music score was the work of Composers Gianfranco Plenzio and Enrico Pieranunzi. The sound that is achieved on this soundtrack is one that fuses dramatic music with a pop laced jazz style. Listening to this on the first occasion I was reminded somewhat of the style of British composer and jazz musician Roy Budd, because Plenzio utilises piano a great deal within the work, which is very effective. The composer employs harmonica alongside light sounding brass, understated percussion and piano with a sparing use of saxophone on the opening track, which creates an almost sunny sounding composition that one would play to accompany a drive in the country or a walk on a summers day. The theme is repeated on track two, but is arranged in a very different way with the composer engaging keyboards, and vibes which combine to open the cue, harmonica returns with laid back sounding percussion as background, then Plenzio introduces jazz flute very much in the style of Schifrin adding a touch of coolness to the proceedings. Track three, is a nice piano showcase track, jazz sounding piano is accompanied by bass, drums and bongos which come together nicely and flow so smoothly. The remainder of the score is very much in the same style, it is a work that is most certainly pleasing, and one that also shows off the versatility of Plenzio as a composer, orchestrator and arranger. The sound achieved on this score is masterful, as jazz and also a pop orientated easy listening style come together and segue with ease into more dramatic compositions. As well as being reminded of the sound of Roy Budd I also recalled other scores such as Baclov's CUORI SOLITARI, and Michelini's IL DECAMERONE NERO whilst listening to this score. This is one of the first discs in a new series of CDs that will be issued on the famed BEAT label, these LTD editions will be released in a Digipack case and will contain extensive notes and a 24 x 36 cm poster, they will also all have multi media digital content which will be interviews with either composers or directors. So a series well worth having, and if this is one of the first then I think we can look forward to some more exciting releases from BEAT in the future, recommended.