Le Evase - Storie Di Sesso E Di Violenze
Pippo Caruso
" I would only recommend a small number of selected cues from Le Evase, as it suffers mostly from fluctuations in musical quality. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the regular release
Pippo Caruso (or Giuseppe Carso) was best known for his contributions to music outside of the film industry and provided an original score for a small selection of films. While these scores are relatively unknown, works like Occhio Dietro La Parete, Uccidete Johnny Ringo and Maladolescenza are certainly memorable works. They may contain some music for acquired taste, and the same applies to Le Evase - Storie Di Sesso E Di Violenze. The only difference is that Le Evase is not a very good score.
Le Evase is part of the uncompromising Italian exploitation breed and I wouldn´t dare to explain what the film is about. The quality of these kind of films and their scores is can be fluctuating. Generally, those who are quite familiar with vintage Italian film music must have faced such a difficulty.
Le Evase is a score that includes a small portion of musical greatness, but overall fails to appeal. The most obvious reason for that are the staggering title (On My Way to Liberty) and disco song (Fever is On), with vocals by Charlie Cannon. The title song melody is heard in several scoring cues, which feels somewhat uncomfortable. The cues Giudici and Zora-Erika-Betty offer sugar sweetened, yet slight mediocre takes on the song, utilizing strings, saxophone and flute. Because your brain associates them with something disastrous, it is virtually impossible to really enjoy them. I shoved the album aside for nearly two months and then tried to listen to the score alone, but by now I resented them even more. Other mediocre selections of the score include influences of pop and rock music, reminiscent of music by composers such as Fabio Frizzi.
This the type of score that does convince on the level of the more demanding and darker material. Villa Progione is a fine suspense cue, which ends with a surprisingly disorienting ´hiss´ synthesizer effect supported by a repetitive piano notes and lush strings. The atmosphere of this cue is transported into the next Herrmannesque cue Zora L'Ingenua. But Tentatio di Fuga is the absolute highlight of the entire score. Caruso opens it with a suspenseful setting for woodwinds, piano, percussion and orchestral support. Then the cue switches into higher gear, with a delightfully frenetic string motif, cymbals and injecting the, otherwise dreadful, melody of the main theme magnificently. The cue repeats this change of pace twice and both times the insertion of the faster string motif feels very energetic and fun. Brilliant.
I would only recommend a small number of selected cues from Le Evase, as it suffers mostly from fluctuations in musical quality. Similarly a score such as Deliria (Simon Boswell and Stefan Stefano Mainetti) faces the same kinds of problems, only to shine with cues such as Sharp Grooves. And there are dozens of other examples. Perhaps exploring Pippo Caruso´s other scores will prove to be more useful. The score was originally released by Cinevox on LP in 1979 and was released digitally in January of 2015.
Tracklist
1. On My Way to Liberty (04:02)
2. Evasione quadrupla (02:05)
3. Fever Is On (02:20)
4. Zora l'ingenua Erika la ninfomane Betty la cicciona (02:10)
5. Tentativo di fuga (03:53)
6. Villa prigione (01:31)
7. Zora l'ingenua (01:55)
8. Giudice (01:37)
9. Assurdo ballo lento (02:57)
10. Lei e lei (03:07)
11. Ultimo dialogo (02:57)
12. On My Way to Liberty, Pt. 2 (03:52)
Total duration 32:32
Le Evase is part of the uncompromising Italian exploitation breed and I wouldn´t dare to explain what the film is about. The quality of these kind of films and their scores is can be fluctuating. Generally, those who are quite familiar with vintage Italian film music must have faced such a difficulty.
Le Evase is a score that includes a small portion of musical greatness, but overall fails to appeal. The most obvious reason for that are the staggering title (On My Way to Liberty) and disco song (Fever is On), with vocals by Charlie Cannon. The title song melody is heard in several scoring cues, which feels somewhat uncomfortable. The cues Giudici and Zora-Erika-Betty offer sugar sweetened, yet slight mediocre takes on the song, utilizing strings, saxophone and flute. Because your brain associates them with something disastrous, it is virtually impossible to really enjoy them. I shoved the album aside for nearly two months and then tried to listen to the score alone, but by now I resented them even more. Other mediocre selections of the score include influences of pop and rock music, reminiscent of music by composers such as Fabio Frizzi.
This the type of score that does convince on the level of the more demanding and darker material. Villa Progione is a fine suspense cue, which ends with a surprisingly disorienting ´hiss´ synthesizer effect supported by a repetitive piano notes and lush strings. The atmosphere of this cue is transported into the next Herrmannesque cue Zora L'Ingenua. But Tentatio di Fuga is the absolute highlight of the entire score. Caruso opens it with a suspenseful setting for woodwinds, piano, percussion and orchestral support. Then the cue switches into higher gear, with a delightfully frenetic string motif, cymbals and injecting the, otherwise dreadful, melody of the main theme magnificently. The cue repeats this change of pace twice and both times the insertion of the faster string motif feels very energetic and fun. Brilliant.
I would only recommend a small number of selected cues from Le Evase, as it suffers mostly from fluctuations in musical quality. Similarly a score such as Deliria (Simon Boswell and Stefan Stefano Mainetti) faces the same kinds of problems, only to shine with cues such as Sharp Grooves. And there are dozens of other examples. Perhaps exploring Pippo Caruso´s other scores will prove to be more useful. The score was originally released by Cinevox on LP in 1979 and was released digitally in January of 2015.
Tracklist
1. On My Way to Liberty (04:02)
2. Evasione quadrupla (02:05)
3. Fever Is On (02:20)
4. Zora l'ingenua Erika la ninfomane Betty la cicciona (02:10)
5. Tentativo di fuga (03:53)
6. Villa prigione (01:31)
7. Zora l'ingenua (01:55)
8. Giudice (01:37)
9. Assurdo ballo lento (02:57)
10. Lei e lei (03:07)
11. Ultimo dialogo (02:57)
12. On My Way to Liberty, Pt. 2 (03:52)
Total duration 32:32